Peer-Led Menstrual education, a new experiment with NCC

 

In December 2020, Colonel Piyush Srivastava from National Cadet Corps (NCC), Puducherry approached us to explore a collaboration to offer menstrual health education and train young women cadets to become peer menstrual educators.

 

The NCC is the youth wing of the Indian Armed Forces, open to school and college students on a voluntary basis. They are engaged in developing the youth of the country into disciplined and patriotic citizens.

 

This new collaboration with them was a novel idea that was not only radical, but also of a profound impact. Cadets from four different colleges in the region were selected to be trained by Kalvi, our Menstrual Health Management (MHM) facilitator, in order to equip themselves with necessary skills and information to deliver the message effectively. Of the 83 cadets who attended the first session, 23 participants volunteered to take up a further intensive training programme to become facilitators. The cadets were within the age group of 19 and 21.