Vulnerable Adolescents Find Support at YWCA

OCTOBER 2007 — Children and adolescents crowd into the second floor of the YWCA in Najafgarh, a rural area outside of Delhi, India. They are working on school lessons and life skills training. Most of them have already spent several hours earlier in the morning salvaging trash in the fields and rural streets, called "rag picking," to help support their very poor families. About half of the families in the area have migrated from the neighboring Uttar Pradesh state and other poor regions of India.

A group of girls in their early teenage years are ready to move outside to practice a skit they will perform at an upcoming community festival. They gather in a semicircle, swaying back and forth to the Bollywood music that booms out from the cassette player. In pairs and threesomes, they come to the middle of the arc of dancing teenagers and act out a scene. "They are talking about an uncle who abused this girl," Marina Romeo, the manager of the project, explains as she translates phrases. "They have gained confidence and decided themselves on this theme."

The girls in the YWCA project practice the dance and play they have developed for an upcoming community event.

Since the YWCA of Delhi started working in this area in 1964, the projects have expanded at the center and in outreach efforts. Activities focus on vulnerable adolescent girls, including street and working children, as well as boys and families. From 2002-2006, Family Health International funded the YWCA to develop community mechanisms to empower adolescents, especially girls, to reduce the risk of acquiring HIV/AIDS and reduce sexual exploitation. The project worked through peer educators and community health volunteers. With funds from the U.S. Agency for International Development, FHI provided life skills education and supported other basic needs services for the children. The project provided HIV prevention services to around 2,100 adolescents and children through the YWCA vocational training center, six community centers, and outreach activities.

Shafiq, 17, leads young teens and boys in basic education lessons. "Sharing the knowledge I've gained here gives me more confidence in other things," he says.

On the visit today at the YWCA center, 89 children are involved in projects, with different materials being used for those ages 8 to 10, 10 to 14, and 14 to 18. The community centers are working throughout the area, with a teacher, counselor, and community organizer to work with local organizations. "We need the parents involved," says Romeo. "We had to require that parents come to at least a meeting every month. That helps a lot in seeing the importance. When we started that rule, the dropout rate went down."

Another thing that's really important is community involvement. "This skit the girls are doing will help everyone," Romeo says. "Besides building more confidence themselves, they are helping the community to discuss these difficult issues."

Beginning in 2006, as part of USAID's SAMARTH project, FHI has supported the YWCA as a demonstration project for HIV prevention among adolescents from the vulnerable communities. The key strategies are to undertake strategic behavior communication initiatives to reduce risk behavior and create an enabling environment for sustained change among the youth, children, and communities. It will also continue to meet the basic needs of the youth and children, implement a quality assurance and improvement plan, and serve as a learning site for other such programs.

 — Photos and story by William Finger