Situation Analysis:

• Over half of India’s population consists of young persons - the largest youth generation in history.
• While young persons contribute 66% towards India’s total fertility, 50% young girls suffer from one or the other RH problem beside being anemic.
• Complications of pregnancy and childbirth for young girls are a leading cause of death with unsafe abortion as a major factor.
• Neo-natal mortality is 63% among children born to mothers less than 20years of age.
• About 50% of all HIV infections occur among young persons.
• Highly vulnerable to risks and most disempowered are adolescents (15-19 yrs) who comprise 33% of youth population and contribute towards 17% of total fertility.
• 31% of girls and 33% boys (age 12-19) get married, while 60% married girls (age 15-19 yrs) have one child.
• Over 15% girls experience physical violence or ill-treatment at the hands of their husband or family members.
• 60% school children 13-15 years are victims of sex abuse.
• A large number of adolescents work in vulnerable situation. They are sexually active, exposed to peer pressure and tobacco & drug abuse and coercived to trafficking.
• Talking about sexuality is a taboo subject. There are restrictive interpretations of ideologies, customs and traditions and the society is apprehensive of adolescents access to SRH information and services, making young persons vulnerable to risks.

Strategic Direction: By building partnership with municipal and government schools in the operational areas of the MA to provide gender sensitive, adolescent-friendly sexual and reproductive health education and services to school going adolescents in 10-16 years of age.

Goal: All adolescents and young people are aware of their sexual and reproductive rights, are empowered to make informed choices and decisions regarding their sexual and reproductive health; and are able to act on them.

Objective:

To strengthen commitment of authorities to adapt, adopt and implement sexual and reproductive health and rights package in 50% of municipal/ government schools.

Activities:

• Assess advocacy needs for adolescents’ SRH&R, develop policy statement on adolescents and youth and organize campaigns to sensitise community to adolescents SRH needs.
• Review-develop and disseminate BCC&PR materials on adolescents’ SRH&R.
• Organise interactive meetings/round tables to disseminate among key stakeholders lessons learnt and implementation of programmes on adolescents’ SRH&R gender and power relations.
• Assess training needs for advocacy of adolescents SRH&R, develop training modules and materials and hold training programmes for promotion of adolescents’ SRH&R.
• Provide technical assistance to partner organizations/school management and invoke their commitment to adolescents sexuality education and services.
• Hold regional and national levels meetings on adolescents SRH concerns participated by donors, partners, media representatives and members of national network of youth.
• Sponsor adolescent and youth for capacity building programmes by national and international agencies.
• Facilitate participation of adolescents/youth in committees aimed at promoting youth programmes like sports clubs/cultural bodies and hold Youth Action Committee Meetings at various levels for planning, programming and implementation of adolescents’ SRH&R programmes.

Objective 2: To increase access to comprehensive, youth friendly, gender - sensitive sexual and reproductive health education and services to improve health status of 50% of school going adolescents

Activities:

• Assess SRH needs of adolescent and youth and establish bench marks
• Develop database for networking and partnership with school authorities, document results/best practices including end line survey on access of education and services to youth.
• Hold policy makers’/executives’ meetings at Branch, regional and national level for inclusion of adolescents SRH education in school curricula and allow weekly two hours slot for sexuality education.
• Assess training needs; review and develop curricula, teaching/learning materials/ training modules on SRH education.
• Upgrade facilities at the SECRT Centres to provide expertise and support for adolescents’ SRH education and services in schools and conduct training programmes for key facilitators, peer educators including their placements and experience sharing visits.
• Establish and run a National Resource Centre to serve as a nucleus for providing technical support to promote Adolescent SRH.
• Carry out teaching sessions and co-curricular programmes in school settings including distant education supported by key facilitators and peer educators.
• Hold service sessions on adolescents SRH, in school settings including referral support for check ups and treatment.
• Encourage school authorities for cost sharing, motivate students to subscribe membership of youth clubs and promote sponsorship schemes among youth friendly organizations.
• Facilitate representative participation of school youth club members at the Youth Action Committees formed by Branches and hold their meetings.
• Develop Evaluation and monitoring tools and documentation pack

Outcomes and Indicators: