What prevents girls from completing secondary school? A short video in English identifies barriers and introduces girls from North Karnataka, India, who hope to overcome them.

 These barriers include:

• poverty and family dependence on girls’ labour
• domestic and agricultural workloads
• lack of facilities and support at school
• poor academic performance (linked to these other factors)
• teasing and harassment by boys
• gender norms that prioritise boys’ education and undervalue girls and women

Karnataka Health Promotion Trust (KHPT) is implementing a comprehensive programme called Samata (“equality” in Kannada) to address these challenges in two districts. As the project begins, this short film documents the lives and views of local officials, schools, parents, boys and the girls themselves.

"On Our Own Two Feet" presents a selection of those interviewed by the filmmmaking team from STRIVE, KHPT and Documental. The team will interview the same individuals again at a later stage of the Samata programme, to document change over time.

For more about Samata, see:

• the Samata project page
• a detailed description of the intervention design
• an accessible brochure summarising Samata
• a large poster depicting the programme as a road to better health and lives for girls
• On Your Own Two Feet video in Kannada

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