Catalyzing Change: improving youth sexual and reproductive health through DISHA Programme in India.

In addition to providing youth with sexual and reproductive health information and services the Development Initiative Supporting Healthy Adolescents programme sought to tackle the social and economic constraints that often limit their choices and actions. Through implementation of DISHA evidence suggests that such a large-scale integrated programme holds potential and promise for improving young peoples sexual and reproductive health. For example married youth who were exposed to the DISHA programme were nearly 60% more likely to report current use of modern contraceptives than non-exposed youth. Moreover the DISHA programme offers important insights on how to implement a large scale integrated programme in India and elsewhere. This report examines the accomplishments and limitations of implementing DISHA summarizes the key findings from assessing DISHAs impact on youth and adults and analyzes efforts to strengthen NGO capacity to carry out a multisectoral approach to youth sexual and reproductive health programming.