Restless Development

Restless development works closely with the youth where, they elicit the beliefs, conception and source of information regarding menstruation among the youth population. They build skills of young people (in-school and out of school, both girls and boys) with key focus on Menstrual Health Management information within the broader Sexual Reproductive Health Rights Framework. This enables young people to take informed choices in managing Menstrual Health and other bodily changes.

Restless Development trains young men and women on menstrual hygiene, puberty and sexual and reproductive health. Driven and guided by young people and youth, drawing upon their energy, creativity and skills to create positive change, Restless development aims to create examples of good MHM practice and offers guidance on building competence and confidence to break the silence surrounding the issue.

To achive this, the key activities conducted by Restless Development are:

• Transfer of knowledge among Young People through Young People.
• Support schools/communities/individual households to access government schemes for construction of toilets.

Restless development follows a model that focuses on “youth at center”.

Step 1: Identification and selection of Youth Volunteers

Youth volunteers are chosen from the age group of 15 to 30 years to work for Restless Development. They are selected from various parts of a district and are given responsibilities to promote awareness in their native and geographically close villages. The selected volunteers are provided with mobile phones for regular tracking and for easier communication between the volunteers and the mentor.

Step 2: Training of the Youth Volunteers

The objective of training the youth volunteers is to develop the knowledge base around MHM and raise awareness on the issue in the community. Restless development presents a range of plans, handouts, presentations and films that a facilitator uses when facilitating sessions or workshops on MHM amongst the youth. These interactive plans and accompanying resources explore the key issues and components of MHM programmes and is adapted depending on the context, participants and time available.

Previously, selected volunteers were given a 10-hour training session. This has now been reduced to a more comprehensive 3-hour long training module. The youth is provided training on life skill topics through non-formal education for life events so as to co-create social capital based on empathy for each other. The training includes awareness and knowledge dissemination on puberty, menstrual health management, usage and disposal of sanitary products in a youth friendly and non-formal way.

Restless Development uses interactive communication tools like storytelling, role plays and flip charts to communicate the key messages to the youth. The training module also includes topics like taboos and myths, menstrual hygiene, seeking support from support groups, families, sexually transmitted infections (STIs) etc.

Step 3: Implementation of Awareness campaigns by volunteers

These trained volunteers work as agents of change as the training helps the youth build ownership of MHM for young people in low-income setting communities. These agents spread awareness in the selected program areas. They organize four events per month in selected schools and deliver information through ice-breaking activities, education and awareness, role plays, songs, dance and videos. They also encourage participants to “break the silence” by sharing their experiences on menstrual hygiene management. The session engages all by encouraging open dialogue and discussion to burst myths and taboos.  After 3 months, the youth volunteers go back to the same school to monitor whether the practices and its sustainability. This rigorous monitoring mechanism makes this program unique and reliable as the focus is to win trust of young people in the community and then take one step forward in establishing correct knowledge and practices in the community.

In out-of-school agenda, the volunteers form clubs of 10 members in each village and encourage discussion about menstrual hygiene, puberty and sexual and reproductive health. These volunteers steer the discussions to a comfortable path by discussing their life experiences to encourage peer learning.

To monitor the entire activity, the youth volunteers are provided with mobile phones to enable mobile reporting and GPS tracking. They also submit a daily report on the progress of activities which further helps in preparing half yearly progress reports, case studies, achievement, challenges and learnings.