Better Information for Young People Program

Project Profile. From September 2003 to October 2006, B.P. Memorial Health Foundation (BPMHF) implemented the RHIYA project in 10 VDC of Nawalparasi district and Kathmandu valley, targeting 34,000 vulnerable, marginalized and deprived A/Y aged 10-24, but covering around 306,946 of them finally (160,778 M & 146,168 F).
A comprehensive package of programme intervention was carried out with the aim of changing their lifestyle by raising their SRH awareness and changing their behaviours positively, by mobilizing them and involving community stakeholders side by side with local CBOs and their networks. BPMHF also aimed to improve A/Y’s SRH status and contribute to improve the use of SRH services for A/Y and other populations.
The project mainly addressed low level of A/Y awareness on SRH, HIV/AIDS and drug abuse and the gap between SRH knowledge & attitude / practices among A/Y through mobilizing local resources for sustaining successful approaches beyond the project. Activities were ranged from development of training manuals / IEC materials, to conduction of street drama, hotline counselling, IEC fairs, various trainings to A/Y, staff, teachers, health service providers & peer educators (PE) and capacity building / sustainability of youth information centres (YIC), school libraries & youth friendly service delivery points (YFSDP).

Strategy. To implement the project effectively, BPMHF involved & mobilized community stakeholders such as political / religious leaders, teachers, parents, kiths & kin and other gatekeepers. The mobilization process was carried out through youth clubs (YC) and schools. All community programmes including A/Y’s selection for peer education training, were organized through direct leadership of schools and local YC. However, some changes were made with UPSU’s approval, for activities to be more effective & functional among them.
Concerning YFSDP & YIC, BPMHF added some more activities because the initial design was not sufficient to reap the expected results. Besides trainings & IEC materials, part time SRH service providers and periodic review workshops were hired in YFSDP and the premises were opened during the days off, to increase A/Y’s visits. BPMHF also added proposal & report writing trainings, supply of audiovisual sets and recruited 1 paid youth mobilizer to the YIC, besides its furniture & IEC materials. These created visual impact among the local people toward BPMHF and made the 10 YIC more functional.
In addition, 1 more school was added to the 20 already chosen to implement the school program for covering the target areas with SRH education, & half a day orientation meeting with teachers was conducted. Furthermore, 970 A/Y received PE training instead of the 450 originally set because of the additional school & also to balance gender proportion among PE.
Also, in order to make the Hotline Counselling Service regular, one part time counsellor was provisioned to continue the services during the leave period of regular counsellors. Some other activities like a video film development activity and a dissemination workshop were re-planned, to disseminate the project learning / experiences to a wider national & international audience with the aim of internalizing them.

Outputs.
1) Increased political and community support for ASRH interventions: 20 introductory & 20 sensitization meetings with 1356 parents, teachers, political leaders & other local stakeholders were held to sensitize & mobilize them on ASRH interventions. 50 planning & coordination meeting attended by 395 A/Y were also held to orient them on community / A/Y mobilization, activity implementation and running of YIC. Moreover, advocacy events were held to enhance ASRH understanding among stakeholders and increase their support; it included 40 community fairs, 2 condom / 2 AIDS days, a football competition etc…organized at the occasion of local festivals/special events to reach more people. 22,397 A/Y (10530M, 11867F) & 8535 adults (4049 M, 4486F) participated. Sign of the increased support of politcal leaders, 617 of them participated to 129 events such as fairs, day celebration or meeting...etc. Finally, the 3 meetings organized with district stakeholders such as district primary health officers or VDC representatives, and networking & linkages workshops / meetings such as RHCC meetings also helped to gain support and trust from different organizations & parners and also to orient and updating them about the progresses made.

2) Increased awareness & SRH & HIV-AIDS knowledge among A/Y: To reach this goal, 103 oratory contests (40 in communities, 63 in schools), 103 quiz contests, 40 street dramas, 40 video shows, condom / AIDS day, population & women days were organized in collaboration with A/Y, parents, teachers, political leaders and other local CBOs. In addition, 10 project phase out meetings in the project VDCs were organized to inform the communities about formal end of activities. 65,728 A/Y (32116M, 33612F) & 28,330 adults (13,619M; 14,711F) participated in the events. BPMHF also developed, printed Hotline poster and 4000 copies of it were distributed. Hotline counselling service was advertised in various national / weekly magazines to inform A/Y throughout the country about this service. Also, 60,020 copies of different IEC materials on SRH/HIV-AIDS developed by BPMHF, RHIYA partners & others were distributed to A/Y, YFSDP, YIC, schools & local CBOs to increase A/Y’sknowledge and improve their attitudes. Similarly, YFS delivery information was broadcasted on the local radio to reach large numbers of A/Y on SRH/HIV-AIDS issues.

3) Improved access to information & quality youth oriented SRH services: The 10 YIC hosted reading centres providing IEC, furniture & game materials, audiovisual / sound systems,...etc. YIC members received PE, proposal & report writing trainings and 24 follow up meetings to improve their delivery & planning skills for running reading centres. 23,100 A/Y in total visited the YIC. The 10 YFSDP were given furniture & quality clinical equipments. Service providers & center / staff were also given several days trainings on YFS, counselling, IPM, STI. YFSDP provided treatment, test and counselling to 20,441 A/Y & 750 A/Y were referred to higher health institutions. Furthermore, 970 (477M, 493F) peer educators provided 236,327 A/Y with knowledge, counselling and referral on FP, abortion, STI, HIV-AIDS, drugs, SRH, GBV, life skills etc. Also, 128 follow up meetings with PE were held to share experiences and receive guidance by project staff. The 21 schools were given furniture, IEC materials & books for school libraries, 121 teachers (105M, 16F) were trained on ASRH issues. Finally, 9749 A/Y were provided with hotline counselling instituted at BPMHF's central office to receive counselling on ASRH issues such as sexual desire/satisfaction, wet dreams and other concerns. It was a key achievement of BPMHF.

4) Enhanced technical, planning and managerial capacity among GoN & local NGOs / CBOs in the provision of ASRH information & services: 10 advisory committees were formed (1 in each VDC) with community stakeholders & A/Y representatives in order to plan activities effectively & manage problems through interaction & meetings. In addition, financial / administrative personnel manuals were upgraded & revised to be ajusted with UNFPA’s standards and were produced in Nepali & English to reach target groups. Also, a variety of trainings, orientations & workshops to staff (inc. project managers) A/Y & community stakeholders were held to increase their capacities & skills. The project team provided guidance & logistic support to the survey team for baselines / endlines & client exit surveys and conducted 25 M & E visits to observe Hotline counseling service, YIC, YFSDP, PE, A/Y and give recommendations. To share experience & disseminate lessons learned, several review meetings at various levels were held, a video film on BPMHF program was developed and launched on RHIYA final AG meeting and a dissemination seminar was held at district headquarter. Also exchange/exposure visits allowed staff / board member and A/Y to learn about activities implemented by other organizations on ASRH.

Lessons learned. Community people support the programme if they are involved from the beginning through introductory & sensitization meetings. Parents, teachers are important to involve A/Y in RH intervention. Coordination with youth clubs, VDC representatives and schools also make supportive environment and helps continuing the activities after the project. Advisory committee meeting is very supportive to create enabling environment. Program can be implemented even during the conflict situation if implemented in fair and transparent way.

Multi-sectoral approach is essential to reach marginalized A/Y: Integration of income generation & vocational trainings is essential to reach to the marginalized group, as direct benefit will attract them. The ASRH program alone will not attract marginalized A/Y as they cannot afford to spend time for these because they have to earn bread for them and family. Also A/Y keep busy during weekdays therefore, as far possible, major activities with them should be planned during weekends and/or public holidays. Moreover there should be provision of free of charge on Hotline calls for A/Y, because A/Y cannot afford phone calls.

Establishment of YIC in local youth clubs is effective for continuation after the end of the project. Strengthening YIC requires regular guidance & sufficient supply of IEC / BCC, audiovisual & sports materials to attract A/Y. The project staff faced difficulties for conducting follow up meetings with out of school PE as they were living in different places. The problem was solved by organizing them in YICs. Out of school PE follow ups would not be possible without allocating some money to cover up their transportation expenses.

Comprehensive service is essential in YFSDP in order to increase the access of ASRH services to A/Y. A/Y want to avoid visiting service center time and again so want to be served with all essential check up, test and medicine during the same visit. Services can be continued linking it with existing GoN programs from the beginning or allocating seed money if to run the clinic in off days. Service providers should be of the same sex with service seekers especially in the rural areas. It is an important factor among A/Y for visiting the YFSDP.

Partner profile. BPMHF is a non-governmental organisation established in 1991, with the aim of serving the nation's health needs and has been working incessantly with mostly adolescent/young people of different communities in the reproductive health field. On top of that, the organisation has been conducting mobile VSC camps throughout different parts of the country. Its mission is to facilitate and create a congenial environment for ensuring equitable health access through providing needs based technical assistance and support to both local organisations and individuals for awareness raising. It aims to make them more able to enjoy the health facilities needed for a healthy life.
(BPMHF), a non profit making non governmental organization having its central office at Baluwatar in Kathmandu district and field office at Kawasoti in Nawalparasi district.

Contact: BP Memorial Health Foundation, New Baneswar, Post Box n° 9694, Katmandu, Nepal, Tel: +4780861, Fax: +4780076, Email: bpmhf@ecomail.com.np