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.