With the Application complete and running on Android, iOS and Web after Phase-III, MASHAL kicked off with another phase of the project, i.e., “Bridge the GAP Phase-IV”, in 2022.

Where the earlier phases built the tool, Phase-IV built the people. The project moved into the marginalised communities of South Punjab and created a Youth Family Planning Cohort — young men, women and non-binary persons who were trained on sexual and reproductive health and rights, digital media and film making, and who then went back into their own neighbourhoods to carry the message themselves. We called them Mashals.

The main training workshop was held on 12th March 2022 at the Catholic Church Hall, Tareen Colony, Multan. Participants were taken through what reproductive health is, what the rights are, and why young people are not accessing them, alongside Pakistan’s commitments under the Sustainable Development Goals and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Pre-tests and post-tests were administered to measure the shift in understanding. Every participant was given the Bridge The GAP Mobile and Web Application as a free, authentic and confidential tool, and was walked through its contraception methods, HIV/AIDS section, geo-tagged clinics, toll-free counselling helplines, audio version, LSBE manual and E-Store.

The multiplier effect followed. The trained Mashals went on to lead 17 Impact Sessions of their own across Multan — at Tareen Colony, New Multan, Walmic Temple, Muzaffarabad Ghosia Colony, Sawera Chowk, Mumtazabad Gulzai Colony, Bilal Chowk, Bohar Gate, Gulgasht Colony, MDA Chowk and beyond — reaching youth, teachers, mentors, adolescents and community influencers, and bringing in 471 people against a target of 400. A menstrual hygiene and reproductive health session was held in Lahore for women and girls aged 9 to 40, followed by sanitary napkin distribution, and SRH package kits were distributed to 200 people. The short film “Contract and Life” was produced and released, asking why a family prepares endlessly for a wedding and never once for a family.

With Phase-IV we closed at 35,765 people reached against a plan of 30,650 — including 756 Direct Beneficiaries and 35,000 through our digital campaigns.