Do They Match Report Bangladesh - World Population Foundation

Do they match? August, 2010
The main objective of this research is based on these insights in formulating
recommendations for increasing the uptake of SRH services by adolescents.
In addition to this main objective, an important goal of the research project is to build
young people’s capacity to conduct qualitative research, and, through the research
process, to explore and build new forms of partnerships between young people, MA staff
and community stakeholders that will continue after the end of the research project
within the MA’s intervention projects and service provision.
By actively involving MA staff and community stakeholders, the research project aimed
� to increase reflection on the influence of norms, values, opinions, knowledge, skills
and attitudes on the quality and accessibility of the services to young people;
� to increase acceptance of young people’s sexuality and
� to increase support for youth participation within SRHR-related research and
interventions.
Therefore this report will also pay some attention to analysing the research process.
However, the results regarding the achievement of those additional objectives will be
more elaborately reported on in a separate report by Rutgers WPF. That report will
describe more specifically the methodology and ethics for youth participation in research.
1.4 Research setting: Tarar Mela (FPAB YFS) in Jessore
The research was conducted in cooperation with the Family Planning Association of
Bangladesh (FPAB). FPAB was established in 1953 and is a member association of the
International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF). FPAB operates 43 clinics throughout
Bangladesh which oversee various SRHR interventions (e.g. provision of sexuality
education for in- and out of school youth, empowerment and skills training, peer
education, advocacy and media campaigns, etc.) as well as the provision of SRH services
(at the clinic and through outreach). FPAB contributes roughly 7% of Bangladesh’s
national achievements to Family Planning (FP) (see www.FPAB.org).
The research was carried out in the context of a youth friendly service centre that is part
of the FPAB branch clinic in Jessore, in the west of Bangladesh. The ‘regular’ SRH/FP
services in the Jessore branch were recently expanded to include a youth centre, called
Tarar Mela (a Bengali word which literally means ‘Carnival of Stars’). Tarar Mela consists
of separate rooms within the branch clinic that offer recreational facilities for young
people and where information and counselling is provided by youth counsellors (who are
younger than 24 years of age). Tarar Mela was designed to attract more young people
and increase the uptake of services. In addition to the recreational facilities and youth
counsellors, Peer Educators (PE) and Youth Organizers (YO) are involved in Tarar Mela,
as well as a Programme Management Committee (PMC) consisting of young people:
� PMC: 60 young volunteers (three boys and three girls in each branch) are members
of the Project Management Committee (PMC). The PMC was formed to ensure youth
participation in planning and monitoring of projects. The PMC has bi-monthly
meetings at each branch and reviews the progress of youth project activities, in order
to identify successes and challenges. In the branches where the SALIN + project is
being implemented, the PMC’s role also includes monitoring of construction/
renovation and decoration work of Tarar Mela facilities (IPPF 2010 Programmatic
Report).
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