A. ARSH Capacity building workshop programme (UP and MP) (2006)

As part of its continued involvement with building NGO capacity for ARSH education for young people, Ideosync designed and implemented an extended training programme on developing and implementing sustained reproductive health interventions for young people in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh and Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. NGOs, schools and government department representatives attended simultaneous workshops in Hindi and English in both cities in May-June 2006, where they were exposed to a variety of communication concepts, projects, strategies and materials, including Ideosync's own Growing Up, Badhte Hum and Time of Our Lives modules RSH modules. The participants were then encouraged to develop action plans and implement them on their own, with advisory support and monitoring from Ideosync through local coordinators stationed in the two cities. The participants were also encouraged to maintain detailed field notes and reporting to reflect both, the growth in their own understanding of the issues around ARSH, as well as the bottlenecks faced by them in developing in-field ARSH interventions.

After a six month gap, the particpants in the first round of workshops were reinvited to refresher workshop programmes in their own cities, where they shared their experiences and received additional training in communication for development and the process of communication materials design. Some of the especially well designed interventions that emerged were subsequently supported under the Applied Adolescent Sexual Health & Awareness (AASHA) initiative. Both projects were supported by the DFID (India) supported RCSHA.

B. ARSH intervention design training for field level NGOs (Jharkhand) (2005-2006)

Ideosync trained field level NGOs in 8 districts of Jharkhand, India, in the utilization of innovative communication materials, tools and techniques to discuss issues around sexuality, reproductive health and puberty/adolescence with young people in small town an rural areas. The initiative included an extended training workshop programme for facilitators from the participating NGOs, focusing on Ideosync’s Badhte Hum video-based RSH education module; and an innovative ethnographic action research component to examine the impact of the modules on the knowledge levels, attitudes and comfort levels of the young people addressed by the project, as well as the facilitators’ own ability to structure and execute ARSH interventions for young people. An initial intensive 13 day training in Hazaribagh was followed by the implementation of the Badhte Hum modules by the NGOs with groups of young people in their districts. This was then followed by a second training workshop in Deogarh towards the end of the project, where the participants learnt about BCC and the process of designing low cost communication materials on their own; and reviewed progress and lessons learnt from the implementation till date. The training programme, the implementation design and the research programme were tailormade by Ideosync to the specific needs of the project, which was supported by the National Foundation for India (NFI) with funding from the David & Lucille Packard Foundation.

C. Applied Adolescent Sexual Health Awareness project (2006-2007)

After the successful conclusion of the ARSH Capacity Building project in Kanpur (UP) and Bhopal (MP), Ideosync invited select NGOs which had been trained in the previous project to submit proposals for a three month implementation programme on ARSH for young people. The interventions were developed around Ideosync's Badhte Hum ARSH modules. With funding support from RCSHA, Ideosync supported and monitored the 8 NGO partners - 4 in each state - as they implemented the interventions with groups of young people. A simultaneous  research process conducted by Ideosync's research team tracked changes in knowledge and attitudes among the the young people addressed by the AASHA project. A number of the partners are now using the training and field expereince gained by their facilitators during the two projects to design and implement further ARSH interventions on their own steam, and with support from other funding sources.

D. Advocacy strategy design workshop for INP+ (2004-2005)

As part of its continuous efforts to build community understanding and ownership of communication processes, Ideosync worked with UNAIDS And the Indian Network for Positive People (INP+) to train representatives from 16 of INP+'s state level affiliate networks in advocacy design and behaviour change communication. The outline strategy goals, objectives and activities for a National Advocacy Strategy for INP+ were developed during a workshop organized in November 2004 in Bangalore, India, which was designed and facilitated by Ideosync’s team. During the workshop the participants identified goals, objectives, key messages and advocacy support activities that were relevant to INP+ at a national level - and the variations that would be required to address key stakeholders within each of their states. This was then refined by Ideosync into a National Advocacy Strategy document, which provided inputs and guides for NACP III, as well as a detailed implementation framework for GIPA.

E. Growing Up/Badhte Hum dissemination workshops (2005)

As a component of the development of The Time of Our Lives modules - the second trilogy in the Growing Up ARSH module series - Ideosync conducted a workshop programme in Delhi and Mumbai for facilitators, NGO outreach workers and educationists in working on RSH related issues. The two-day workshops focused on the development of relevant and sustainable HIV/RSH education programmes for schools and NGO outreach programmes; and discussed how innovative audiovisual tools like the Growing Up/Badhte Hum/Time of Our Lives modules could be a part of those programmes. (Ideosync is in discussions for a larger research/implementation/training programme.)

F. BCC, facilitation and intervention design training: Beyond Borders project (Print: 2006-2007)

Over 2006 and 2007, Ideosync worked with the Beyond Borders group, an active citizenship young people's initiative developed by the British Council Division's as part of its Connecting Futures project. Ideosync trained the RSH sub group of the Beyond Borders team in designing communication materials for other young people, which eventually culminated in the development of a basket of communication materials that were used by the team members as part of the school intervention programme they developed and implemented. Additional training modules were conducted in facilitation skills, RSH, sexuality and intervention design. The Connecting Futures project was decommissioned in March 2007, and Ideosync has since taken over the management and coordination of volunteers from the group. We are currently in the process of developing a media for youth project which will utilize the skills developed by the group members to create new linkages, sharing and exchanges between different strata of Indian youth.