Empowering Youth through Life Skills and SRH Education

Project Profile. Samjhauta Nepal (SMJ) implemented the RHIYA from September 2003 to August 2006 through 6 local implementing partner NGOs in mostly rural areas of Bara, Mahottari and Dhanusha districts. The specific objective of SMJ was to contribute to improve practices / behavior among adolescents & youths (A/Y) and increase utilization of SRH services by A/Y.
SMJ aimed to empower underserved and vulnerable A/Y with life skills & appropriate information and education on reproductive and sexual health (SRH) & reproductive rights, gender based violence (GBV) and girl trafficking. Local NGO partners, community people and A/Y were actively involved in planning, management, knowledge dissemination & community action. A/Y had the opportunity to carry out peer education by receiving training, and then to conduct classes in their group and share knowledge to ensure sustainability.
SMJ’s major activities were planning & coordination meetings, family gathering, group saving, capacity building training to NGOs staff or health service providers, training of trainers (ToT) to field workers & NGOs staff, mobile workshop / group orientation for group members, awareness activities, advocacy activities, development / distribution of IEC/BCC materials, operation of 22 youth information centres (YIC) & 6 youth friendly service delivery points (YFSDP), village / district level exit workshops…etc.

Strategy. SMJ identified low levels of information, education and communication on basic life skills, SRH and other health issues especially among female A/Y. This was exacerbated by social problems such as illiteracy, gender discrimination, sexual abuse / violence including girls trafficking & prostitution. Parents, teachers, health & social workers lacked of knowledge and skills to identify specific problems / needs of A/Y and support or guide them.
To address these issues SMJ focused on knowledge dissemination to create favourable attitudes and actions at local level for raising awareness. Awareness rising was also realized through exchange visits & promotion / sharing of RHIYA program. SMJ further focused on building linkages, coordination and economic opportunities with local line agencies and GoN health centres to support SRH service utilization, and also on knowledge enhancement by developing a manual for out of school A/Y & training master trainers, community stakeholders and PE. SMJ also insisted on the integration of SRH education with life skills, on the establishment of YIC and its linkage to YFSDP & health posts and on increased access to SRH information & services to A/Y through YIC, YFSDP and health posts.
It also focused on capacity building of staffs and local partners by training on PME office management, administration / finance and manual development; coordination with community & community campaigns. Community involvement was a crucial aspect of the implementation modality. It reached 12863 A/Y organized into 792 groups, in 22 VDC.

Outputs.
1) Increased political, community and family support for A/Y SRH intervention and prevention of HIV/AIDS and drug abuse: To reach this goal, 624 advocacy events attended by 59,323 people (with more than 50% of A/Y & females) were organized including by YIC & YFSDP, group members, PE and staffs. These included stakeholder meetings like RHCC, community meetings with parents / officials; special days such as AIDS day or international day against drug abuse others such as rallies, street drama…which created enabling environment. In addition, 26,603 community stakeholders such as parents, local leaders or teachers were provided with ASRH knowledge. Also, to strengthen linkage with officials, 32 activities wherein 3894 people participated were jointly organized with GoN’s offices at district / village level such as advocacy events, workshops or network meetings. 1220 local political leaders participated in 376 ASRH activities & repeatedly attended village level networking committee / parents / official meetings and workshops which shows a support to interventions. Besides 813 planning & coordination committee meetings were organized at the level of district, village, YIC &YFSDP to advise/ improve management or networking.

2) Improved knowledge & awareness on SRH, HIV/AIDS related issues among A/Y: ASRH training & IEC materials were developed to improve SRH related knowledge & skills: 3025 reading materials (IEC/BCC) on SRH / other health issues were collected from different I/NGOs/GOs and distributed to the 22 YIC & 6 YFSDP for use by A/Y as per their needs. E.g.: Booklets on life skills by UNAIDS on How to make effective the personal relations...etc. In addition, ASRH IEC materials (newsletter, wall charts, diary…) & media messages were disseminated by / for A/Y and also to NGO partners, line agencies and other stakeholders. E.g.: SMJ publications were given to the 12863 members of the 792 A/Y groups to discuss / learn on SRH. Also, other awareness programs on ASRH issues were implemented such as street drama, video shows and 69587 A/Y participated in mobile workshops / group orientations organized topics such as: life skill & micro enterprise/credit, ASRH, HIV/AIDS, record system of YIC & YFSDP, GBV, human trafficking...etc after the TOT to PE to discuss and acquire knowledge on SRH and develop A/Y’s ownership of the program.

3) Improved access to quality youth oriented SRH services: altogether 9383 A/Y (4026 M & 5357F) consulted service providers to receive treatment, test, referral & counselling in 22 YIC & 6 YFSDP including on family planning (FP), abortion, STI, HIV-AIDS, drug, sexual problems, GBV, girls trafficking, on others such as burns, fever…etc. A total of 1345 A/Y were referred to higher quality health facilities especially by YFSDP & YIC and also by PE, youth volunteers & YIC management committee members when needed. Also, 46500 condoms were distributed in YIC &YFSDP. PE provided 80,3623 A/Y (26,5629 M & 32,6363 F) with education on FP, STIs, HIV/AIDS, delivery / pregnancy / abortion, GBV, drug, SRH life skills & credit…etc. They were responsible to teach/guide/discuss with group members twice a week, under the supervision of in charges & district programme managers.

4) Enhanced technical, planning & managerial capacity among community leaders & local NGOs/CBOs in the provision of ASRH information & services: Altogether 2536 staff / volunteers of implementing partners were trained to provide youth friendly SRH services, including 27 medical staffs, 155 counsellors, 1866 PE and 488 others such as 42 teachers, 58 health service providers of government etc. Also 100 FWs, 22 YIC representatives, 6 YFSDP representatives, 14 program staff and 6 NGOs representatives participated in all the 12 TOTs (on topics such as group strengthening, life skill & credit / micro enterprise, ASRH, counselling , GBV…) & 1 programme orientation training. Moreover, 182 AY/ staff participated in exchange visits, and staff made field visits 52 times to further enhance their capacities through the learning and sharing of experiences.

Lessons learned. Collaboration/coordination is important: Village level coordination committee was a very acceptable sensitization tool and resulted in local partnership & ownership. Community mobilization in planning & implementing activities and collaboration with local stakeholders like the VDC committee & with authorities is the best strategy for success & sustainability despite local disturbances due to political instability. It promotes information exchange and support in each others initiatives. Also, implementation of the program by district based NGOs & recruitment of local facilitators result in local resource development and continuation of the delivery of the services after the program. Collaboration with local clubs is also important for the placement of YIC/YFSDP.

IEC material development in local languages is most important; the material and their messages are more effective, interesting and communicable to the target audience as most of them speak Maithili or Bhojpuri. Shorter & colourful IEC/BCC materials (wall charts, posters) attract & disseminate information more purposefully than the long book/booklets. Review of IEC/BCC materials & feedback from target audience is a proven good strategy for further improvement/development of these materials and thus for sustainability of activities.

ASRH issues: YIC/YFSDP operation / management by youths were effective means of service delivery to A/Y. A/Y render services more frequently related to ASRH issues through the YIC/YFSDP as they feel it more accessible and approachable. However, due to budget limitation, the YIC & YFSDP lack sufficient furniture & furnishing as per their demand. ASRH communication was best achieved through gatekeepers (parents, guardians…) involvement & wall charts / posters. Extra curricular activities like games, essays, library and other entertainment materials are major attractors of A/Y to the YIC. Thus the location assessment is more critical. SRH intervention alone is not enough to catch the concentration of poor & marginalized A/Y. The demand is huge for income generation programmes.

Sustainability plan is best achieved through community participation, integration into the regular activities of local NGOs, government facilities or other service providers, volunteers’ activities, financial support from national/local authorities and local donors and funding of the activities by UNFPA country programme.

Partner profile. Samjhauta Nepal was established as a secular, non-partisan, national NGO in 2001, and is a former implementing office of Pact Inc. It aims to empower communities especially women and girls to break the vicious cycle of poverty and discrimination through empowerment and education. SMJ’s mission is to create opportunities for women, men and children to develop skills & resources needed to achieve social, economic, political, civil and environmental justice, to improve their livelihoods and strengthen their organizations and their voices in local government through participatory planning and actions. Under RHIYA, SMJ aimed to empower underserved & vulnerable A/Y with life skills & appropriate information and education on SRH & reproductive rights, GBV and girl trafficking.

Contact: Samjhauta Nepal Suvidha Nagar Kathmandu Nepal Tel/Fax: +977-1-4469872