Improving sexual and
reproductive health
and rights in India
Providing a replicable, low-cost model of youth-friendly information
and services to improve adolescent SRHR outcomes in India
Authors: A Nic Charthaigh, R Goldberger (Interact Worldwide) & R Harvey (Plan UK)
The issue:
Addressing a lack of focus on Sexual and
Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) in India,
particularly for young men and women. Turning
national government commitments into action
at a local level and ensuring accountability to
young people and their communities.
The project:
“Promoting Rights-based Action to Improve Youth
& Adolescent Sexual & Reproductive Health & HIV/
AIDS in India” or “PRAYASH” for short is a five year
project run in West Bengal and Jharkhand by Child
In Need Institute India (CINI) and other partners,
with technical support from Interact Worldwide and
financial assistance from the EU.
How it works:
Taking a holistic approach, the project
developed integrated community based
programmes, with a strong emphasis on
promoting adoption and scale up
by State Governments under youth
‘Plans of Action’.
Providing space for the participation
of vulnerable young people, parents,
community and religious leaders, the
project aims to improve quality of and
access to youth friendly SRHR services,
as well as to increase knowledge, life
skills and awareness of SRHR, HIV and
AIDS and gender amongst vulnerable
young women and men.
What it means:
of service providers and partner Civil Society
Organisations through training and
information sharing
Scale up will enable the project to reach over
10 million young people and 3,600 service
providers. In addition, advocacy efforts have led
to significant improvements in young people’s
access to appropriate services - 67% of young
people surveyed reported feeling more comfortable
attending services.
» CINI developed a training toolkit on adolescent
Meetings with the Ministry of Sports and Youth
Affairs and the Department for Women and Children
have led to a commitment to scale up in 12 districts
of Jharkhand and West Bengal.
departmental priorities at local and national levels
» Scaling up involves working with and integrating
1. T he value of direct involvement of boys and
into government structures while preventing
dilution of activities and services. Following
a scalability assessment, and taking into
consideration various Government Departments’
Youth Initiatives, CINI developed a strong
advocacy plan with the state at community,
block, district and state levels.
girls in combined peer education and advocacy
»1,600 peer educators have been trained to
»
»
co-facilitate SRHR and life skills education
programmes in secondary schools. The most
passionate have been offered additional training
to act as agents of change in their community
and carry out advocacy with local level elected
officials.
Almost 3,000 sensitisation meetings with 27,000
community stakeholders have been held to
discuss issues and scrutinize progress reports
and plans. Attendees have included community
government representatives, block level officials,
teachers, parents and village health committee
members.
So far, around 5,000 young people have taken
part in two youth conventions involving media
and local authorities.
2. The value of involving parents & communities
» Youth Adult Committees provide space for
discussion between parents, project staff and
young people on the content of training and
activities. This has helped to assuage parents’
fears and ensure they do not withdraw their
children, particularly girls, from the project.
22,000 people attended over 100 health fairs with
national and local government representatives
so far. Offering health check ups, counselling
services, nutrition camps and cultural and
competitive activities, these health fairs seek to
sensitise community members on SRH issues
and to increase respect for young people,
particularly girls.
Interact Worldwide joined global children’s charity Plan UK as a sister organisation in 2009.
»
SRHR, gender and rights for use with service
providers and peer educators. Service providers
were supported to make services youth friendly
and to act as trainers during scaling up in the
twelve districts.
Twelve Self Help Groups have received training
on HIV, early marriage, early pregnancy,
contraception, abortion and other issues.
4.The need for sensitivity to government and
What we’ve learned:
»
plan+interact.repro.indd 1
3. The benefits of strengthening the capacity
“The amount of respect and love
that I now receive from my fellow
community members is heartening.
Being involved in this entire process has
helped me gain a vision and a new
perspective towards life. Earlier I never
thought of pursuing a career but now I do.
I don’t want to merely get married and
have children, I want to work.
Despite initial opposition, my parents now
support me.”
Rufida, PRAYASH Youth Leader
Plan UK is learning from this model to
inform programmes and advocacy as part
of their Because I Am a Girl campaign.
Interact Worldwide registered charity number: 1001698
Plan International UK registered charity number 276035
20/05/2011 13:42