India has the largest adolescent population in the world – about 243 million, which means that challenges during the pandemic and in days to come, are far too great and need immediate attention. Breakthrough works in 5 states and 13 districts of India, reaching out to over 543,000 adolescents in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Punjab, Haryana and Delhi. As we hear from the ground, some of the challenges faced by adolescents during the lockdown are – long closure of schools, lack/absence of access to e-portals for education, stress and social isolation, violence at home and lack of access to health care, etc. Followings are the initiatives the programme teams are have takens, since April 2021:

Frontline- Across the States:

1. Conducted Gender trainings of the Police personnel-
   Quarantine and isolation have been an effective measure of controlling infection. But gender-based violence stays one of the most neglected outcomes of the  pandemic and is underreported due to stigma and social pressures. Hence, on ground members of the Haryana team arranged ‘gender sensitivity training of the police personnel’. Special lessons were imparted through training to the police personnel on gender sensitisation and how to investigate crimes against women.
2. Spreading awareness through various means, within respective districts, to fight with Covid19-
   Even during lockdown, through the means of posters and WhatsApp, Breakthrough’s on ground team members in all the states have been counselling people for adopting COVID-19 appropriate behaviour, in order to keep them safe and in turn help in breaking the chain of transmission of the virus and its variants.
3. Conducted online training around the topic of ‘Domestic violence and sexual hygiene’ – The Haryana team conducted online training of DLSA Karnal on the topic of domestic violence and sexual hygiene, in the month of April and conducted another POSH training for DSLA – Sonipat, in the  month of May, 2021.
4. We are also planning capacity building sessions for team change leaders, so that they can become Covid Volunteers and help us  bust the myth around Corona, appropriate information on Covid19 and vaccination.