New Delhi :Smile Foundation, a national level development organisation, under their Swabhiman programme, conducted a capacity building training session on advanced knowledge of Reproductive & Child Health (RCH), Adolescent Reproductive & Sexual Health (ARSH) and the new Government schemes on RCH issues. More than 26 participants including Community Health Educators (CHEs), Smile Health Volunteers (SHVs) and Smile Foundation coordinators were present at this session.
Ms. Varsha Chanda, faculty from eNVision, joined the Swabhiman team in conducting the session. During the session, Ms. Chanda interacted with the CHEs, SHVs, and beneficiaries about improved Reproductive and Child Health (RCH), developing skills in community mobilisation and communication as well as on effective reporting, documentation and networking skills which will enable them in getting proper data from the field. Innovative methods of Communication, Community Mobilization in promoting RCH & ARSH were also shared in the session.
The training session was an initiative to mobilise communities effectively and communicate the right knowledge in an interesting manner, so that their families and communities can develop a conscious awareness towards such sensitive issues. Discussions were held on several topics vital to a woman’s body and life such as reproductive organs, menstrual cycle, pregnancy, etc. At the end, the beneficiaries were engaged in various activities to demonstrate their understanding on the topic.
A set of IEC (Information, Education and Communication) materials were distributed.
Even though the CHEs have been working on Reproductive and Child Health, Adolescent Reproductive & Sexual Health for a long time but they are often unclear about recent schemes from the Government. The CHEs generally address women and young girls but men and larger community get ignored for the reasons mentioned before.
Ms. Puja Trisal, Programme Head, Smile Foundation said, “Our Community Health Educators generally address women and young girls but involving the men and the community is also important since they play a very important role in woman empowerment. For this the CHEs need advanced RCH knowledge to mobilize communities effectively and communicate the right knowledge in an interesting manner. Hence this capacity building session is being organized”
About Swabhiman
Swabhiman is a programme focusing on girl children and women empowerment. The USP of Swabhiman is its innovative and highly effective approach named ‘4 S Model’ which means Seeking Healthcare as a Behaviour, Support through Education, Support from Men through Male Involvement, and Sustaining Change in the Community. As many as 150,000 girls and women have benefited from four intensive operational projects.
About Smile Foundation
Smile Foundation is a national level development organisation benefitting over 300,000 underprivileged children, their families and the community directly through 158 welfare projects on subjects such as education, healthcare, livelihood, and women empowerment across 25 states of India. Adopting a life cycle approach of development, Smile Foundation focuses its interventions on children, their families and the community.