The broad aim of this study was to generate evidence from the community on the impact that COVID-19 had on access to SRH-related information and services among young women and girls and develop contextual need-based community outreach strategies. The specific objectives were to: 1. Understand how access to information and services had been impacted due to the pandemic and the consequent lockdown. 2. Explore unfulfilled needs from the perspective of SRH among young women and girls. 3. Understand young women’s experience of seeking SRH services from health facilities (if at all). 4. Explore how the support systems (ASHAs, ANMs and other outreach workers) impacted the access to information and services. 5. Examine challenges and good practices from the field to understand how they overcome these challenges. 6. Identify immediate requirements of young women and girls in terms of information and services. 7. Assess social resilience among young women (15-24 years) from the context of family support and support of the health system. Understand the perspective of community intermediaries (ASHAs) towards service utilization and how it has been impacted by the pandemic. 9. Examine the transition in priorities of ASHAs that have shifted focus towards COVID-19 and their perceived opinion on the normalization of their roles and responsibilities. The study design adopted a combination of both exploratory and investigative methods depending on the stage of the project. The exploratory research design aimed to explore a problem so as to provide insights and comprehension for more precise investigation, while the investigatory approach enabled a nuanced investigation of the problem. The purpose of this approach was to triangulate the data with all stakeholders of the research problem, and to provide a holistic picture of the emerging patterns.

Generating Evidence for Rebuilding SRH Services for Women and Girls in India: A Qualitative Study to assess the ground reality of COVID-19 Pandemic. Ipas Development Foundation. 2021.