According to Sivananthi Thanenthiran, Executive Director of ARROW, "Today young people are not passive recipients of social change, they are active and eager to use their skills and contribute to achieve sustainable development in the areas of environment, climate and economic development within communities to foster prosperity for people and the planet. We are seeing young people at the forefront of the SRHR movement, as leaders, programme implementers, social entrepreneurs, innovators, peer educators realising SRHR not only for themselves but for the communities."
Although the initiatives are nascent and pilot in scope, they are demonstrating change. Tanya says, "Our trainings have helped women and girls understand their anatomy. Earlier, women would go to the doctor with their husbands and he would talk to the doctor about his wife's ailment. But, because of this initiative, women are now able to speak for themselves." She adds that young girls are quick to adapt and eager to learn. For example, the girls are using sanitary napkins and menstrual cups. They are far more confident about their bodies. Tanya's initiative reaches about 300 women in Uttarakhand, India. She has trained 20 girls from the community who can help women and girls access the chatbot on sexual and reproductive health and rights and answer any questions. "Technology cannot work in silos," Tanya says.
In Sindh, Pakistan, Sabir's project has trained women to form groups called 'Saheli' (which means friend) of 20 women each. It has already reached out to 300 women.
"We train the women in these working groups, build their capacities and provide them with office space and resources like internet use," Sabir says. These groups were successful in sensitising decision makers to ensure prevention of gender-based violence and sexual abuse in relief camps during the recent floods.
As youth changemakers come together at the upcoming festival, it will be interesting to see the sharing of ideas from across countries and learning from each other. As Sai rightly notes, "Normalising the conversations, and creative problem solving around SRHR information and services is the way to go forward. Young people are ready, it is now for the ecosystem around young people to be facilitative and enable them to translate their worth and capabilities into action at the ground level."
Sumita Thapar - CNS (Citizen News Service)
(Sumita Thapar is CNS Special Correspondent and writing from 2022 Asia Youth Festival on Innovation for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. She is a noted journalist and development communication expert. Follow her on Twitter: @SumitaT or read: www.bit.ly/SumitaThapar )
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