Adolescent and Demographic Dividend [Newspaper Article in Bengali]

Today’s adolescent girls are tomorrow’s mothers, citizens and leaders of the country. Taking care of them can have greater impact on the society. Securing their health and nutrition requirement can prevent malnutrition among the new born, pregnant and lactating mothers, and produce reciprocal impact over child and maternal mortality. A total of 897 clubs were formed, which enrolled around 14,836 girls throughout the project titled “Food Security 2012 Bangladesh-Ujjibito, which was funded by EU. The objective of this club is to aware the adolescent girls regarding their nutrition, health, reproductive health and other social issues. A representative from PKSF’s POs conducts a 60 minutes session at least once in a month in each club. The members and anyone else voluntarily contribute to the management of this club. These clubs find some spaces for them to engage themselves in health camps and organises education related activity like sports, cultural and social events.

Adolescent Girls’ Clubs have been instrumental to promoting adolescent girls’ wellbeing, changing the gender norms that constrain their lives and broadening their horizons to become conscious about their future. These clubs have been established to empower girls by giving them access to information about their rights, educating them of their responsibilities towards the society, providing them life skills for improving their self-confidence and negotiating skills to establish their rights.

Published in The Kaler Kantho (Daily Newspaper) on December 28, 2018