While the world is dealing with COVID -19, it’s the marginalised people who have been affected the most. COVID-19 has led to a decrease in access to sexual and reproductive health services, and the safety of women and girls is at risk with a rise in domestic violence, sexual abuse cases.
With the extension of the lockdown, it is harder to provide support and shelter to women desperately in need of it. To raise awareness around sexual reproductive health and menstrual hygiene, the theme for 28 May MHM Day 2020 was ‘Periods in Pandemics’. The theme focused on raising awareness about menstrual hygiene and reproductive health rights during the pandemic, which affects a woman’s physical and mental health.
As Youth Ki Awaaz Action Network Fellow, I have been trying my best in my small capacities as a youth worker to create awareness about menstrual hygiene, especially in the time of the pandemic. I have also been working to create access to information regarding sexual reproductive health services.
Journey As A Youth Ki Awaaz Action Network Fellow
For me, the journey as a Youth Ki Awaaz Action Network Fellow started in January 2020 when I was selected to be a part of the Action Network and was invited to join a two-day workshop in Jaipur on 25th – 26th Jan 2020. The workshop allowed me to meet and network with young MHM changemakers who came from across the country. It also gave me an opportunity to meet Mr Anshul Tiwari, the founder of Youth Ki Awaaz, someone whom I always admired for changing the socio-political discourse with his impact journalism at Youth Ki Awaaz.
In this workshop, we were trained by domain experts and YKA Team on how to build a powerful social media campaign, its design and strategy. Social media skills, storytelling skills and how to influence the media and decision-makers to demand action by mobilising people through your social media-driven campaign were also a part of the workshop.
YKA Action Network Fellows Leveraging Social Media To Create Social Change
Social Media has been an impact platform when it comes to movements on menstrual hygiene and reproductive health in India. Millions of menstruators are still denied the right to manage their periods in a dignified and healthy way. Spot! On suggests that nearly 23 million girls drop out of school annually due to lack of proper menstrual hygiene management facilities. Gender inequality, discriminatory social norms, cultural taboos, poverty and lack of essential sanitation services are still prevalent in our community.
As an Action Network Fellow, we were trained on how can we improve our implementation strategies when it comes to demanding better menstrual health and hygiene which is integral to empowering menstruating people and creating a safe and gender-just space. The workshop helped me understand that our voice can be amplified to change the broader public narrative on menstrual health and demand policy action by designing powerful social media campaigns.
Enabling Stakeholders As MHM Facilitators
I founded ROSHNI Foundation, a non-profit organisation, focused on enabling adolescents, youths, men, women and transgender people on issues around menstrual hygiene, sexual and reproductive health and rights.
Here I am working as an MHM facilitator with teachers and educators to train them as facilitators on menstrual hygiene and gender. I am of the firm opinion that teachers, educators, ASHA workers, anganwadi sevikas play an essential role in disseminating knowledge among adolescents about menstrual hygiene.
And if we do capacity building training of trainer (ToT) workshops for teachers and educators to help them understand menstrual hygiene management and train them as facilitators, then this will inevitably create impact.
This experience of mine helped me to come up with my detailed campaign pitch during Action Network Fellowship which led to the foundation for the Period Project – in which the ask is “to push for greater implementation of Training of the Trainers Workshop for the Teachers from Higher Secondary School of Zilla Parishad on Menstrual Hygiene Management as per the guidelines of the Swachh Bharat by Government of India notification dated 02 October 2014 and Government of Maharashtra notification on 02 August 2017.”
The Period Project: Way Ahead
A school is a place where behaviours are shaped, skills are developed, and correct information should be provided. Keeping this in mind, we have pushed for greater implementation of ToT workshops at three levels which include:
Government Level: Activities include meeting with zilla parishad CEO and President, meeting with principals and teachers, conducting baseline survey, meeting with BEOs, BRCs, CRCs, block-level Panchayat officials, frontline staff from Health and Women and Child Development department and others. We aim to help them understand best practices and policies when it comes to training of teachers as MHM facilitators.
Institution Level: We are working on training teachers (at least one teacher per zilla parishad school), so they can further work in their community to provide psychosocial support to adolescent girls, and provide regular hygiene classes in every school in the community. After ToTs, the responsibility for organising these MHM classes will lie with the headteacher or the local teacher. The purpose of these sessions is that the girls receive accurate knowledge from their teachers on MHM. They will feel supported in school, should be able to manage their menstruation without fear of shame and embarrassment, can speak freely about it to their peers and teachers. We further aim to conduct sessions with educators, ASHA workers and anganwadi sevikas.
Community level: We are hopeful that the campaign will make people care about the importance of menstrual hygiene and help them understand the change they could propagate. We are reaching out to community networks of self-help groups, youth clubs, and senior citizen groups via short videos, blog posts and short messages.
For me, in an individual capacity as a lawyer and human rights defender, the campaign has given great opportunity to catalyse action for gender equality and the health, rights, and well-being of girls and women.