RHIYA is a multi partner initiative that spans over seven south and south East Asian countries namely, Bangladesh, Cambodia, the Loa PDR, Nepal , Pakistan , Sri Lanka and Vietnam . In Pakistan , this project is being implemented in five districts .SACHET-implements this projects in pakistan with two other partner CSOs namely ,Marie Stopes Society and PAVHNA. The project RHIYA is an extension phase of the earlier initiative Reproductive Health Initiative" which was implemented in the period 1999-2002. The project is being funded jointly by EU and UNFPA.

• Increasing awareness and Improving SRH knowledge and behavior among youth and adolescents;

• Improving access to and utilization of yoth-oriented SRH services;

• Enhancing technical, planning and managerial capacity among national civil society organizations (CSOs) and community based organizations (CBO)s in the provision of adolescent sexual and reproductive health (ASRH) information and services;

• Increasing political and community support for ASRH policies and interventions.

The main target groups of SACHET RHIYA program are adolescent and youth .In order to have a more comprehensive integrated approach, influential stakeholders, community elders induding parents, school teacher, religious leaders, health service providers and volunteers are also taken as the indirect beneficiaries of the project. The main model of RHIYA project at district level is based on youth Friendly centers (YFCs), both for girls and boys .The YFCs offer many services to empower youth by mobilization , educating and skill development . The youth take advantage of recreational activities provided at the centers, such as folk music, debate contests, reading and declamation contests etc.Both indoor and outdoor sports activities have been made vailable to the youth , with sports club activities such as football and cricket , badminton etc. Volunteers who have skills in these activities have been recruited from the community to lead the sports activites for the youth.

To build competitiveness, inter-union council and inter -district debate and ARH messages dissemination events are arganized on regular intervals, which provide the participating youth with an opportunity to travel and meet with youth from the other places , thus providing ground for information and knowledge exchange . These enter-educate activities facilitate towards building an atmosphere conducive to learning for the youth , providing them with an avenue to address their youth and health related issues while availing opportunities for enjoying themselves as well.

Social and Policy advocacy has also been done both at district and national level with the aim to increase sensitivity and also to get support regarding ASRH. For this purpose, different seminars, workshops, youth summits and also one on one meeting involving the influential stakeholders are done to mainstream ARH at policy, program and community level. Service provision (contraception, STI management and referral) has also been made an integral part of the intervention.

In Pakistan, a total number of 80 (40 for each boys and girls) youth friendly centers (YFCs) have been established in five districts.

It would not be about of place to mention that RHIYA model is the first of its kind in Pakistan which has embodied a holistic approach to address the ASH issues keeping in view cultural and religious sensitivities.

Services Provided at YFCs

• ARH Awareness sessions
• Medical services
• Counseling on ASRH
• School ASRH awareness sessions
• ASRH awareness through cultural and folk music events
• Theatre
• Literacy classes for out of school youth
• Coaching classes for students (especially in science subjects and English)
• Library services
• Sports (Indoor and out door)
• Recreational activities (debates, painting competitions, cooking competitions etc

RHIYA strategies:

• Social advocacy
• Policy advocacy
• Counseling
• Partnership and joint ownerships with CBOs
• Youth involvement
• Peer education
• Outreach ASRH medical services
• Public-private partnership
• Innovative Communication
• Education through entertainment (enter educate approaches)
• Bottom-up planning
• Involvement of decision makers including parents.
• Institutionalization of interventions
• Culturally sensitive communication