The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly shifted the needs of our partner organizations and the communities they serve. Organizations, like Janaki Women Awareness Society (JWAS), whose main focus is to intervene and educate women and children in Nepal who are victims of child marriage, domestice violence and the caste system, have found themselves pivoting their work to protect and educate women and their families about the threats posed by COVID-19. In September of 2020, JWAS received funding to launch their project titled “Enhancing the knowledge of girls, women and their family's on COVID-19 and its secondary impact,” and has since completed their project and provided an update.
In the wake of the pandemic, this recent project was created to strengthen the ability of Nepalese women and their families to cope with the threat of COVID-19, continue education on sexual and reproductive health, gender based violence, and provide information about accessing health services during the pandemic. In total, 182 women and girls were able to benefit from community education sessions, while the approximately 625 family members of these women indirectly benefited from their increased knowledge around COVID-19 and preventative measures.
The team at JWAS was able to mobilize quickly and publish an informational, illustration-focused book on the effects of COVID-19 and preventative measures to increase public health. They also developed a six part radio program that was aired on their local radio station in their dialect of Maithili. The main component of this project was to reach marginalized women and girls in the community, and JWAS was able to accomplish this through community education sessions. The team created ten groups of twenty women and girls, and held ten sessions for each group. Throughout the duration of this project, an astounding 100 group sessions were held to educate women on COVID-19, sexual and reproductive health, and gender based violence. The group also listened to the girls and heard their concerns around these issues as well as the caste system, which still segregates and causes vast disadvantages for families in Nepal.
The results of the project were truly transformative, and the community sessions wrapped up right before the onset of the second wave of COVID-19, which JWAS believes left community members much more prepared to protect themselves and their families’ health. The women involved in the group sessions noted that the meetings helped them to understand the importance of wearing masks, using sanitizers and maintaining physical distance in order to stop the spread of the virus. Additionally, in learning about the devastating effects that childhood marriage has on young women’s physical and mental health, the group decided to continue educating women around them to save other women and girls in their community from this fate. In learning more about gender-based violence, the group members requested that JWAS provide training on the subject for their brothers and fathers so that the entire community can work together to put a stop to domestic violence and lack of rights for women. Overall, this project was hugely effective in both educating on COVID-19 prevention, and issues of sexual health and gender-based violence. The women involved now have greater knowledge to protect themselves, and are motivated to continue sharing this knowledge to create a healthier and more equitable community.