While conversation on sexual and reproductive health—even amongst youth—is still a hush-hush affair, Shubha Kayastha, 25, speaks it out aloud.[break]
The national focal point in-charge/coordinator of YPEER Nepal, a global network of more than 500 non-governmental organizations working in adolescent sexual and reproductive health, Kayastha believes in tackling these issues through meaningful conversations.
“They should be informed first,” says Kayastha who has been involved in social service since 2007. “And then they should get involved in the community and share the information with their friends.”
Saturdays at the Bhaktapur Youth Information Center serves this purpose. A self-help group that started in 2005, its young people, 95% of them girls, discuss sexual health, their curiosities and other issues.
The Center is one of the 50 youth organizations in Nepal under YPEER’s umbrella that Kayastha coordinates.
In one of her latest efforts, Kayastha, along with five other young members, is involved in making alternative sanitary pads for women. After training, they have used this model to spread awareness of menstrual hygiene and sanitation.
Made from flannel and hand-stitched with another piece of cloth inside, Kayastha says the pads are washable and thus reusable.
“In rural areas, it becomes more practicable,” she says, pointing to other members who have taken this model to their communities.
However, she says peer education is not a complete package and should thus be combined with proper information and referral mechanisms.
“The focus now is to build capacity of peer educators so that they inform other youth and their communities. I’ve made a small initiation,” Kayastha says. (BB)
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