Module V: Sexual & Reproductive Health Rights

Through this module, the team introduced the adolescent girls to the following topics:

Menstrual hygiene awareness

Discussions on personal hygiene, sanitation and nutrition
Discussions about the the different pshyciological changes that take place at for different age groups – this was done using chart paper and drawing to represent the different changes that take place in the body
Breaking the myths and mythologies associated with menstruation

Healthy relationships

Exploring concepts such as love and sexual attraction
Establishing of emotional connections with another person
Dicsussing the normalcy of expressing love

Dhwanigalu

Dhwanigalu is our ongoing initiative to build agency, autonomy and leadership among young people in the margins. We began in 2016, with the support of the South Asia Women’s Fund (SAWF) initiating a year-long capacity-building program for strengthening the agency, autonomy and leadership of 85 adolescent girls in rural Mysore. Combining traditional and technology-mediated learning methodologies such as digital story telling, photo-essays, role-plays, simulation exercises and debates, we trigger learning dialogues at the grassroots.

Going forward, we plan to expand our work in this domain with dialogues for building the perspectives and capabilities of adolescent girls and boys, to question social norms that reinforce gender based discrimination, and cultures of violence. This is through our project – Namma Maathu, Namma Jaaga- a larger initiative working towards tackling the issue of gender justice and domestic violence.