A resilience programme by an international agency has significantly improved emotional and physical wellbeing of adolescent girls in Bihar through their training at school and village block level. The CorStone India Foundation on Wednesday presented the outcomes of a Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) of its flagship 'Girls First' program, which aimed to cultivate resilience among marginalised adolescent girls across India initiating from Bihar.

Conducted in 2013-14, the RCT involved 3,500 girls and 74 facilitators across 76 schools in rural Bihar, demonstrating significant positive impact on mental and physical health, education, social skills and relationships. "Resilience is integral for India's youth to thrive emotionally and physically. This program has resulted in improvements in girls' emotional and physical wellbeing, safe water practices, and self-advocacy for gender and educational rights," Steve leventhal, Executive Director, CorStone while elaborating on the results of the Girls First RCT.

"Our analysis reveal that girls are stopping early marriage, advocating for their education, and standing up to harassment using a combination of many skills learned in the program including assertive communication, managing negative emotions, drawing on strengths, sharing feelings and problems with group members, collaborative problem-solving, and so on," leventhal said adding that the program is being funded by United States based David and lucile Packard Foundation.