Contextualising Safeguarding, Community Engagement & Communication
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Falak Sher: Never give up
As a child Falak Sher dreamt of completing high school and joining the army. That was only natural for a child physically fit who from age ten was a kabaddi player. Though a contact sport, kabaddi is non-violent involving tagging and tackling and serious injuries are rare. However, that rarity struck Falak Sher when he was about twelve and in grade 4 of primary school.
During a match, he was tackled and brought down as had happened several times before. But this time the pang of shooting pain told him something had gone terribly wrong. Though his village Mehr Veesar lay some 50 kilometres southwest of Khairpur town, there were nearby hospitals as well. But Falak Sher was carried home rather than being taken to a proper medical centre.
His family called in the local bone-setter, an untrained potter who boasted knowledge passed down to him through several generations of bone-setters. Using splints and bandages, the man claimed to have set the bone right, but when two months later the dressing was removed, the leg was deformed. For the next five years, Falak Sher was bed-ridden because of persistent pain and inability to walk without support.
For the youngster the dream of being in military uniform faded away and even education seemed to have come to an end at grade 4. Time heals all, however, even badly set bones. After a break of five years, Falak Sher was able to walk back to school with the help of a staff. Though the military career was out of the question, yet the young man continued his schooling to complete matriculation. In a society where able-bodied men with degrees sometimes spend years seeking suitable jobs, there was no opening for a matriculate with a disability.
Already in his twenty-fourth year, Falak Sher apprenticed himself to a master weaver of the charpoy, the wooden bedstead. Within a year, he was sufficiently trained to independently turn an empty frame into a proper bed in under five hours. In 2023, at age thirty-eight, he was a highly proficient charpoy weaver who got calls on his cell phone when there was work.
“Life was getting along all right and I would get three to four charpoys every day,” said Falak Sher. That was enough work to keep him busy through the day and at Rs 400 per frame, he was a satisfied man.
Then came the floods of the summer of 2022. Whole communities lost everything they had and if Falak Sher’s house collapsed, he could hardly say Nature had singled him out for punishment. Flood-affected or not, people needed furniture to sleep on and if he thought that the broken charpoy frames would be repaired and he would be called to do the weaving, he was mistaken. No one had the money even to procure food for their families, and getting their bedsteads repaired was a very distant priority.
“For four months, it was a very difficult time because there was no work. In this village and a couple of other nearby ones, there are four other weavers like me, and we were all without anything to do,” reported Falak Sher.
Like many others, Falak Sher and his family lived by the generosity of a kind landlord who provided flood-affected families with one meal a day. Those were three months when he, the sole bread winner for his family, forewent meals so that his two year-old son was fed. His wife too needed to be fed as she was nursing an infant daughter. It was a very hard time.
Slowly work began to trickle in. However, because of his disability, Falak Sher had to hire a motorbike taxi to take him to the work site. That cost money. For short trips the fare was PKR 30, but longer ones set him back by PKR 100 (Approx. USD 0.3). Unlike the old days when he would get three to five pieces to work on in a day, now there was never more than one and subtracting the fare from his wage of PKR 400 (Approx., USD 1.4) hurt. But the man never gave up and assiduously kept at it.
In January 2023, Falak Sher received the first instalment of Cash for Food from Community World Service Asia (CWSA) with the support of Presbyterian World Service & Development(PWS&) and Canadian Foodgrains Bank (CFGB). Falak Sher spent the entire sum of PKR 12,000 on the purchase of food rations. For the first time in four months, he had a square meal, said the man. The following three months were the same pattern.
Being a talented craftsman, Falak Sher had not lost hope. And that paid off for in February he worked on twelve charpoys netting PKR 4800 (Approx. USD 15). The Cash for Food aid bolstered his hope and his ability to provide for his family. With work slowly picking up pace, the man was thinking of beginning to rebuild his collapsed home.
Asked how he would have fared without the cash grant, he remained silent. He had no idea how he and his family would have survived the hard months when there was so little work to be had.
Where Ambition Meets Reality
Legend has it that it was a Rajput chieftain, Amar by name, who established the fort of Umerkot at a very remote time in the past and for a long time it was known as Amarkot – Eternal Fort. History does not have much on that. It only tells us that one Parmar Sodha of Ujjain, moved into this part of the desert and having displaced the Soomra ruler of Umerkot, established himself in the castle.
It was his descendant Rana Vairsal who played host to Humayun in 1542 when the Mughal fled before Sher Shah Suri. Time passed, and in the eighteenth century the Kalhoras replaced the Sodha Rajputs in Umerkot. Thereafter, Umerkot suffered a plundering raid at the hands of the Madad Khan of Kandahar before it passed into the relative but short-lived peace of Talpur reign.
In 1843, the British had replaced the Talpurs in Sindh. Strangely, even though Umerkot lay on the trade highroad from Shikarpur in the north to Kutch by the sea, it was neglected while other parts of Thar received significant British attention. In the last two centuries, Umerkot was just another town of the district of ‘Thurr and Parkar’ as British officials knew it. The western part of the district gained some little from British-built irrigation off the Nara Canal, while on the east the desert sprawled virtually untouched by the march of time.
In 1993, Umerkot was established as a district. However, in 2000, this new district was abolished and re-merged with Mirpur Khas only to be established all over again in 2004. With four talukas (sub-divisions), the district of Umerkot is among the poorest in Sindh. While the western sub-divisions are somewhat better off being in the irrigated part, the eastern parts are as disadvantaged as any in the Thar Desert.
Short Course on NGO Management
Centre for Social Development and Social Entrepreneurship University of the Punjab, in collaboration with the Social Welfare Training Institute, Department of Social Welfare and Bait ul Maal Government of the Punjab, and Community World Service Asia, is pleased to announce one-month short course on NGO Management.
When: 22nd May- 15th June 2023 (Classes are scheduled between Monday to Thursday in the second half of each day per week)
Where: University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan
Language: Urdu and English
Fees: PKR 15,000
Interested Applicants: Click here to register
Last Date to Apply: 12th May 2023 (Applications will be selected on a first come, first serve basis)
Background and Objectives:
The last thirty years have witnessed an extraordinary growth in the NGO sector in many parts of the world, becoming a prominent part of the global civil society and are now significant players in promoting and protecting human rights, environment issues and social development causes at local, national and international levels. Consequently, there is an increasing need for building familiarity and skills on management of NGOs. Through this course, participants will:
- Be familiarised with concepts of NGOs operations and their vision, civil society, volunteerism, charity, aid, social change and their intersection
- Understand various development issues and how accountable NGO management and contextual strategy formulation can help resolve them
- Gain knowledge about the nature, functions, formation and registration process of NGOs in Pakistan
- Develop communication skills, financial management skills and resource mobilisation techniques for an NGO
Target Audience:
This course is designed for fresh graduates interested in joining the sector, Social Welfare Department staff, NGOs staff and other people interested in understanding the working of development sector organizations. Women and students are highly encouraged to apply; a special incentive may be given.
Teaching Methodology:
- Interactive lectures/Discussions
- Assignments for self-study
- Presentation by the students
- Workshop/Seminars/Exercises/Field Visits to develop social analytical skills
Instructors
Mr. Muddassir Riaz Malik has over 20 years of experience serving in the public sector in varying capacities. He received the Australia Awards Scholarship in 2015, through which he graduated with a Master of Public Policy from the Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University, Canberra, specializing in policy impact evaluation, research and economic cost benefit analysis. He currently serves as the Director General Department of Social Welfare and Bait ul Maal Government of the Punjab. Previously, he has held the posts of Director General Punjab Food Authority, Deputy Commissioner Lahore, Commissioner DG Khan and Additional Secretary (Admin) Planning and Development Department.
Dr Tahira Jabeen with a doctorate in ‘Child Protection Policy’ from Australian National University, Dr. Tahira Jabeen has over 25 years of work experience as an academic, independent researcher, trainer and consultant with government, and national and international NGOs and multilateral organizations in the areas of child protection, children and human rights, qualitative research, social entrepreneurship, social development and civil society. In addition to her duties as Associate Professor and Director of the Centre for Social Development and Social Entrepreneurship at University of the Punjab, she currently also serves on Board of Studies of Lahore College Women University and University of Home Economics, Lahore, as well as on the editorial board of the journal ‘Child Maltreatment: Research, Policy and Practice.’
Mr. Irshad Waheed has been associated with social development/community development in the public sector for the past 25 years in the domains of women protection and development, child protection, rehabilitation of disabled persons and senior citizens’ social policy formulation. He has been a part of various teams of the Department of Social Welfare and Bait ul Maal Government of the Punjab and currently serves as Director General of the Punjab Women Protection Authority where he oversees the execution, monitoring and coordination of the Women Protection System. Mr. Irshad is also part of the visiting faculty at Social Work Department, Punjab University.
Mr. Irfan Mufti, a well-known human rights defender and peace activist in Pakistan and South Asia, holds a Master’s Degree in Social and Cultural Anthropology and M.Phil in American History. Currently serving as Deputy Executive Director of a six-country development and advocacy consortium South Asia Partnership-Pakistan (SAP-PK), he has previously led Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP) for three years. Mr. Irfan has worked extensively in the community development field through facilitation of community groups, NGOs and networks, organizational planning, humanitarian assistance and advocacy campaigns. He co-authored two books and remains a regular contributor to political economy pages of national English dailies and other research journals.
Dr. Izhar Hashmi a graduate of Kind Edward Medical College, Institute of Public Health and AMA, Dr. Izhar Hashmi is currently working as Director (Program & Operations) at Punjab Welfare Trust for the Disabled (PWTD). He has remained engaged in varying capacities with Akhuwat, Waseela Foundation, Al-Noor Umer Welfare Trust and Society for Education and Technology. In the public sector, he has been associated with SWD KPK and Punjab, Special Education Department Punjab and Punjab Youth Development Program. Dr. Izhar Hashmi has developed innovative models and solutions for the inclusive education, especially with learning difficulties and disabilities through different interventions. He has delivered trainings on soft skills, entrepreneurship, strategic negotiation skills, SDGs and community development.
Mr. Safdar Abbas is a sociologist and social development professional with more than 16 years of experience. He has contributed to more than fourteen national and international research projects from conception to execution. He has been actively involved in policy analysis, project management, capacity building and advocacy through communication various levels. On the academic side, he is a regular contributor to high impact HEC journals and has so far published fourteen articles on a wide range of topics including human rights, community development, violence against children, and women rights/empowerment. His professional experience coupled with the national and international level trainings on various themes have enabled him to develop viable public sector policies, programs, and projects.
Ms. Ayesha Hassan is the Associate Director at Community World Service Asia with a diverse experience project implementation on Quality and Accountability (including Safeguarding, PSEAH, Complaints Response Mechanism), Gender, Livelihoods (including food security with focus on DRR), Education, and Participation. She is a trainer, advisor and voice for Quality and Accountability standards including Core Humanitarian Standard, Do No Harm Approach, and Sphere Standards. Ayesha is hands on in fundraising and program growth, overseeing the development of proposals and donor compliance. She develops program strategies for various programs under implementation while she has also facilitated the process of developing a 10-year strategy for DRR, livelihood and democratization.
Mr. Sohail Muhammad Ali is a high-performing research and capacity-building specialist and trainer with expertise in research, training and development to maximize human resource outputs in social development and education sectors. He is an influential and inspirational leader with excellent human capital development skills. Mr. Sohail has the experience of working in South Asia, Africa and Europe. He has conducted professional development workshops and capacity building sessions. He has served as a national and international consultant for organizations including Leonard Cheshire (LC) UK, World Bank, USAID, Care International, UNICEF, Aga Khan Rural Support Program (AKRSP), Academy for Educational Development (AED), Aga Khan Foundation (AKF), Transparency International, Lead Pakistan, British Council Pakistan, Human Resource Development Network (HRDN), and others.
Ms. Tooba Siddiqi is an experienced Engagement Manager with over 10 years of experience in partnership management, advocacy, youth mobilization, community- led campaigning, fundraising, and resource development. A tech-savvy, human resource manager with a demonstrated history of remotely managing large teams from diverse geographical and ethnic backgrounds. She is a strong community and development professional trained in Management Sciences and Human Resources Management from the University of the Punjab, Lahore. In the past year with Community World Service Asia, she has played a significant role in pushing the Quality and Accountability standards with local NGOs as well as regional NGOs.
Training on: Leading in Complexity and Ambiguity
When: 19th- 21st June 2023 (arrival at venue on 18th June 2023 before 7 pm)
Where: Murree, Punjab
Language: Urdu and English
Interested Applicants: CLICK HERE TO REGISTER
Last Date to Apply: 25th May 2023 (incomplete applications will not be entertained)
Leading in Complexity and Ambiguity training will be directed at the senior staff of NGOs. It will use the ‘Authentic Leader’ model and provide opportunities to the participants to reflect on their leadership style and its relevance and effectiveness. It will give them knowledge on leadership competencies based on research with contemporary leaders. They will also have opportunities for practicing and sharpening their personal leadership skills and competencies. Methodology of this training includes self-reflection and analysis, working with buddies, exercises. These will be interspersed with lectures by the external trainer and experience sharing by prominent leaders from the development and corporate sectors. Coaching and mentoring support will be provided to 30% of participant organisations to help them apply their learning.
Training Objectives
By the end of this workshop, you will be able to:
- Understand the different leadership styles and competencies.
- Reflect on their leadership style based on their self-assessment and others’ perceptions/feedback.
- Sharpen/strengthen their leadership competencies.
- Develop action plans for peer support and coaching/mentoring.
Methodology
The approach used in this training is the ‘Blended Learning’ approach developed by CWSA’s Capacity Enhancement Project (CEP) in its previous phases. The approach is participatory and needs-based in nature. It consists of selection of participants from diverse organisations at different levels, content and methodology designed with and based on the needs of the training participants, use of experienced and knowledgeable trainers, flexible content and methodology during the training, development of action plans and follow up refreshers and coaching and mentoring support.
Number of Participants
- 18-22 participants will be selected for the training. Female staff and those with disabilities and from ethnic/religious minorities are encouraged to apply. Preference will be given to participants from organisations based in underserved areas.
Selection Criteria
- No previous exposure/participation in leadership training
- Mid or senior level manager in a civil society organisation, preferably field staff of large CSOs or CSOs with main office in small towns and cities
- Participants from women led organisations, those of persons with disabilities, religious/ethnic minorities will be preferred
- Commitment to apply learning in their work, including dissemination of learning within their organisation.
Fee Details
- Training fee for each participant is PKR 15,000. Fee concessions and scholarships are available for participants belonging to marginalised groups and NGOs with limited funding.
- No TA/DA will be given to participants and travel expenses will be incurred by participants themselves.
Trainer
Mr. Arif Jabbar is the Country Director of Water Aid Pakistan. Mr. Arif is a leadership Coach and is currently coaching a number of staff members in public and private institutions. Mr. Khan holds an M.Phil. degree in Public Policy from the National Defence University Islamabad and was awarded with the President’s Gold Medal. He also holds a Master’s Degree in Engineering (Water Resource Development) from the Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok. Mr. Arif is an Eisenhower Fellow wherein he studied the “Americans with Disabilities Act” during his Fellowship. He was the Chief of Party of USAID Ambassador’s Fund Grant Programme and has served Oxfam International as the Global Head of Humanitarian Campaigns, Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for Southern Africa and East Asia, Country Director in Pakistan and South Africa, in addition to holding other portfolios. He also served as the Country Director, Pakistan with Voluntary Service Overseas –VSO, Regional Grants Manager, Asia with Child fund International, Director Programme Operations, Sri Lanka with Save the Children and Director Operations, Market Development Facility with The Palladium Group.
Community World Service Asia (CWSA) is a humanitarian and development organization, registered in Pakistan, head-quartered in Karachi and implementing initiatives throughout Asia. CWSA is member of the Core Humanitarian Standard (CHS) Alliance, a member of Sphere and their regional partner in Asia and also manages the ADRRN Quality & Accountability Hub in Asia.
A Pair of Hands
Written and Contributed by Samina Jamshaid, CWSA Staff, Professional Art Therapist, and Visual Artist
What springs to mind when we see a pair of hands?
For me, a hand is that magic that constantly creates miracles, and turns dreams into reality.
During my visit to Umerkot, I came across multiple pairs of such fascinating hands, young and old. Every wrinkle and mark on those hands had a story to tell about the journey it ventured – some of their own and others of the hands used to accomplish someone’s dream. Yes! You read that right. Someone’s dream living far away, whom they have never seen or met but with the artistry of their hands and a smile on their face, made their dreams into reality; a momento for them to cherish for the rest of their life.
These are the women of rural interior Sindh; no matter which small or remote village in the Province they live in, these women work tirelessly to create miracles with threads and needles and their skillful hands.
A beautiful, warm smile greeted me in a remote village on my first ever visit to Umerkot. While I was waiting in the courtyard of a far-away village, with hundreds of eyes fixated on me and astonished smiles of a handful of children, I saw a lady walking towards us, dressed in mustard yellow traditional Sindhi attire. She had the most mesmerising smile, and a sparkle of contentment in her eyes. The pride of being a bread earner for her family and a supporting hand for her husband, was clearly evident in her walk. She is Kalawanti from Kharoro Charan. Her name means “Talent”, making her a walking definition of her name.
Kalawanti’s talent and skill was identified by Community World Service Asia’s (CWSA) livelihoods team that leads the organisation’s skill enhancement and social enterprise programs which are envisioned to empower women and strengthen their roles as key household decision makers and sustainable livelihoods sources. CWSA also launched a social enterprise brand, Taanka1 meaning “Stitch” of which Kalawanti is a part of as an active member of its Women Enterprise Groups (WEG).
My day with the community and the villages that are supported through Taanka showed me the relevance of the name as it was not only about the literal craftsmanship of the community but the idea is to stitch the communities together with acceptance, love, care for each other and promoting each other’s good work. CWSA’s Livelihoods program binds the communities together in a way that they become inseparable.
Many of us in Pakistan wear reputed clothing brands and designer fashion wear but do we stop to think twice about the intricate, delicate embroidery and embellishments on our apparel and fashion accessories and whose craftsmanship this is. Many times, it is the creation of women like Kalawanti living in remote villages.
As it is said behind every successful woman there is a man, but I would say behind every progressive community there is a group of dedicated humans and in this case, it is the group of artisans working together under the umbrella of Taanka. Taanka has faced its challenges and took risks but always tried to make things work so that the livelihoods of the artisans behind it don’t stop. This is true perseverance.
Artisans like Kalawanti are hard working and resilient. They are not only artisans but housewives as well. They take care of their families, leading all household chores, ensuring everyone is fed, in good health, children going to school. Their everyday struggles are endless but the output of their work as artisans makes all their hard work worth it. The support they get from CWSA through linkages with markets, quality control, and product development ensures their hard work is paid off and valued.
This visit to villages in Umerkot made my heart and soul smile with pride! And i couldn’t help but share about it with the world.
- Taanka is a social enterprise launched by Community World Service Asia in 2016, to develop sustainable market linkages for rural women artisans in Sindh. The brand promotes the finest handcrafted amalgamation of contemporary designs with traditional stitches, produced by rural women artisans from interior Sindh, Pakistan and facilitate collaboration between the women artisans and urban designers, design students, commercial textile companies and fashion brands, to reflect consumers’ demands in ethnic designs.
A short spell without debt
The memory of the drought of 2021 was fresh in her mind even a year later. That year, as she had always hoped and prayed, Sohdi was looking forward to good rains when she sowed her three-acre spread with millets, guar and lentils. But no rain fell and her seedlings withered under the merciless sun.
The next year, she underwent agricultural training by Community World Service Asia and with it received an 8-kilogram bag of millet seeds. She sowed half of that, saving the remainder to be used in 2023. But if 2021 was the year of the drought, 2022 turned out to be the year of the floods. In July when her seedlings seemed to be coming along nicely, the rain began and for the next eight weeks it did not let up. In fact, when it did pause for a couple of hours, the sun did not show because of the thick, dark overcast. Sohdi knew it then that there would be little or nothing to harvest. No surprise then that in November she reaped a mere 40 kilograms from her entire millet patch. That was less than a quarter of the usual yield when rains come on time.
The land she had under guar, mong and sesame did only marginally better. The entire crop which with less but timely rain should have fetched upward of PKR 60,000 (Approx. USD 208) accrued her a mere PKR 20,000 (Approx. USD 69). The last instalment of food aid was behind her, but she still had rations to see her and her five sons through another month. Ever judicious, Sohdi invested PKR 6000 (Approx. USD 21) to purchase a goat. A little paid for dry rations and clothing for her boys. The remaining amount was given away as a wedding gift to a relative. Why couldn’t this unnecessary expense be avoided in these difficult times?
“This had to be done because when my sons wed, they will receive similar presents. This is our age-old way. It has to be followed,” she explained.
Meanwhile, over the past six months when she did not have to purchase rations, Sohdi had saved up nearly PKR 14,000 (Approx. USD 49) from her eldest son Chanesar’s earning. The boy, an unskilled construction labourer, is an expert in building thorn hedges that surround the compound of most houses in Umerkot. But one of the goats died of illness following the non-stop rain. Nevertheless, things looked reasonable for Sohdi and her boys because she was not under debt when the new year dawned.
“I and so many others like me who faced the same situation in 2021, were lucky that we had food assistance. Had that not been in place, we would all have owed the local storekeeper nothing less than PKR 60,000 each,” she said with hands held together in a gesture of thankfulness.
In early February 2023, Sohdi knew there was no more food assistance, and so she had plans. In four weeks she and Chanesar will leave for the canal-irrigated region to the west of Umerkot district. For four weeks thereafter they will help in the wheat harvest and return home with about 360 kilograms of wheat as their wages. Earlier, since the death of her husband and the boys being too young to work, Sohdi had always gone alone to the harvest. The wages for a single person had never added up to more than 120 kilograms.
What she and her boy will earn in wheat grain will last them just two months. Then, said Sohdi, it will be time to sow the summer crops and hope that neither deluge nor drought hits them again. Meanwhile, Chanesar will be hard at work building his thorn hedges not just for his own village but he will even go to neighbouring ones wherever his expertise is needed.
“He’ll have to work hard because he is engaged to be married next winter,” Sohdi disclosed. Cutting every nonessential expense, Sohdi planned to save for the big day when Chanesar dresses as the groom.
But despite all one’s good wishes for the people of Umerkot, one could not say how nature would treat them next summer. What if, God forbid, the rains do not help?
“I am fortunate to be totally free of loan right now. If the crop is a success in November, we will have plenty of food and cash for the wedding. If not, I can always borrow as I have done in the past.”
For Sohdi and so many others like her, the loan is a cyclical burden: she goes under debt, harvests a good crop and repays. A year goes by without it and then if need be, she borrows again. For her, a widow, the other fall back is the kindness of relatives who always come forward to help her in dire situations. And so life goes on for Sohdi, her five boys and innumerable other people of Umerkot who depend on summer rains for survival.
Situation Alert: Earthquake hits Afghanistan & Pakistan
A magnitude 6.5 earthquake with an epicentre 40km southeast of the Afghan town of Jurm, near the borders with Pakistan and Tajikistan1 has left at least 13 people dead and hundreds injured in Pakistan and Afghanistan, with tremors felt as far as New Delhi, India.
In Afghanistan, at least four people were killed and 70 others injured in affected areas across the country, according to Sharafat Zaman Amar, spokesman for the Ministry of Public Health. A reported 120 houses in total have been damaged in Laghman, Nangarhar and Kunar provinces based on initial assessments2.
In Pakistan, at least nine people died – including two children – as houses and other buildings collapsed in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, according to the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA). At least 44 others were injured in the province and 28 houses were reported damaged.
The earthquake comes less than a year after Pakistan’s ravaging floods in 2022 and a deadly earthquake that hit Afghanistan’s east provinces in June 2022, killing more than 1,000 people in Khost and Paktika provinces of Afghanistan and wounding many more.
Community World Service Asia (CWSA) is in close coordination with the local government and other stakeholders active in the region. Our emergency response teams are closely monitoring the situation on the ground and will immediately start relief operations when and if required.
Contacts:
Shama Mall
Deputy Regional Director
Programs & Organisational Development
Email: shama.mall@communityworldservice.asia
Tele: 92-21-34390541-4
Palwashay Arbab
Head of Communication
Email: palwashay.arbab@communityworldservice.asia
Tele: 92-21-34390541-4
Sources:
www.aljazeera.com
www.cnn.com
- United States Geological Survey (USGS)
- IOM Afghanistan
Transforming social mobilisation skills to ensure communities are kept at the heart of aid response and community engagement
Every year Pakistan faces a surge of Dengue outbreak in most of its provinces. With the floods of 2022 leaving lakes of stagnant water and with inadequate drainage systems, the spread of the disease was inevitable to say the least.
One of the areas worst affected by dengue each year is Okara, a district in Punjab province. “Many remote villages in Okara were hit by the outbreak. As the local communities were combating the disease using local and traditional remedies, the Health and Welfare Society planned a community-centred strategy to mobilise communities affected by the disease,” shared Shabana Aamir, a staff member leading Health and Welfare Society (HWS), a local NGO based in Okara.
“We explained principles of hygiene and sanitation through sharing local examples and fully engaged the communities by developing mobilisation teams. The teams, including staff of HWS and members from communities, went door to door to hold awareness sessions and sensitising families on how to prevent the spread of dengue and treat those affected,” explained Shabana.
Shabana was one of twenty-nine participants at a training conducted by Community World Service Asia on ‘Social Mobilisation Skills and Techniques’, held in Lahore in September 2022. Organised in collaboration with the Social Welfare Department Punjab and Social Welfare Training Institute this capacity enhancement session focused on raising knowledge on basic concepts of social mobilisation and jointly analysed the various levels of ongoing and possible community engagement. Shabana attributes her team’s success in combatting dengue to the skills and learning she acquired at the training and how she shared it ahead. “I initiated campaigns on a regular basis with the help of the training tools and methodologies I had learned during the training, and was able to reach out to people for implementation of ideas by the help of The Johari Window Model.”
A wide range of engaging exercises and activities were conducted during the training to not only further improve mobilisation skills of participants but also help them learn new tools and techniques and how to apply them in varying contexts. Ghulam Fatima, General Secretary of Johar Welfare Foundation since 2013, shared how one particular group activity, named ‘Zoom and Re-Zoom’, helped improve her problem-solving skills. “In this activity, we had to create a unified story from a set of sequential pictures that were randomly ordered and handed out. We were not allowed to show our picture to anyone. This activity boosted our level of patience, communication, and perspective in order to recreate the story’s sequence. As a result, we learned that it takes time to uncover and understand problems before acting out on them through effective communication and problem-solving skills.”
Fatima applied a social mobilisation tool called Behaviour Change Communication (BCC)ⁱ that she learnt during the training when she engaged with the communities that her organisation serves.
“Initially upon applying BCC in the community, mobilisation became challenging owing to insufficient time, lack of resources and slow adaptation by the community. To overcome the challenge, key persons from the community including retired teachers, health workers and shopkeepers, were invited to our office to become our focal points and representatives in the community. Through our collective effort, we were able to encourage individuals to adopt positive, healthy behaviours in the community including street sanitation, garbage collection at proper points, typhoid vaccination, and polio campaigns.”
A few months after the training, a follow-up session was conducted in December with all the participants of the said training to provide a platform for experience sharing, challenge identification, mutual learning and a chance to attain technical support from CWSA. “The follow-up initiative has proven to be productive as CWSA encourages organisation to implement and achieve positive outcomes through the efficient use and application of available tools and methodologies shared during the training. We hope to be part of future capacity enhancement events which will help us derive solutions for challenges faced on ground and encourage us to place communities at the centre of every response,” concluded Shabana.
ⁱ Behaviour Change Communication is an interactive process of any intervention with individuals, group or community to develop communication strategies to promote positive health behaviours which are appropriate to the current social conditions and thereby help the society to solve their pressing health problems.
Ravaged a land that was
The Floods of 2022 have left entire districts sunk and 1/3rd of Pakistan submerged in water. Now even after nine months of surviving unprecedented rainfall, water still stands over acres of land, leaving the country economically and developmentally paralysed.
Khairpur district is among the areas left almost completely devastated. The rain that by some accounts did not cease for two months have left villages here under more than a metre of water even today.
Community World Service Asia, with the support of CAFOD and Disasters Emergency Committee, UK, responded to the needs of some of the most vulnerable affected communities through immediate cash assistance and emergency health support.
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