Shaping Future of Adolescent Girls inLucknow Slums

First of all, we take this opportunity to wish a great and giving New Year 2017 to GlobalGiving and all our donors. We are grateful for our work with you in 2016, and we look forward to working together in the New Year 2017.Your continued support brings high value in terms of building platforms & community volunteers for adolescent girls, changing mindsets and behaviours, life skills vocational and mainstreaming with public service provisions in slums of Lucknow.

During this quarter with your support, we reached, engaged and impacted 2660 adolescent girls and their families through a range of our participatory activities such as social behaviour change map, integrated slum action plan, Kishori Utsav (Adolescent Girls Festival), health camps, adolescent girls groups sessions, women group meetings.

 Integrated slum action plans, change maps, community volunteers, adolescent girls groups   have been developed in each of 100 slums covered under this project. 300 adolescent girls groups, 400 community volunteers, 100 women groups have been developed to facilitate adolescent girls empowerment and community development in these slums. Slum action plan is the result of five days excise at slum level engaging adolescent girls, women, wider community members and service providers like health workers, ward members on indicators linked with children, adolescent girls and community needs. These indicators are child & early marriage, children & adolescent girls out of school, menstrual hygiene management, anaemia, immunisation, water, sanitation, mother and child health & nutrition. It spells out problems, self, collective and government actions required to the address the problems. Behavioural changes like sending girls to schools, marrying girls after attaining legal age of 18 years at minimum, hand wash, toilet use, exclusive breast feeding, service seeking.

 As a result of this, more than 80% adolescent girls are going to school and continuing their education, child and early marriages are not happening due to mobilisation, drop out girls have attended basic life courses and vocational training programmes to shape their future, use of toilets and availability of water sources have increased. Community volunteers and adolescent girls are emerging as change makers in their communities. It is encouraging to note that adolescent girls now take self initiatives towards their health issues and needs, sanitation, education and rights. They regularly availing health services like TT vaccination, Iron Folic Pills under government schemes, maintaining their menstruation hygiene like use of sanitary pads, participating in vocational & skill development trainings, counselling of parents on risks of early marriages. 180 adolescent girls were linked with vocational training providers in areas of computer education, setting up beauty parlour, tailoring etc. Awareness raising on water, sanitation, hygiene, health, nutrition has facilitated improvement in behaviours like hand WASH with soap practice and  use of sanitary pads in 60% girls & their families , use of toilets, safe handling of water & food. Demand generated through adolescent girls and community volunteers developed under the project has also enhanced uptake of public service like-190 adolescent girls and children in 68% families were immunised.Thus, adolescent girls empowerment is very well linked with community development.  

This story is of Haidar Canal, one of the slums identified in Lucknow during slum mapping at initial stage of Saloni Project.The slum was suffering from major health issues like diarrhoea, Cholera. Witnessing this turning a serious issue in the slum, Saloni Mitra (community volunteer) Raju, Meena and Sarojini discussed this with the community during their group meetings. In this meeting they realised the reason behind high rate of illness among people was the water supply system. They raised the issue to local governance institution (Municipality Ward Member).They kept visiting and raising their issue until it was resolved. Their constant approach and initiatives moved the authority.The Municipal Corporation has placed a water tank in less than a month providing safe drinking water in each house of this slum.