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(SABLA: Moving Beyond
Barriers) |
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The scorching mid-day heat does not
deter Vidya Devi, who hurriedly strides across the fields
with the trained birth attendant to attend a delivery
in the nearby village. She is an animated member of a
CBD family of Subhavatpur village under the SIFPSA Project
on reproductive health for creating awareness for family
planning and counseling, in Gauriganj block of Sultanpur.
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Vidya Devi, her husband Basant Lal Mishra
and her two sons are a diligent CBD family working tirelessly
towards achieving project goals. They acknowledge support
and guidance from their village counselor Kamlesh. "We
in our own small way have always extended help to our
peer group, but the inflow of health, information and
services from Sabla has facilitated fruitful interactions
and acceptance of family planning methods", informs this
empowered woman. Women's empowerment is the edifice on
which Sabla, the organization implementing this SIFPSA
Project, stands. An all-women organization it works towards
helping 'Abla' (weak women) by making them self-reliant
and empowered (Sabla). |
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The CBD family approach meets the challenge
of reaching out to every section of the community with
each member of the CBD family motivating his/her peers.
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Ensuring Community Participation
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For family planning to become a way
of life for the people, their participation and a sense
of ownership in the programme is vital. Sabla has hence
adopted the PRA (participatory rural appraisal) approach
to promote the small family norm. They have been working
towards drawing out people to make them express their
reproductive health concerns. |
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Entry into the village was with the
participation of the village folk who gave information
about the need and resources in the village through social
mapping. In the process of analyzing the needs of the
village together, the people begin to trust the facilitators
and thereby increase their scope of making an impact on
the minds of the people. |
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The second phase of the strategy entailed
an open community discussion where details of the SIFPSA
project were given to the community. With the help of
their village counselor people choose from amongst themselves
a CBD family to work for the project. |
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The project emphasis is on counseling
clients to take their own decisions and providing them
with a variety of family planning methods. Training of
TBAs & mobilization of youth are also important aspects
of this project. |
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In order to elicit information about
the availability of health facilities/ institutions near
the village, Sabla uses the chapati diagram. Keeping the
village as the centre, women draw circles of different
sizes, their sizes representing the availability of health
facilities. A large circle for the PHC outside the village
shows quality services are being provided, irrespective
of the distance. A smaller circle is drawn for the ANM
who is in the village but is inactive. |
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Innovative Communication
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For discussion on a private & sensitive
topic like family planning, Sabla felt the need to first
establish a rapport with the clients. They evolved communication
games that helped break the ice and helped start a discussion.
Mother-daughter meets are also organized, where information
on female anatomy is given for better understanding of
family planning methods. |
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Initiatives taken in the area of nutrition
and health are discussed in the nutrition demonstration
meets. Women are given information about balanced diet
and the high nutritive value of seasonal vegetables and
fruits. Competitions are held where a prize is given to
a low cost, high nutritive value recipe evolved by the
women. "Nobody wants to listen only about family planning
and we find this indirect method the most effective",
adds Meenu Tyagi, the Project Director. |
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Sabla prints a newsletter 'Nirantar'
in the local dialect for communicating the result of activities
undertaken and providing information on health issues.
Successful strategies and dedicated implementation has
resulted in achievement of objectives and the project
has recently been accorded an extension for two years
upto 2002. |
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The positive impact of these projects
has resulted in extension projects being sanctioned to
all four NGOs. The project strategy in each has been modified
based on lessons learned and feedback from the evaluation.
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