{"id":675,"date":"2025-08-19T11:27:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-19T11:27:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/zmq\/?page_id=675"},"modified":"2026-01-30T11:25:53","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T11:25:53","slug":"sakhee-project","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/zmqdev.org\/zmq\/sakhee-project\/","title":{"rendered":"Sakhee Project"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The Sakhee Project<\/strong><\/h3>\n

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The <\/span>Sakhee Project<\/b> is an inclusive urban health initiative designed to improve immunization uptake among under-served populations living in urban slums, with a specific focus on Mumbra and Kausa in Thane District, Maharashtra. These densely populated, low-income settlements experience persistent public health challenges, including high levels of zero-dose and under-immunized children, particularly among marginalized and hard-to-reach communities. Structural barriers, social exclusion, misinformation and vaccine hesitancy further limit access to timely immunization services.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Sakhee Project adopts an innovative, community-driven approach by engaging transgender individuals as trusted health intermediaries and influencers. Leveraging their strong social presence and extensive informal networks within urban slum communities. Sakhees play a critical role in identifying high-risk populations such as newborns, immunization dropouts and fallouts. This enables timely follow-ups, referral support and an effective reminder\u2013recall system to ensure continuity of immunization services. Transgender Sakhees, who often reside in these communities and earn livelihoods as street performers through singing, dancing and offering blessings, are uniquely positioned to overcome trust deficits and social barriers. Equipped with the mobile-based <\/span>Sakhee App<\/b>, they support real-time immunization tracking, referrals to public health facilities and coordination with frontline health systems. The app also enables systematic data capture to strengthen outreach planning and service delivery.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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A key component of the Sakhee Project is its use of culturally responsive Social and Behavior Change Communication (SBCC) tools. Through digital talking comics and interactive content on vaccines and immunization schedules, Sakhees deliver engaging, easy-to-understand messages to caregivers. These tools are designed to improve knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP), address vaccine hesitancy and challenge gender-related barriers to healthcare access. The Sakhee Project is also structured to generate robust evidence on the effectiveness of transgender-led SBCC interventions in increasing immunization awareness and coverage among zero-dose children in urban slum settings, contributing to scalable and inclusive urban health solutions.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Key Activities<\/strong><\/h3>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/3″][vc_single_image image=”2185″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” css_animation=”none” css=””][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/3″][vc_single_image image=”2186″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” css_animation=”none” css=””][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/3″][vc_single_image image=”2187″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” css_animation=”none” css=””][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”1197″ img_size=”large” alignment=”center” css=””][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1757398338270{background-color: #084595 !important;}” el_class=”sakhee_program_approach”][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””]<\/p>\n

Our Approach<\/strong><\/h1>\n

[\/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner content_placement=”top” gap=”35″][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″ css=”.vc_custom_1757399011810{background-color: #ffffff !important;border-radius: 5px !important;border-color: #000000 !important;}”][vc_column_text css=””]The project uses the strength of transgender community and their informant network to identify high risk population- dropouts, fallouts and ensure timely follow-ups and reminder-recall system & work as intermediary.<\/b>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″ css=”.vc_custom_1757399028644{background-color: #ffffff !important;border-radius: 5px !important;border-color: #000000 !important;}”][vc_column_text css=””]Transgenders component, as a support group, will have more inclusive approach ensuring increased and more equitable (Male\/Female) reach of immunization services.<\/b>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=”” el_class=”heading-line”]<\/p>\n

Innovation Design<\/strong><\/h3>\n

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Digital Tools<\/strong><\/h3>\n

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Community Activities<\/strong><\/h3>\n

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MIRA Theatre<\/span><\/strong><\/h4>\n

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Kiosk Activity<\/span><\/strong><\/h4>\n

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Auto Campaign<\/span><\/strong><\/h4>\n

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[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””] The Sakhee Project [\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator color=”custom” style=”shadow” css=”” accent_color=”#084595″][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””] The Sakhee Project is an inclusive urban health initiative designed to improve immunization uptake among under-served populations living in urban slums, with a specific focus on Mumbra and Kausa in Thane District, Maharashtra. These densely populated, low-income settlements experience persistent public health challenges, including<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-675","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zmqdev.org\/zmq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zmqdev.org\/zmq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zmqdev.org\/zmq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zmqdev.org\/zmq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zmqdev.org\/zmq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=675"}],"version-history":[{"count":45,"href":"https:\/\/zmqdev.org\/zmq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/675\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3065,"href":"https:\/\/zmqdev.org\/zmq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/675\/revisions\/3065"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zmqdev.org\/zmq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}