Dear forum members,
I want to share here with you about my social enterprise newHorizons and I would be very grateful to get your feedback about my developing website. :)
First I want to start with the problem I am trying to solve. The problem is in the rural areas of Azerbaijan school girls drop out is still a serious problem. Girls quite school from 8 and 9th grades for different reasons: lack of family support, financial, difficulties, lack of logistic and resources and etc. After this most of the time they stay home and forcing to do early marriage. My solution for this problem is newHorizons. It is a schoolgirl empowerment program.
At newHorizons we are inspiring schoolgirls from rural areas of Azerbaijan to continue their education and to develop English language skills. We do it by introducing them online courses and off line workshops about topics such as self-development, global mindset, girl leadership, language learning.
Recently I am working on my pilot and this year summer I will test it one village school of Azerbaijan.
In the following posts I will also share with you about my preparations for the pilot.
Here is the link of my website: http://newhorizons.forsatsaz.com/
Thank you!
PS I didn't hack the site (CSS in rendered by the browser not your server)
Yo @Nargiz Askerova @Jodee as it's a WordPress site that quick fix can be added easily. How would you guys prefer it?
Hello @Nargiz, huge progress to your website! GREAT! However, it still bothers a lot seeing (the two dates range) presented without a break like this on the main landing page, as well as inside each post >
Is your designer having a problem to solve it? Maybe @Sara could help with the HTML/CSS code? Overall, I love how well you've progress so far. This is one of the important first step to inform your initiative to the World.
Dear Nagriz!
I worked with a village community in Hungary's poorest area, the village was inhabitated by minorities mainly. I had similiar experiences with the people there, they got families early (at the age of 16-20), and most of them droped out of school around the age of 14-16 with no certificate.
There were some differences though. The mothers and wifes of the village were the decision makers. During the mentoring process we achieved the biggest succes with them, most of the time they were able to control their husbands and make decisions on their behalf without any friction afterwards. Is this kind of aspect of the families different in Azerbaijan? If it's not then why it's necesary to empower? It seems women are empowered and the problem is mostly systematic. Please correct me if i'm wrong, different country, different solutions. :)
How they handle IT tools? The people I worked with had smartphones, even the poorest families. But there were big differences in the usage of these tools. The online activity revolved around Facebook and news portals, blogs mainly with simple texts and hoaxes. I had to take action many times to handle the missinformation of these hoaxes. Is there a place in your project which handles these kinds of situations or this problem is nonexixtent around there?
It might be useful to connect with some NGOs working on the same kind of problem to exchange good practices. For me this looks like a systematic problem. In Hungary we call it "glass ceiling", which means women can't go through a certain level of employment or political position. Without direct intervention women are oppressed.
Also I have many questions about the mentoring process and methodology which might be a business secret. How long is the process? How does a development plan looks like for the girls? How is the project sustainable?
I think Nargiz's project is not necessarily need to focus on formal education. In the (not so far) future the role of schools and the way we learn things will be radically changed the COVID-19 pandemic is speeding up this process. I look at Nargiz's initiative as a pioneer from the perspective of knowledge transfer. Instead of formal schooling its more personal, more like a role model which is more similar to the style of a Youtube influencer than a strict teacher addressing pupils. Nargiz's personality fits this role very well.
I think this project is very noble. I believe that the cure to poverty is the empowerment of women, especially girls. To dedicate yourself to this specific problem is amazing.
It seems really difficult to take a student who is possibly going to drop out of school, and then change their mind so that they do stay in school. I think on the website there could be more about your methodology, what exercises are actually being done and how you will move the girl's mind from point A to point B. What are they not learning in school, that you and only you can provide?
Also I like how you wrote your post. It is very strong, you state the problems bluntly and honestly, and I totally see the problem and want to help you fix it. Personally I'd like to see that kind of frankness on the website too, and pictures of the people you're trying to help and their environment also.
Hi Nargiz, I see the progress on the website but I liked the few days ago version more. Currently, you have two headers...the one with the white background and the main mission is perfect. Why do you need the orange background one? I also think that the slideshow is not needed. Previously there was a photo with you speaking at an event and it was impressive enough. And three column under that is more than enough. Now, you have 6 and most of them are Lorem Ipsum. I suggest to finalize a simple version and give it a go. :)
one suggestion pls add ''mission'' tab on top
One more suggestion: Somehow I do not get from the landing page that who are you addressing. At the moment it sounds like it is for everyone while I know that your planned target group members are young ladies living in the countryside. I do not see any sentence and/or visual elements referring to them.
Hello Nargiz, very great website of NewHorizons :) maybe you could link this page with your social media pages, I think it will help you to reach more visitors :)
Dear Nargiz, Your very first attempt to create a website is really amazing. I would suggest to make it simple. At the beginning you only need a landing page with basic info and your contact info. I would keep the header, and the three main columns (Goal settings, business idea, environmental awareness) and I would remove most of the sidebar tabs. (search, meta, recent comments...etc.) Maybe, if you create a blog section the you can have a tap there for the recent posts' into but basically only the three columns are enough.
Hi Nargiz, this is a good 'empowerment' idea. Have you visualise how the program of your 'Pilot' looks like? in Azerbaijani (on mobile phones) when they will first see your program? Where are the touch points in the process and how do you differentiate and keep the girls in your program engaged? What are the ways to 'measure' your impact?