Our Lives, our Health, our Futures

Empowering adolescent girls and young women in Chittagong Hill Tracts

to live with dignity and without violence.

 Introduction

The forgotten conflict in the isolated Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) area of Bangladesh gravely affects the lives of the Jummas (11 ethno-linguistically and religiously diverse people). Traditional patriarchal social structures in CHT severely disadvantage women and girls, and restrict their bodily and sexual autonomy. Together with the prolonged conflict, this increases their exposure to sexual violence and assault, making CHT highly relevant for interventions to promote gender equality and women and girls’ empowerment. Building on over 30 years’ experience working on community health in Bangladesh, Simavi and co-applicant BNPS have designed Our Lives, Our Health, Our Futures (Our LHF) to promote gender equality and women and girl’s empowerment in CHT.

 About the programme

The programme “Our Lives, our Health, our Futures” is designed to holistically support the empowerment of young women and adolescent girls (final beneficiaries), and target key gatekeepers and service providers in order to foster an enabling environment. Simavi and BNPS will provide organisational, technical and financial support to local CSOs to strengthen their capacity to address the needs and rights of young women and adolescent girls, specifically in relation to their sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) and gender-based violence (GBV). The expected impact of the action is to enable and support young women and adolescent girls from ethnic groups in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh to transition into adult womanhood with dignity, and bodily and sexual autonomy, without violence, coercion and/or discrimination. The specific objectives are:

 Outcome 1: Local CSOs have strengthened their technical, methodological, financial and administrative capacity to effectively respond to the SRHR needs of young women and adolescent girls and foster their rights to live free from violence, coercion and discrimination.

Outcome  2:  Young women and adolescent girls from ethnic groups are empowered to make free and informed decisions about their SRHR (and are supported to do so), free of violence, coercion and discrimination.

Graphic 1: Impact and Outcomes