A kind of silence prevails in Nepali society when it comes to addressing issues pertaining to Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR). Schools have included the 'matter' in their curriculum but there is a hesitance on part of teachers and students to hold sound discussions on related issues owing to many a social stigmas. As a result, children do not have easy access to curb their curiosity on related matters thanks to long-standing socio-cultural beliefs.
This is where Gulabi Sambad comes in.
Gulabi Sambad, a not-for-profit digital platform, has been producing a podcast series on a weekly basis, with the aim to lessen the gap of fruitful discussion over SRHR issues among students, teachers and parents. The primary target audiences of the 15 minute-long podcast series are children and adolescents while parents, teachers and authorized stakeholders are the secondary audiences of the podcast.
In its two-and-a-half-year journey, Gulabi Sambad has produced over 125 series with discussions surrounding multiple SRHR issues.
According to Sabita Acharya, co-founder of the project, at present, the program is being broadcast from 6 different digital platforms including anchor.fm (Gulabi Sambad Teen Talk) and 48+ local radio stations across the nation. "Besides including voices of adolescents, several activists, journalists, writers and subject experts actively shares their views on SRHR through our platform."
"We have had conversations with several institutions (including private and government schools, I/NGOs), SHRH experts, parents, teachers and teen-age students also. We have, in the process, learnt that that there are many misconceptions, false and incomplete information among students regarding menstruation, puberty, and teenage behavior," Acharya said.
"During conversations with school students, we focus on important questions like– What is good touch and bad touch? What is sexual harassment? How can a person be a victim of sexual harassment on the internet? What are the physical and mental changes that are seen during adolescence? What is menstruation and how to safely 'handle' it? What is night-fall among teenagers? Apart from these common curiosities, we also try to explore ongoing myths and taboos that have been guiding understanding of SRHR."
"Many parents hesitate to hold a healthy discussion with their children, even the educated,'urban' ones. Some parents se familiar with the importance of SRHR but they were not able to initiate discussion without hesitation."
In time, they observed that most of the private and government-funded schools lacked an open discussion culture which led them to conclude that it might lead teenagers towards unhealthy practices of reproductive and sexual health behaviors.
Since its inception, Gulabi Sambad has received dozens of letters, videos, voice message from parents, teachers and teenage students narrating their experiences related to harassment, physical abuse, abuse via online/internet, experiences of menstruation, curiosities of adolescents etc.
They have published these write-ups in its blog in a first person narrative.
The co-founders now look to help the adolescents develop their ideas via training and motivate them to share their experiences and feelings freely.
Acharya, along with Karuna Devkota founded Gulabi Sambad on November 14, 2020. Earlier they worked as program producer/scriptwriter/editor/hosts of popular youth oriented radio program Saathi Sanga Manka Kura.
