Kotha

Kotha is an organization that is fighting the culture of gender based violence at its core. We work across multiple dimensions including adolescent rights, sexuality education, research and knowledge creation, and capacity building. We work with policy makers, development practitioners, international and national NGOs along with schools. Themes: Gender based Violence, Youth SRHR & Mental Health, Feminism 1) Our Work with Sex Ed & Peer Education Training Our pioneer program, Kotha at School, is the first fully youth led comprehensive sexuality education program in Bangladesh. We work through long term partnerships with schools to implement our curriculum. We teach topics such as gender, consent, sexual through an interactive classroom based sessions. We believe that these discussions need to start early, so the youth of this country do not grow up with flawed beliefs but instead learn about their rights and have the knowledge and skills to make informed decisions in their lives. Our program is unique because we send in trained Peer Educators who are closer to the age of the students so they can relate to each other better and create safer classroom environments. 2) Our Work with Parents 'Jomano Kotha' is an innovative tool developed by Kotha that incorporates elements of psychosocial drama and storytelling to enable intergenerational dialogue between parents and children. 3) Sisters in Sync – Feminist movement building amongst youth It addresses the lack of feminist spaces in Bangladesh through creation of safe and respectful spaces for sharing, exploring and reflecting on the collective experience of womanhood and sisterhood. 4) Youth perspective research In order to document youth voice across Kotha’s main themes, Kotha regularly takes on research work both quantitative as well as qualitative.