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The implementation of programs in the field and working
with communities has been one of the strengths of the organisation.
With the extended support and cooperation of Indian government, UN
agencies and bilateral funding agencies, MAMTA is now implementing
programs in various states of North and
South India (Delhi,
Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka) in varied settings. The experiences
from the field create evidence for designing interventions that are
more responsive to the needs of young people, help in establishing a database
on young people as well as feed into the advocacy efforts of the
organization and provide an
opportunity for intervention research. The emphasis in the field
interventions is on providing clinical services and information on
adolescent health issues (growth and development, nutrition, sexual
and reproductive health, HIV/ AIDS), personality development,
entrepreneurship development, education, empowerment of women and
young people and formation of self help groups and community based organisations.
MAMTA has always considered young people as an integral
part of all its programmes and youth participation as being
vital to the success of the programmes. Addressing the needs of
‘out of school’ adolescents is a major challenge faced by the
government and development agencies. MAMTA has designed certain
innovative strategies to address this ‘difficult to reach’ and yet
‘vulnerable’ population and the efforts in this direction have been
widely appreciated. Various platforms have been created to provide an
opportunity to young people to enter into the mainstream of
development. Adolescent Development Centres (ADCs), Youth Development
Centres (YDCs) and youth forums established in the intervention areas
have provided access to information and a common ground for
interaction and sharing of information. The ‘Peer educator approach’
has been instrumental in mobilising the adolescents /young people in
the communities and providing a mechanism for articulating their
concerns. The youth advocates of MAMTA have interacted and advocated
with policymakers and parliamentarians and other important
stakeholders.
Our work in this area largely focuses on enhancing access
to information and creating awareness on HIV/AIDS through Community
based Programs and Youth Education, strengthening existing health
systems and provision of youth friendly services at the block and
district level and improve service delivery amongst Young People for
counselling, testing and care related to HIV/AIDS integrated with the
health systems wherever possible.
Sexual and reproductive health services (including
counselling) for adolescents and young people are the other focus areas
in various projects and intervention areas (>>see more). MAMTA has established
different models for Youth friendly services. In Bawal district
in Haryana these services have been integrated into the existing
public health delivery system through sensitisation and reorientation
of service providers, which has helped them develop a wider perspective on
adolescents health needs. This mode of delivery of health services has
served as a model for other NGO efforts. This model has now been up
scaled by the organisation up to the district level in the states of
Haryana , Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.
The other model is the ‘community based’ adolescent health
clinic in an urban slum in
New Delhi. This model has a strong
‘outreach’ component, which is being carried out by peer educators and
community workers. They have been instrumental in sensitising
gatekeepers and young people about the health needs of adolescents,
creating awareness about relevant issues and availability of services
besides follow-up of clients.
The third model is working in another slum in
Delhi (Tigri) where
the adolescent friendly services have been integrated with the
clinical services being provided for paediatric and female clients.
All these models have provided us learning and experiences that will
feed into our further efforts to replicate these models at a larger
scale.
Process
documentation and intervention research is weaved into the
interventions to analytically document our learning and disseminate
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