Summary
Trinita Society is working in rural areas of West Bengal, but also with the urban poor in Kolkata and Hooghly district. In their working area girls often drop out of school, are in poor health, know little about hygiene and reproductive rights and lack self-esteem. Trinita has developed and implemented a comprehensive programme to empower schoolgirls, involving parents, teachers and other stakeholders. As a result the girls finish their education, are in better health, gain confidence and learn to share their problems freely.
Problem analysis
Through continuous interaction with the girls, parents, school teachers and stakeholders some major problems were identified: low rate of literacy, high school drop-out rates, poor health status, lack of hygiene knowledge, superstition and lack of awareness and confidence, particularly amongst adolescent girls. These girls are still neglected and victims of exploitation, early age marriage and trafficking. Their self-esteem is so low that they easily fall for fake promises.
There are a few schools in the Metropolitan city who conduct programmes for these girls in order to check the school drop-out rate. In rural schools this kind of project is still not in existence and thus the girls have no exposure to these issues.
Solution analysis
To build a relationship with schools and offer them a capacity building training for girls on health, awareness, reproductive health, confidence building through group discussion, topic presentation, peer interaction and also physical and mental health improvement training through dance therapy, yoga, storytelling, recitation, posters & leaflet making, etc. Providing vocational training in the school is another important element.
Stakeholder analysis
Which stakeholders (NGO’s, government, private sector) did you identify as allies and how did you involve them?
• School Teachers
• Parents
• Doctors
• Like-minded people
• Experts on this particular subject
Most of parents, doctors and teachers were supporting before the training started, but afterwards the whole community was supportive of the programme.
Which stakeholders did you identify as neutral and how did you mobilise them?
Some of the parents and also some of the heads of school and teachers were hesitant at first, because they thought the programme was centred around sex education. When Trinita explained the whole programme and told that they would also be providing other training such as dance therapy, yoga , art and craft, and in addition organised a mela (fair) and displayed the health module, the whole community appreciated what the programme would mean for the girls.
Which stakeholders did you identify as opponents and why were they opposed?
Some of the stakeholders opposed the programme before its start. However, later they came round and became supportive. So Trinita started the programme and at the end of the programme all the people enjoyed it and even felt that the programme needed to be continued.
How did you involve your beneficiaries in the stakeholder analysis/campaign?
First Trinita provided a training on confidence building to the school students, who then went and motivated their teachers and parents to discuss and share the need for the programme.
Short description of the organisation implementing the action/campaign
Trinita started its journey of development with support from educated and concerned activists and medical professionals to take up free medical programmes in the slums of Kolkata. Later on this group needed support and donations to take up larger issues for the community to serve it in a better way. This gave birth to Trinita Society for Social and Health Research, which was registered in the year 2001. Since then it is serving as a non-profit, non-political, non-religious and philanthropic organisation.
Presently Trinita has emerged as one of the pioneer organisations in the field of education, child rights, child protection, women empowerment, shelter homes for girls and boys, livelihood support to deprived and downtrodden communities living under financial hardship and other social problems.
Action period
August - September 2017
Objectives
1. Confidence building.
2. Mental and physical health improvement.
3. Promoting knowledge on reproductive health, HIV/AIDS/STDS.
Action results
1. Girls are confident now and they can share their problems freely.
2. There is remarkable development on overall BMI of each student.
3. Girls are now more aware of all problems and their solutions.
Description of preparatory activities
1. Formation of a Girls Committee.
2. Group Discussions & presentations.
3. Development of the Art and Craft Module.
4. Development of Therapeutic Dance + Yoga Vocational Training.
5. A hand book was produced for discussion and reading, as well as leaflets on do's and don'ts.
Description of implementation
1. It took one week to form a Girls Committee per participating school.
2. Meetings with teachers and students took 3 months. The participating girls prepared groupwise presentations on several topics.
3. The Art and Craft Module was preceded by a problem analysis and implemented during the 6 months programme.
4. The girls themselves discussed their problems and roles; they made and displayed a module with their own ideas on health and social issues.
5. During the development of the additional activities Trinita discussed, shared and identified ways of communication with the girls, which were used during the 6 months programme.
Description of time investmen
At least 6 months, but not continuously.
Costs
Training cost - approximately Rs. 2,000.00 in each school
Vocational training cost – Rs. 4,000.00 for the trainer + raw material – Rs. 2,000.00
Therapy class – Rs. 7,000.00 for one month
Documentation (handbook, posters, leaflets) – Rs 40,000.00
Fair – Rs 50,000.00
Follow up
Weekly visits were paid to the students practicing their therapy classes and discussing and disseminating information in their peer group and at home and neighbourhood.
