Bhaktapur Youth Leaders "It's our right to know about sexual health and gender rights"

Last Wednesday, The Amplify Team met with a few members from the Bhaktapur Youth Leaders Group. Anita, a master student of Business Administration and Sunita, a BA student of Management and some of their peers. I was incredibly impressed by the strength, openness and confidence of these girls addressing topics regarding sexual health, gender awareness and their bodies. Check out what they have to say about their experience in the club, which serves as a safe space to gain confidence and skills to empower them with the tools to become role models in their community and conversation instigators in for women in and outside of their nearby environment.

During our visit to the Bhaktapur Youth Group,  the Amplify Team held an open discussion with the group in order to find out what they did, how their participation in the group affected them and what were their challenges and aspirations as young women living in Nepal. Most of the girls  had been part of the group from three to five years. They meet after school and in the weekends to talk about their issues, receive training in sexual education and also conduct their own workshops with peers at high schools in their community and different parts of Nepal.

By this point in the research trip, the Amplify team had been in Nepal for three days. We had talked with older women and it was harder to address issues around safety than in past research interviews with groups of women in Delhi. However, once we sat with this group they ease into the conversation without trouble, shared their stories and  ideas on how to improve safety for women and girls and asked the OpenIDEO Community questions about our personal experience in the U.S.

It is clear that the length of time that these girls have been involved in the group has equipped them with the skills, safety network and empowerment to share their ideas and stories of success while working with groups in their community to instigate change.

This post is part of a series of interviews with the Bhaktapur Youth group check the other posts here:

http://www.openideo.com/challenge/womens-safety/research/different-realities-similar-mindsets

http://www.openideo.com/challenge/womens-safety/research/different-local-problems-similar-mindsets