As part of the Partnership for Child Nutrition, Synergos helped SNEHA, an Indian NGO, create the Gaining Ground youth empowerment program in Mumbai.
India Express EYE magazine recently wrote about how the program works and the impact it is having:
“Shorn of moralising and the fear of adolescent sexuality, sex education can be used to get out youngsters to think about how to have a more equal, happier life.
In a tiny room in Kandivali, Mumbai, 31-year-old Mamta Khare cuts through the chatter with onesentence: “Today, we will discuss the differences between being a man and a woman.”? She is a facilitator of the Adolescents Gaining Ground (AGG), a programme designed by SNEHA, an NGO, to initiate dialogue on gender discrimination, sexual health and violence against women.
The programme runs in three vulnerable wards of Mumbai including Ghatkopar-Vikhroli, Kandivali and Dharavi. Since its inception five yearsago, more than 30,000 youth from the slums of Mumbai havebenefitted. A report prepared by the NGO last year reports a 40% improvement in knowledge about HIV/AIDS and about 43% improvement in knowledge of puberty, male and female reproductive systems and conception.”
The Nike Foundation helped support this initiative.