The Pyari project's objective is to construct and manage a home for 20 street girls in West Bengal. We wish to give them the opportunity to have a normal life and reach economic independence through a variety of educational programs aimed at facilitating their integration into society. We propose to provide street girls from Kolkata aged between 0-18 yrs, regardless of their caste or religious affiliation, a home with a tranquil and affectionate atmosphere, in addition to food, clothes, medical assistance and attendance of a local school. In addition, project staff will be available for every circumstance- during play time and classes up to the insertion into a local school and finally, the community. Girls aged 12 years and above, will receive training in embroidery and tailoring according to traditional Bengalese artisanship (from batiks to khanda embroidery used in saris) to allowing them to learn a skill to enable them to gain financial independence. The house will be managed in such a way as to enable guests to participate in small agricultural projects and to care for animals in the yard. In addition to the educational programs, a photographic laboratory will be established to allow guests to express themselves through an autobiographical analysis. Assistance provided to the girls in the home will terminate with their integration into society and in the workplace, particularly within local civil society organizations and/ or through the pursuit of further education. Given the importance of marriage in Indian tradition, the Pyari project will provide a small fund, accumulated from donors, towards a girls dowry, allowing them to have a stable and secure future in their new family.

The home will be composed of large rooms, furnished with 5 beds each for the girls, two large rooms for recreational activities a laboratory and studio as well as lodgings for the project staff, an office and two extra rooms for donors and visitors. The model for this initial home can then be replicated for the construction of similar structures to provide similar services to girls and women in rural communities.