Project report
Empowering Adolescent Girls during a Global Pandemic: An Initiative through the Scheme for Adolescent Girls and the Kanyashree Prakalpa Convergence (SAG-KP) Program
Arpita Banerjee, Arnab Karar, Nilanjana Ghosh, Indrani Bhattacharyya, Santwana Adhikari ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This report describes how the SAG-KP convergence program in West Bengal, India adapted its services for adolescent girls during COVID-19 lockdowns. The program shifted from in-person activities to online group discussions, health messaging, and telephone counselling. School closures prompted the introduction of vocational and skill-based training, including kitchen gardening, while online messaging helped prevent child marriages.
Key points
- Program activities transitioned from offline to online modalities including adolescent group discussions and social media-based counselling
- Online messaging circulation helped prevent child marriages during lockdown
- Prolonged school closures led to introduction of vocational and skill-based training including kitchen garden work
- Kitchen gardening helped supplement nutritional needs of adolescent girls
- Regular contact through online and offline sessions provided ongoing benefits to adolescent girls
Limitations
This is a descriptive account of program adaptations during COVID-19 with limited quantitative outcome data. The report does not provide comparative evidence on whether the online modalities were as effective as in-person services or measure specific program outcomes.
Abstract
Abstract: We discuss the shift in program modalities during COVID-19 within the Scheme for Adolescent Girls and Kanyashree Prakalpa (SAG-KP) Convergence Program in the state of West Bengal, India. Field insights as well as available program data from the Child in Need Institute's (CINI) intervention areas revealed that strict lockdowns and restricted unlocking phases during the pandemic led to changed program pathways—from offline/in-person activities to online adolescent group discussions and health message dissemination, plus counselling services through social media and telephone. Prolonged school closures impelled the adolescent girls to undertake vocational/skill-based training, including kitchen garden work to supplement their nutritional needs. The circulation of key messages through online groups also helped in preventing child marriages. Important lessons learned from the lockdown phase are that adolescent girls can benefit from regular contact and regular online/offline sessions or workshops.
Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
- Intervention
- Transition of program activities from in-person to online modalities including group discussions, health messaging via social media, telephone counselling, and introduction of vocational training and kitchen gardening during school closures
- Population
- Adolescent girls in the SAG-KP Convergence Program intervention areas in West Bengal, India
Key finding
Online messaging helped prevent child marriages during lockdown