Kiran Sitara:

Adolescent Girls Leadership & Health Program

Challenge

49% of Pakistan’s total population comprises of women. Unfortunately, in low income communities these women are not given access to quality education and health care facilities.

By building a network of trained and active adolescent school going girls, women living in those communities can be accessed and educated to promote behavior change for healthier lifestyles. Moreover, such networks can be further utilized to influence their communities to promote social causes.

Our Approach

IRD Pakistan, in collaboration with Sindh Education Department and Private schools, is galvanizing adolescent girls to reach out communities for a healthier Pakistan under its “Kiran Sitara” initiative. Kiran Sitara is the off shoot of IRD’s Youth Engagement program.  In this program youth, including adolescent girls are taught life skills to create referral networks and conduct household screenings within low income populations.

This project aims to enhance leadership skills of adolescent girls by providing trainings to boost their confidence, improve educational performance and ameliorate their communication competency. By harnessing the potential of students as “Actors of Social Change”, this indigenous community outreach campaign is designed to increase uptake of screening and treatment services for infectious diseases such as TB, as well as primary care.

Divided into five phases, “Kiran Sitara” initiative trains teachers as mentors, who further mobilize adolescent school girls from schools across Pakistan. Each girl is tasked to conduct verbal screenings in at least 20 households in her neighborhood, and provide referral slips to IRD’s clinical programs at public and private institutions for free care and treatment.

After the successful intervention in Karachi, the program has expanded to other Districts of Sindh; Hyderabad and Sukkur. The program has also expanded to Peshawar through partnership with KP Education Department and Private Schools in Punjab.

Impact

Since its inception, the Kiran Sitara initiative has supported vulnerable communities across Pakistan through multiple iterations, improving the lives of thousands of people.