Strengthening Adolescent Girls with Sex Education

In Spite of the challenges faced due to the ongoing Pandemic, Kolkata Sanved was able to overcome the limitations and conduct  Sexual and Reproductive Health & Rights (SRHR0 sessions with the  Tribal adolescent girls from the backward remote village of  Jharkhand in India, in collaboration with Aahan Foundation which works closely with the Tribal community. The participants were young tribal girls from 14 to 24 years of age from Angara Village near Ranchi, Jharkhand. The girls would come to the Community center for their online SRHR sessions conducted in the month of June & July (when the raging pandemic was under control), with 10 participants, keeping all covid protocols in mind.

The sessions focused on topics like body awareness, learning about body parts, differences between gender and gender stressors and also touched upon intersex and transgender issues. This was the 1^st time SRHR was conducted in online mode. The DMT practitioners faced several challenges because of internet connectivity issues and power outages in the village. However through improvisation like shifting to WhatsApp video calls, home assignments etc the sessions were conducted successfully.

The facilitators found the participants to be inhibited in their expressiveness. They were also feeling shy and were not very vocal during the sessions. However as the sessions progressed the participants felt more comfortable.  A care provider from Aahan Foundation was present during the session. She observed the entire session and gave positive feedback in the end. She mentioned that even though she had taken classes with the participants before, she had never seen the girls speaking and participating this freely and she was pleased to see their transformation.

The session also involved learning about HIV, AIDS, how it spreads and the need for prevention and protection.

In Spite of the challenges faced due to the ongoing Pandemic, Kolkata Sanved was able to overcome the limitations and conduct online sessions on Sexual & Reproductive Health & Rights (SRHR)  with the Tribal adolescent girls from the backward remote village in Jharkhand in India, in collaboration with Aahan Foundation, which works closely with the Tribal community. 10 adolescent Tribal girls would come to the Community center for their online SRHR sessions conducted in the month of June & July (when the raging pandemic was under control), keeping all covid protocols in mind.

The sessions focused on topics like body awareness, learning about body parts, differences between gender and gender stressors and also touched upon intersex and transgender issues. This was the 1^st time SRHR was conducted in online mode. The DMT practitioners faced several challenges because of internet connectivity issues and power outages in the village. However through improvisation like shifting to WhatsApp video calls, home assignments etc the sessions were conducted successfully. 

Twelve adolescent girls living in backward slum areas of Topsia in Kolkata were taken through workshops on Sexual and Reproductive Health & Rights (SRHR), in the month of February, when the Pandemic was somewhat under control. The workshop was conducted in collaboration with Ek Tara, an organisation working with marginalized women and children in the slums of Topsia and Tiljala in the city of Kolkata. The youngsters from this community face high risk of early marriage and teen pregnancy.

Adolescent girls were taken through the sessions on body awareness, sex and Gender stressors across life span, menstruation, HIV/AIDS and safe space.  The participants were high on energy and enthusiasm, very comfortable with their bodies, their movements being open and free. Facilitators did not notice any hesitance in their body language. However, when speaking on taboo subjects like sex or private parts of the body, they were shy and were reluctant to speak.

The main objective of conducting SRHR for the youngsters in the backward communities was to make them aware of the pitfalls of early marriage and pregnancy, menstruation, personal hygiene apart from a discussion on creating awareness on the spread of HIV and AIDS. 

This year due to the on-going  Covid 19 Pandemic, uncertainty, fear, loss of loved ones and for some even livelihood, struggle for survival, threw challenges to many. Kolkata Sanved employees rapidly adapted to the new norm and embraced the new skill of working on a virtual mode. We received enormous support, love and energy from our program participants, partners, friends, supporters and well-wishers. Armed with strength and positivity, work went on in full swing, in spite of all the challenges faced. Taking care of all safety precautions and with covid19 protocols in place, office premises re-opened from July onwards.

Emergency Support for Covid 19  and Amphan continued and extended to additional areas. Several field visits were conducted and most of our Dance Movement Therapy (DMT) intervention program started online, both in West Bengal and Maharashtra.

Sexual and Reproductive Health & Rights (SRHR) being an experiential process has been resumed by taking extreme precautions. A total of 30 young adolescent girls were taken through SRHR at NOSKK, Bauria, in Howrah district. Due to the on-going pandemic, the group was broken into small groups of 10 participants, thereby ensuring physical distancing during the session.