Grant: Planning and Dissemination Grant - Institute Community Support

This grant request is to fund the travel and facilitation costs associated with (i) a skills-building workshop event to broaden capacity in designing, implementing and evaluating a sexual and reproductive health (SRH) intervention, and (ii) hosting a community celebration to lay the foundation for an SRH needs assessment. The workshop will be held in Kherwara, Rajasthan, India from January 25th to February 7th, 2025. This project responds to the invitation from local community partner Manav Aashrita Sansthan (MAS) and international NGO Danish Kherwara Mission (DKM) to draw upon the expertise of a University of Victoria (UVic) based SRH research team headed by Dr. Cecilia Benoit. In preparation for the workshop, the UVic team will tour the local women's clinic and birth centre to meet with the clinic staff, representatives from MAS, and members of a community working group comprised of five local Kherwari women. The skills-building workshop will use one of Dr. Benoit' SRH program case studies (Indigenous Midwifery Pilot and Youth SRH Strategy) to explore and adapt the working group methodology to the Kherwari context. As part of the workshop the UVic researchers will help the partners facilitate a life course mapping exercise with local Kherwari women. Following the workshops, MAS and the UVic team will compile the workshop materials to share at the community celebration and host a discussion with the community about their SRH needs. Prior to returning to Canada, the UVic team will debrief with MAS. Upon the UVic team's return to Victoria, the team will review the materials gathered during the workshops and recommendations made by the community, and work with MAS to (1) develop a training manual based on the workshop activities to use in developing the SRH intervention, and (2) identify the most practical knowledge sharing materials for the community (e.g., translated infographics, final report).