An Alliance for developing quality education institute
A five-year project has approached 331 School Management Committees (SMC) in the northern part of Bangladesh to ensure the health and other services for the students. SMCs of Nilphamari and Rangpur in the respective areas are becoming the changemakers through their leadership and cooperation jointly with the project titled Joint Action for Nutrition Outcome (JANO).
JANO is working on different issues related to adolescents such as adolescent health, food and nutrition, menstrual hygiene, child marriage, violence against women, gender equality, HIV/AIDS, sexual harassment, school dropouts etc.
JANO is a consortium project implemented by Care Bangladesh, Plan International Bangladesh, and Eco-Social Development Organization (ESDO). The project is funded by the European Union and co-funded by the Austrian Development Cooperation.
Md. Hasanur Rahman Shohag, a committee member from a school of Gangachara union said, "we are working with JANO jointly which has now become more fruitful than ever to serve as a committee member. We are doing good things together." With the collaboration of SMCs, JANO also worked to make the dropout students due to the COVID-19 pandemic back to their school. "Our volunteers worked not only for the school-going adolescents but also for the dropouts. "Each school under JANO project were able to make almost 20 dropout students back to school after the pandemic and this is considered as a huge success for the SMCs by the native people", said Shanta Rani, a Field Officer of JANO in Taraganj Upazila of Rangpur.
The project is working with every stakeholder related to adolescent health and School Management Committee is one of them. JANO is a nutrition governance project working with SMCs, teachers, guardians, and student cabinet/council members of primary and secondary schools and madrasas.
The nutrition governance project has included a nutrition garden program, Gender Equity Movement in Schools (GEMS) sessions, adolescent corner, annual sports and campaign, cooking demonstration, Theatre for Development (TFD) etc., as part of their school intervention program with the cooperation of the respective SMCs.
JANO team regularly conduct meetings with the SMCs. And in the monthly meeting of SMCs, a school volunteer of JANO is invited to discuss adolescent health-related programs. Through these meetings, they make a plan of action besides the regular activities of SMC.
Md. Aliar Rahman Sarkar, headmaster of Ghonirampur Boro Gola High School of Taraganj Upazila of Rangpur said, "As this project has a tremendous positive potential for our students, we're working on it additionally with our regular activities."
According to guardians and students of that area, this collaboration ensures an adolescent-friendly environment in these schools. All the targeted schools of these two districts now have a nutrition garden, adolescent corner, regular GEMS sessions, and Theatre for Development and the students and their families are happily practising the learnings from different interventions.
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