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Kanyashree girls report feeling enormously enabled– it is
not just the prospect of receiving money that empowers “
them, but that they receive it in bank accounts that are
opened in their own names. It has put on hold their parents’
quest for a suitable groom. Many girls have grasped the
opportunity to start a new dialogue with their parents, a Say Yes
dialogue in which they dare to speak of their future
identities forged through continued education and
professional training, identities that may – or may not – to education
include marriage.

Like its beneficiaries, Kanyashree Prakalpa too has a
coming–of–age journey. In 2017, when the Scheme was and No to child
awarded the UNPSA in the category “Reaching the poorest
and most vulnerable through inclusive services and
participation”, it had covered 4 million adolescent girls, with marriage
almost 1 million having reached age 18 with a complete
school education, and without falling prey to child marriage.
Two and a half years later, the numbers have doubled. The ”
Scheme has covered over 6 million girls since its launch in
2013, with 2.3 million girls graduating from it at age 18. The
government has increased the annual scholarship amount,
and removed the income ceiling, effectively universalizing
the scheme for all adolescent girls who comply with its core
message: “Say YES to education and NO to child marriage”.

In 2017, Kanyashree’s ‘cash plus’ interventions were pilot
initiatives implemented in limited geographies. Today, the
Government of West Bengal implements a state–wide
integrated set of schemes for adolescent girls that reaches
them through both school and community platforms and
provides them with a range of services and linkages to
facilitate their all–round development.