Australia Awards South and West Asia

To mark International Women’s Day, we highlight the accomplishments of Australia Awards alumnae Shahina Akter and Nushrat Jahan, who are using an Australia Awards grant to promote awareness of sexual and reproductive health among adolescent girls in a secondary school in a remote area of Sreemagal Upazila, Moulvibazar District, Bangladesh.

Shahina studied a Master of Development Studies at the University of Melbourne in 2021 and now serves as the Additional Deputy Commissioner at the Office of the Deputy Commissioner in Moulvibazar District. Nushrat, who studied a Master of Environmental and Resource Economics at the Australian National University in 2021, is now the Joint Director of Bangladesh Bank (the central bank of Bangladesh).

“While in Australia, our courses were highly focused on development strategies and we both chose courses focused on gender,” Nushrat says. This led her and Shahina to apply for a Community Development Grant offered by Australia Awards, with the aim of alleviating significant gaps in adolescents’ knowledge about their sexual and reproductive health and their right to access essential sexual and reproductive health services.

Alunma Shahina conducting a post-evaluation survey at the workshop on ‘Empowering Adolescents: A journey to sexual and reproductive health’ in Bishamoni High School.

Their grant-funded project focuses on providing crucial reproductive health awareness to youth and their families living in a remote tea estate community. Due to a range of political, economic and sociocultural factors, this community of tea workers and their families—particularly women and adolescents—are at a higher risk of having limited knowledge about sexual and reproductive health, compared to other parts of Bangladesh.

“Our Australian degrees and experience have strengthened our skills to design a conceptual plan to provide comprehensive sexual and reproductive health education to empower adolescents to exercise their reproductive rights,” Nushrat says.

In February 2023, Shahina and Nushrat began their grant project by initiating the Health and Hygiene Corner for Menstrual Hygiene Management and Public Health Protection, to create health awareness among female students in Bishamoni High School in Sreemangal Upazila. Most students attending this school are children of daily wage labourers working in the tea estates and/or are from indigenous communities (who are the most disadvantaged group in the area).

Adolescent girls at the school lacked adequate facilities to ensure their overall sexual and reproductive health. “I used to feel embarrassed about being on my period at school. Before, there was no way of getting sanitary napkins and we didn’t have disposing facilities. It is great that we now have a dedicated menstrual hygiene corner at school, with the provision to get a sanitary pad in emergencies,” says Sumaiya Akhter, one of the students from Bishamoni High School.

Shahina notes that comprehensive sex education is crucial, as adolescents need to understand their sexual and reproductive health to be able to take measures to prevent unwanted pregnancies or sexually transmitted infections or diseases.

“Through this grant project, we tried to enhance the knowledge about sexual and reproductive health information and services, including comprehensive sexual and reproductive education, maternal health care, sexually transmitted diseases, contraception, and safe abortion services,” says Shahina.

“The grant project targeted adolescent girls in tea estates and indigenous communities, as these girls have minimal access to these services. We wanted to protect them by making them knowledgeable, capable, and aware of various sexual and reproductive health-related issues.”

Shahina and Nushrat organised their first workshop in January 2024, attended by adolescent girls, some adolescent boys and schoolteachers. It addressed puberty, menstruation and development concerns during adolescence. They organised another workshop in February 2024 at Bishamoni High School involving teenage girls, schoolteachers, community leaders, government officials, local representatives and the local administration. This workshop covered a range of topics, including puberty, menstruation, sexual and reproductive rights of adolescents, reproductive tract infections, sexually transmitted diseases, contraceptives, and decision-making issues.

The alumnae aim to educate 150 adolescents about reproductive health by supporting and educating them in school. They follow the WHO and UNESCO policies and guidelines for introducing holistic education on sexuality and reproductive health, and use materials such as leaflets, booklets, manuals, flyers, and posters developed by the Bangladesh Government, WHO, the United Nations Population Fund and USAID to educate the students. They will also arrange a training session for teachers in March 2024, as well as identify adolescents who will work as peer educators later in the project.

Alumna Nusrat educating students on changes during adolescence at the workshop conducted in Bishamoni High School.

To make this project sustainable, Shahina and Nushrat involved multiple stakeholders in the community, including the local administration, the Office of the Civil Surgeon, Sreemangal Upazila Health Complex, Sreemangal Upazila Family Planning Office, the Upazila Secondary Education Office, school authorities, community leaders and religious leaders. The alumnae sensitised these stakeholders to the importance of sexual and reproductive health-related education and addressed it being a taboo topic.

To facilitate effective educational intervention on sexual and reproductive health, Shahina and Nushrat will also organise training sessions for 10 teachers to help them integrate the topic when teaching, counselling and supporting adolescents. They believe that, after these workshops, teachers will be more open and comfortable discussing this topic with students (and parents), and students will be better equipped to take care of themselves.

“Parents have poor communication on sexual and reproductive health with their adolescent daughters,” says Shafiqul Islam Liton, a ward member– one of the local government representatives. “This sexual and reproductive health-related program would assist the community and parents in discussing sexual and reproductive health-related information and related services with young children, as these have been sociocultural taboos.”

The Upazila Secondary Education Officer of Sreemangal, Dilip Kumar Bardhan, says that many schoolgirls remain absent from school during their period, as it has been a source of anxiety and shame. “I believe the facilities of a hygiene corner at school and education through workshops on promoting sexual and reproductive health and the rights of adolescents will have a positive impact on reducing absenteeism and increasing physical mobility and social interactions during their menstruation,” he adds.

The two alumnae handed over booklets issued by the Government of Bangladesh on reproductive health to workshop participants.

Additionally, the project has arranged training for schoolgirls and female teachers on how to make reusable sanitary pads. This training will help them manage menstruation hygiene to ensure sexual and reproductive health at a lower cost.

In collaboration with Sreemangal Upazila Health Complex, Sreemangal Family Planning Office and the Multipurpose Socio-Economic Development Association (a non-government organisation), Shahina and Nushrat have also established a counselling service for adolescent girls at Bishamoni High School. This counselling service aims to address the girls’ concerns and respond to their questions regarding sexual and reproductive health, and ensure access to inclusive gender-responsive sexual and reproductive health services that meet the needs of adolescents.

Shahina and Nushrat thank Australia Awards for inspiring and supporting them to deliver this project. They are proud to be helping mitigate sexual and reproductive harm among adolescent girls in marginalised communities and enabling these girls to reclaim their fundamental rights.

The caregivers of the minors featured on this page have given their approval for their children to appear in photographs.