Vijayaratnam Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the QI Group in Malaysia, recently unveiled a Trainer Kit for its ‘Maharani’ flagship programme, aimed at inspiring and empowering poor, marginalised and socially excluded adolescent girls through the provision of skills and knowledge.
The initiative will enable teenage girls to work towards their full potential and become responsible agents of change in their communities.
The launch, attended by 100 young girls who were part of the Maharani programme, saw participants entertain the audience with a few dance performances, followed by a heartwarming video on how the programme changed the lives of many young girls, encouraging them to be more confident and courageous to reach for their dreams.
The Maharani Trainer Kit (MTK) is a module for qualified trainers to use as a point or reference to run the programme on their own. It is written into modules and sessions, where each module is independent of the other but also complements each other. It will ensure standardisation of content, sustainability of the Training Programme and enable the instruction manuals for the Trainer Kit modules to be used individually as stand-alone training modules, or cumulatively as a complete training programme.
Datin Sri Umayal Eswaran, Chairperson of Vijayaratnam Foundation said the launch was significant and represents another step forward in the journey of Maharani. “It is my hope that each of us can play an important role to provide adolescent girls with the tools they need to become socially and economically empowered young women, so that they can achieve their full potential and contribute to the well-being of their community. Their dedication to improving their lives, and the lives of those around them, is what inspires our work,” she said.
“We aim to inspire today’s generation of women to think bigger, dream higher and to be the best that they can be, to become women of character with confidence and who are motivated to achieve excellence in life. Investments in girls are an investment in everyone’s future. It is the girls’ life trajectories that determine the health, education, wealth and success of each generation,” added Datin Sri Umayal.
Also present at the launch was newly elected Petaling Jaya Member of Parliament, Y.B Puan Maria Chin Abdullah. “Reaching out to girls during adolescence is critical as decisions made and behaviors established during this period affect their horizons later in life. Adolescence for boys typically ushers increased mobility and autonomy, but for girls, it often comes with increased restrictions—fewer opportunities and less freedom to exercise choice.
“I see the Maharani Trainer Kit as being one of the first initiative in the country to empower adolescent girls. Investing in them is not only fair, it is a smart social and economic move,” said Puan Maria Chin Abdullah.
Datin Sri Umayal also presented winners of the Maharani Trainer Kit cover competition prizes after the launch. The grand prize winner took home a laptop, while three consolation prize winners received a watch each.
