Asmita Women's Publishing House, Media & Resource Organization (ASMITA) was started with an objective of uplifting the status and dignity of Nepali women. Since its establishment in 1988, the organization has been regularly conducting various programs. Some of the programs are as following: publication of a women's magazine; publication of different kinds of IEC and literacy materials on gender issues; media campaign for women's rights; training on gender perspective in journalism; production of radio programs; production of documentary and other television programs; research on media, gender and social issues; media monitoring from gender perspective; consultancy for the production of media materials etc. Simultaneously one of its major programs targets to the adolescents in Nepal with the aim of reducing behavioral risks among them.

Though the organization is running such different programs for last 15 years, sometimes it has to face problems too. Mostly the financial resources are major constrains for the organization like ASMITA. Still the funding agencies are not easily ready to grant a media organization because the results of investment on media could not be concretely measured such as the number of people benefited by a literacy program or other development activities. Media's impact and influence are very subtle and can be justified only in a long period. So it is very difficult to convince the authorities of funding agencies to support for media related programs. However, there are some donor groups and individuals who know the function and importance of media and recognize the quality work. Because of them, the organization has been successful to launch various programs which are useful and in favor of Nepali women.

In this context, the organization has been regularly conducting various programs for the last fifteen years. One of such programs targets to the adolescents in Nepal with the aim of reducing behavioral risks among them. Since adolescents are the future leaders of any society and nation, they have right to gain knowledge and information about the issues concerned to them. Unfortunately, Nepali adolescents have been the most vulnerable group with several kinds of high-risk behaviors related to sexual and reproductive health. A very few intervention program has been made at public, private and NGO sectors in addressing the need of adolescents and youth in the country.

Adolescence is the most critical and sensitive stage in life. The adolescents are at the risk of sexual abuse; transmitting STDs & HIV/AIDS, early unplanned and unsafe pregnancy. These factors can disturb their happy and healthy life. If the future generation is in the vulnerable condition, it also adversely affects the future of the country. Therefore, the organization ASMITA strongly feels the need of media campaign to disseminate right information to the adolescents at the right time. Information and knowledge are such power, which can make one's life sound and strong. The production of booklets, direct interaction with hundreds of adolescents through the conference and production and broadcast of the documentary are the parts of media campaign. Therefore, ASMITA has formulated some specific programs to fulfill this need to some extend. Main objectives of these programs are:

Last year, ASMITA conducted some of these programs. There were different four programs in a package which aimed to provide right information and knowledge to adolescents on the issues of sexuality and reproductive health. Main programs were as presented below:

Considering the lack of effective IEC materials regarding the critical issues like sexuality, reproductive health and HIV/AIDS, ASMITA produced five different booklets on separate topics using simple lucid Nepali language and some illustrations. The booklets were entitled;

During the preparation of these IEC materials, the team had deeply investigated either other such materials were available or not. Unfortunately the situation was very poor. In fact, such IEC materials, especially in the print form, are very useful for adolescents because they can use and reuse them as per the necessity.

The organization published 2000 copies of each booklet The booklets were distributed among the participants of the interaction program & regional conference.

Under this program another activity was to conduct a conference of adolescent girls and boys in Nepalgunj, a major city of the Mid-western part of Nepal. As a participant, there were altogether one hundred adolescents in the conference with 60:40 ratio of girls and boys respectively from ten different districts of Mid-western and Far-western Development Region.

Generally, the age group of participants was between 14-20 years, however, there was few elder participants who had accompanied the adolescent groups of different districts as leaders. The conference was held through participatory approach, which included open discussion, creative exercises like painting, role-play and group exercise.

The conference was conducted in an informal way. The main focus of the program was to address the curiosities, needs and interest of the adolescents regarding the reproductive and sexual health issues. The participants were encouraged to explore their interest, needs, problems and solutions themselves. As a result, both girls and boys participants will consider the sexual and reproductive health aspect seriously and positively. Ultimately, it will lead their lives towards a healthy and dignified future.

ASMITA produced the video documentary with the content of "Knowledge & behavior Related to reproductive & sexual health". In the documentary, interviews with the adolescents, doctors and experts have been broadly used. Likewise, other attractive and useful clippings regarding the situation of adolescents have enriched the quality of the documentary. It is expected that the documentary could inform the audience about the problems of adolescents regarding their sexual and reproductive health, level of their knowledge on these topics, situation of the related IEC materials, and basic information which they should know. Thus, the documentary will help to understand the issue and inspire the adolescents for the quest of information and knowledge.

During the research for the production, it is known that there were very few documentaries or visual materials, which can be used as the source of information for adolescents. Nowadays, the visual media is aggressively dominating the minds of audience and it draws their attention amazingly. But such powerful media has not been used to inform the adolescents about the important concerns like sexual and reproductive health. At least, ASMITA documentary will somehow fulfill this acute need of visual media on the topics.

The documentary was broadcast on two national televion channels namely Nepal Television and Channel Nepal. Similarly, time and again, it will be broadcast in different places through other adolescent related programs implemented by various agencies. If the resources support, the documentary would be reprinted, widely disseminated and encouraged to screen among maximum adolescents.

Numbers of interaction programs were held in various higher secondary schools of Dadeldhura and Baitadi, two remote areas of Far Western Development Region of the country. The programs had been conducted in order to bring awareness on reproductive health, sexuality and HIV/AIDS issues among school-girls studying at 8, 9 and 10 classes. Almost six hundred girls participated in the programs.

Participants of the regional conference and interaction programs in schools have expressed their positive response to the programs. Issues of reproductive health, sexuality and HIV/AIDS are still the taboos in Nepali society. Individuals who express their interest to know about the topics are not taken easily in many parts of society. So they found both programs as appropriate forums to fulfill their curiosity and interest. Listening their questions, it seemed that they have lots of confusion and misconception regarding such topics. They responded that the programs were very useful and significant to enrich their knowledge. They also recommended for the continuous implementation of numbers of such programs in different areas of the society, especially in remote areas.

Thus last year, ASMITA implemented some programs focusing to adolescents of Nepal and with the aim of raising awareness and disseminating proper, adequate and right information on RH and sexual health issues. It is interested to continue this adolescent package program for coming three years too. It is an acute need to do such programs throughout the world. Therefore, ASMITA is always looking for the financial support to implement either full package or partial programs. Your support will result in sound knowledge of Nepali adolescents who are ultimately expected to be healthy human resources for the country.