Pehchan was  an innovative project that seeks to bring "missing girls" back to the mainstream education system. Pehchan owes its genesis to a state level school enrolment survey conducted by the State Government in 2000. The results of this survey, published as Shiksha Darpan, indicated that approximately 20,000 girls in the age group of 9-14 years were out of school in Jaipur district. The district collector approached UNICEF to initiate a project to ensure the education of these girls and Pehchan was formulated. Pehchan aimed to change the prevalent attitudes towards female education, ensure education for out-of-school girls and work with mainstream government schools to bring about qualitative improvement in the education provided.

Pehchan began in August 2002 in two blocks of Jaipur with the support of the district administration and financial assistance from UNICEF. The aims of the project were to create education opportunities for girls between the ages of 9 to 14 years and who had not been able to go to school, work with government schools to improve the quality of education available there and work with the community to create an environment for the education of girls.