In the year 2003, Young Inspirer Manish Kumar had received a fellowship under the Fund for Leadership Development, MacArthur Foundation, India. The title of his fellowship project was - A Communication Strategy for the Promotion of Adolescent Reproductive Health. His fellowship project aimed to develop innovative communication strategies for the promotion of Adolescent Reproductive Health.
By developing and incorporating innovative techniques - such as games and magic tricks - into lesson plans, his goal was to develop materials that are easily accessible, interactive and fun and draw the attention of young people from urban as well as rural areas. Games and magic gave him a unique platform to effectively interact with young people. Manish has developed a kit consisting about 20 magic tricks and 7 board games. Each game and magic trick is accompanied by messages related to following issues- sexuality, gender, risk behaviors, HIV/AIDS, violence, early marriage and pregnancy, peer pressure and drug abuse, adolescent health and nutrition etc. He conducts training programs for master trainers on Communication Strategies for Young People’s Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights, in which the participants learn to handle the kit and get guidance on use of magic and games in their educational activities. These participants are the staff members and young volunteers from various organizations in India and abroad. Feel free to nominate people (eligible participants) for participating in these training programs. A wide dissemination of communications materials is being done through our Entertainment Education Resource Centre (EERC) that has already started functioning in Lucknow. Do let us know if you are interested in our Entertainment Education Materials.