Adolescent and teenage girls are particularly vulnerable in India. They are frequently pulled out of school and pushed into early marriage before they are old enough to understand and pursue their options in life. The Nike Foundation is helping Freedom from Hunger change that. The $1 million, three-year grant will support the development and distribution of Freedom from Hunger's Learning Conversations - a simple and powerful innovation in dialogue-based adult education-through a network of women's self-help groups (and the organizations that support them). The plan is to reach millions of girls in some of the poorest rural communities of the poorest states of India, including Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal. As a part of these self-help groups, girls will also have the opportunity to save money and develop the discipline to do so. They will learn about how to manage a home-based business as well as how to protect their own health and the health of their families. Special Learning Conversations are in development that will help all women - girls, mothers and mothers-in-law - understand the dangers of early marriage. These include increased fertility rates, a greater risk of infant and child mortality, and anemia in mothers. The self-help groups will provide the social support required to help women stand up for the needs of adolescent and teenage girls and against early marriage.