Strengthening Adolescent Girls with Sex Education

Kolkata Sanved collaborated with Jeevika Development Society in Joka and Institute of Psychological and Educational Research (IPER) Lake Gardens, to conduct  Dance Movement Therapy based Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) workshops over a period of six months.

The participants were young adolescent girls between the age group of 12 years to 18 years. The participants at Jeevika were from remote villages of South 24 Parganas and the participants at IPER belonged from marginalized sections of the community at Lake Gardens in the city of Kolkata. In both cases the partner organization assessed that the youngsters often faced various types of gender-based violence and are prone to become prey due to lack of knowledge about basic rights especially sexual reproductive health rights. The rate of child marriage is also high in the areas where these children live. Topics discussed during the sessions were on body awareness, body mapping, Sex and Gender, Gender stressors, Menstrual Cycle and Reproduction, HIV, navigating safe relationships and understanding safe space.

The group had great enthusiasm in attending the sessions. They were able to follow instructions while doing the movements. The girls have some restrictions at home, like pressure of getting married, resistance towards education but they are still trying to complete their schooling in spite of the resistance. They were able to identify the gender based stereotypes and restrictions that they have to face at home as they are girls. Sessions  related to safe and unsafe relationships and the concept of consent, sexual intimacy, family planning methods were discussed with the group to make them aware about their sexual reproductive health rights. 

Objectives :

 -Creating body awareness among participants and helping them understand their own body 

-Helping participants understand the difference between sex and gender and gender stressors at present and during the lifespan.
-Helping participants understand the menstrual cycle and reproduction 
-Helping participants understand safe unsafe relationships and helping them identify safe space
The group had great enthusiasm for attending the sessions. They were able to follow instructions while doing the movements. As the girls come from remote villages of South 24 Parganas in the state of West Bengal, they shared that all of them have some restrictions or the other at home like the pressure of getting married, and resistance towards education but they are still trying to complete their schooling in spite of the resistance. They were also quite interested in learning about Dance Movement Therapy in detail and based on the practitioner's feedback these girls can be introduced to TOT (Training of Trainers) which helps us in reaching out to more adolescent girls from in and around their villages in South 24 Parganas in West Bengal.  

• 

Online SRHR workshops have been facilitated in Angara, Jharkhand with the help of Aahan Foundation, an organization working with the Tribal community in that area. The workshop was facilitated with the objective of providing adolescent girls access to information on issues surrounding body awareness, sex, gender, menstruation, and sexually transmitted diseases. Through the workshop, Kolakata Sanved was able to reach out to 20 tribal girls in the age range of 12 to 21. The sessions were well received and gave the girls an opportunity to ask questions and have a discussion on issues that are otherwise considered taboo. The participants moved freely in the class and were able to connect the information shared with them to their daily lives.
At the end of the sessions the participants shared that they will share this information with others and  will try to have open conversations about their bodies and sex and saftey with their friends. Despite the challenges that accompany online sessions, overall the SRHR workshops were successful and received positive feedback from the participants and the care provider present at the session.