Informed by her own experience of having to leave school early, our 2026 Amal Clooney Women’s Empowerment Award winner, Naina, is driving change for the next generation of girls in her community, equipping them with the skills to learn, earn and thrive.
Naina grew up in rural India, in a family of eight, and had to overcome enormous obstacles to pursue her education and find a career path for herself. Family expectations compelled Naina to give up schooling at a young age, but she did not give up learning, and kept studying on her own, at night.
By drawing on support from Project Lehar, Naina was able to initiate discussions with her family and return to school. Driven by her determination that girls should be free to learn and thrive, Naina, 23, now works as a Lehar trainer herself, supporting hundreds of girls and young women each year to develop the skills that will help them shape their own futures.
‘I used to think only those in big cities could hope for a better future,’ Naina explains. ‘Now I know opportunities exist everywhere, if we are willing to fight for our goals.’
In recognition of her outstanding efforts to inspire and uplift others, in May 2026 Naina received the Amal Clooney Women’s Empowerment Award, sponsored by Charlotte Tilbury, at a star-studded awards ceremony at London’s Royal Albert Hall.
Opportunity and inspiration
Project Lehar, run by the Aga Khan Foundation with our support, offers vocational training, entrepreneurship and life skills courses for girls and young women from low-income backgrounds in northern India. In the regions where Lehar is delivered, young women often face barriers to education, leading to limited opportunities for formal employment outside their home or village. Lehar supports young women to overcome these constraints, enabling many to rejoin school and graduate from college, like Naina has done.
Alongside her studies, Naina worked as a farm labourer and tutored young children to pay her own school fees. Through her determination, she has inspired and encouraged 15 other girls from her community to enrol in school. Since then, through her role as a Lehar trainer, she has continued to support and empower many more young women, becoming a role model in her community.
During her time on the Project Lehar programme, Naina was inspired by the trainers there and saw in them possibilities for her own future. Soon afterwards, she secured her dream job.
‘I dreamt of becoming a facilitator like the trainers at the Lehar Centre, and today I have become one,’ Naina explains. ‘Lehar taught me to dream. It helped me visualise that everything is possible if I believe.’
The skills, courage and confidence to drive change
As a life skills facilitator, Naina now supports hundreds of girls each year to develop the skills they need to support themselves and shape their own future, so that they too can complete their schooling, pursue their aspirations and become respected, protected and valued as equal agents for social and economic change in their families and communities. This includes activities to help girls build their capabilities and confidence around contributing their ideas and opinions, influencing others and holding their ground.
In Naina’s work training others, she draws on many of the skills she honed as a programme participant, including around how to effectively engage parents about schooling and employment and how to motivate young women like herself to challenge norms and dream big. For Naina and her trainees, the fight for education is life changing, an essential step in driving the movement where all young women in the region feel encouraged to stay in school and build a better future for themselves.
Naina’s own job with Lehar, and its regular salary, has transformed her life and prospects. After investing some of her earnings in buying a motorbike, she can now travel independently, which has expanded her horizons and her aspirations. Wherever her journey takes her in future, she will go far.