Adolescent Empowerment Programme

The Adolescent Empowerment Programme (AEP) takes a life cycle approach and works with adolescents from the ages of 11 to 18 years in schools, Anganwadi centers, and in the community to ensure the institutionalization of the program and sustained, consistent reach to participants. The seven main components of the program are as follows: 1.) Younger Adolescents (11-14 years) are reached through a two-year school based program that shapes gender attitudes and beliefs through 28 fortnightly, interactive classroom sessions, plus 12 assemblies that empower girls and boys to tackle harmful social and gender norms that contribute to girls being out of school. It encourages them to be confident, promotes their agency, creates awareness of their rights, builds self worth, develops negotiation skills and encourages inter-gender and inter-generational dialogues. The concepts of sexuality and reproductive health are also seeded in these sessions. In an evaluation by the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) of our school program in Haryana covering 300 schools and 14,000 children over two years, Breakthrough's intervention was found to bring significant change in the gender attitudes and behaviors of both boys and girls. What was interesting was that the behavior change amongst boys was even greater than that of girls, giving us hope that we can bring large-scale change in gender norms in the medium term.; 2.) Older adolescent girls (peer educators, aged 15-18 years) are worked with at the Anganwadi centre to build agency, develop life skills and confidence, as well as to ensure awareness of their sexual and reproductive health rights.; 3.) Youth from the community (aged 19+) are identified and trained as Peer Leaders so they can mobilize their communities, work with adolescent groups and eventually ensure a more gender equitable ecosystem in the community. In states like Uttar Pradesh (UP), they also are part of the government’s Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram (RKSK) program and help ensure critical programs like the Village health nutrition days (VHNDs) and Adolescent health days (AHDs) are conducted effectively, have adequate participation and ensure adolescents can access health and education services.; 4.) Breakthrough’s intervention ensures training on gender, rights and sexuality for frontline health workers. Since these health workers are an integral part of the community, a special focus is given to ensure there is no provider bias, so their views on caste, sexuality, and gender do not hamper the provision of vital services, products and counseling to adolescents. The program encourages greater dialogue between health workers and adolescents, so girls and boys know whom to turn to for their health needs and are not hesitant in discussing issues like contraception and menstrual health.; 5.) Along with this, Breakthrough drives large-scale community impact and shifts norms by engaging parents, teachers and duty bearers like frontline health workers and PRI members. This is done to strengthen their response to adolescent needs and to create safe spaces in the community through intensive and on-going community mobilization initiatives and media outreach. Breakthrough’s approach to community mobilization is unique by using popular culture and the arts to start discussions on critical issues impacting women and girls. We use mediums like video vans, theatre, music and dance to engage communities in discussions and debates that help them recognize and reduce their biases in a non threatening manner.; 6.) Media and technology are embedded in all Breakthrough programs, helping us create larger conversations on gender based discrimination through thought provoking mass media films, hyper local campaigns, digital media, and IVRS outreach. Our award winning campaigns have been instrumental in creating wide spread public dialogue on issues like domestic violence and sexual harassment. BellBajao – our campaign on domestic violence was adopted by more than 7 countries and was advocated for by the UN Sectretary General Ban ki Moon. Central to all this was the message that ‘change starts with you’, pushing accountability of people in seeding change around them.; 7.) Breakthrough engages with the government at the district, state and national levels to ensure adolescents’ access to rights, entitlements and sustainability of programs. We are part of the national and district level task force (Haryana) for Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao(BBBP). Several of the highly visible BBBP mass media campaigns use communication developed by Breakthrough. We are also part of the UP government’s Technical support unit for RKSK. For the Bihar government, we have created a state action plan on early marriage, as well as developed a 360-degree communication package for them. In addition, we have trained 13 of their line departments on early marriage and dowry.