As an August 2010 Indicorps fellow, you will plan and implement 1) women and adolescent health and 2) nutrition initiatives in villages. You should structure a health and nutrition awareness program specifically catering to adolescent girls and women.

You should spend time in the community to forge bonds and gauge the interconnectedness of socio-cultural factors and community health. Home visits, village meetings, focused group discussions and existing Utthan programs would be good avenues to engage with the community. Building trust with the community will be particularly important as you attempt to engage adolescent girls and women in the project.

Next, you will identify interested villagers to form village health groups (VHGs). You will develop capacity of the VHG members through in-house trainings and by facilitating access for the VHGs to various resources such as the government public health network. You will develop a system of cross communication among VHGs to share best health practices and provide moral support.

You will develop training materials and facilitate information sessions to create awareness about identified health and nutritional issues. Flip charts, role plays, documentaries, and posters may be good tools to have in your kit for the awareness program. You may also incorporate previous Utthan themes promoting smokeless chullas, kitchen gardens, and solid and liquid waste management.

Documentation of best practices and learnings will be tremendously important to make your work sustainable. At the end of your fellowship, it will be important for you to present your work such that your assessment and suggestions can be incorporated into the larger Utthan vision.

Target community:
Your target community is mainly women and adolescent girls from the rural farming community. Women are involved in household chores, and farming activities. Culturally, the women of Deoria practice pardah (veil) in the presence of men. Women traditionally save money for emergencies. Women have limited income possibilities, low-literacy and education levels. Adolescent girls help their mothers in household and irrigation chores.

Objectives:
• To create Village Health Groups (VHGs) focused on women and adolescent girls’ health issues
• To build capacity of VHGs to access and utilize information in solving health problems

Challenges:
• Building support for preventative health measures, diet changes, etc.
• Respecting gender and cultural traditions while being effective in your messages
• Discussing sensitive issues in a community that does not speak openly about reproductive health, and childbirth

Team-Based Model:
Each project is designed as a three-way partnership between you, Indicorps, and a partner organization. Each grassroots partner organization – in this case Utthan – will be hosting two to four fellows. Consequently, the August 2010 fellowship will have both an individual and a team component.

As a team of Indicorps fellows, your focus is to empower the village community through information and technology. Team members will focus on different areas including the promotion of women and adolescent girl health and building a network for farmers to improve their livelihoods.

You will be provided accommodation in Akataha - a village close to the main office of Utthan. Simple vegetarian food and clean drinking water will be provided. You will be expected to do your own laundry and assist with other household activities. Akataha village does not have 24-hour electricity. Phone and limited internet facilities are available at the Utthan office. The nearest major town Gorakhpur is 50 km from Akataha. Buses run all day between Akataha and Gorakhpur. For local transportation, you will travel by bus or tandem with staff on motorcycles.

The language spoken at Utthan is Hindi. For this project, a basic knowledge of Hindi is required. If you do not have basic knowledge of Hindi, you can still apply if you commit to learning the language before the start of your Fellowship year.