Lessons in Introducing Youth Reproductive Health in Conservative Settings Bangladesh

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• Lessons in Introducing Youth Reproductive Health
  in Conservative Settings- Bangladesh

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ARH Communication Program
Bangladesh Country Setting

• 140 million population, 88 Muslim
• Discussing RH with youth considered taboo
• Generally people misinterpret ARH as sex
  education
• Youth mostly guided by rumors and misgivings
• GoB was skeptical of undertaking youth RH program
  

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ARH Communication Program
Adolescents Scenario in Bangladesh

• 36 million adolescents (10 19)
• Early marriage early pregnancy remain the norm
• Little access to RH information services
• 36 of married adolescents are either pregnant or
  already have a child
• Only 5.2 male and 4 female adolescent know
  about STI

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ARH Communication Program
HCP Strategic Approach

• Understand the needs and perceptions of youth,
  community and the society
• Identify accurate, relevant and consistent
  information for youth on RH issues
• Formation of ARH Working Group to serve as
  Advisory Panel
• Develop Communication Strategy

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ARH Communication Program
HCP Strategic Approach
A session developing communication strategy in
progress
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ARH Communication Program
Objectives of the Program

• Sensitize and provide life skills to adolescents
  and predispose them to delay sexual debut,
  marriage and pregnancy
• Create enabling environment for them to act on
  knowledge, motivation and skills gained through
  the program

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ARH Communication Program
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ARH Communication Program
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ARH Communication Program
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ARH Communication Program
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ARH Communication Program
Key Challenges

• Resistance from religious leaders halted the
  program in some localities. Some sensitive words,
  pictures, illustrations created confusions.
  Addressed with
• Involvement of key community influential
• Clarification of the issue- ARH program is not
  sex education by the school teachers
• Recruitment of key GoB officials as speakers
• Audience segmentation- separate sessions for male
  and female adolescents

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ARH Communication Program
Key Lessons Learned

• Sensitization and advocacy at all levels are
  critical
• Creating enabling environment and early
  involvement of community institutions make a
  difference
• Ensuring consistency of message and quality of
  materials are important for multi-sector
  partnership
• Building capacity of partners and providing life
  skills to adolescents are key to sustain the
  program
• No rush, no bypass while working in a
  conservative setting

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Social and Political Environment
ARH Communication Program
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Social and Political Environment
ARH Communication Program
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Social and Political Environment
ARH Communication Program
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Social and Political Environment
ARH Communication Program

• Workshops with DGFP 100 Senior Officials
• Workshops with DGHS 150 Senior Officials
• International Workshop on Strategic Communication
  for Adolescents with a focus on life skills
• Marketing of comic books and toolkit through
  private agency- open market sales

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ARH Communication Program
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ARH Communication Program
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Know Yourself Reach
ARH Communication Program

• 13 NGOs (rural and urban)
• 6432 adolescents through 430 workshops
• 60 orientations of teachers community leaders
• 200 parental orientations
• 5 million booklets and 1 million comic books
  produced/used by partners
• 70 of the people reached through mass media

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Key Achievements
ARH Communication Program

• Mainstreaming ARH into GoB NGO programs
• Network of Life Skills Trainers
• ARH friendly corners functioning
• BCCP received Global Media Award
• Cost shared by UNICEF and others
• National ARH Strategy developed

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Adolescent Reproductive Health Strategy 2006-2015
ARH Communication Program
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ARH Communication Program

• ARH Communication Endline Survey 2007 reveals
  that
• exposure to the program appears to have
• Increased knowledge of RH
• Encouraged interpersonal communication about
  RH with parents and elder family members
• Increased adolescents self-esteem and
  critical thinking skills, with mixed effects on
  their confidence to solve problems

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Sustainability
ARH Communication Program
Given the successes and achievements, further
investment is worth making to fully
institutionalize the program in schools