Yachuli
(Sept. 27-29, 2010)
By: ‘Identifying Best Practices’ Project team
A 3 days women only workshop (WoW) was conducted at Yachuli circle of Lower Subansiri district from September 27 to 29 last with the program of ‘Identifying Best Practices to Empower Arunachal Family’. The main objective of this workshop was to promote and expansion of women action groups (WAGs) in Yachuli area and to empower village women or mothers through self-reliant development.
It was organized by the Best Practices team of Future Generations Arunachal, lead by Punyo Rina, Project Supervisor in Yachuli. Takhe Meena and Kago Yam, Project Supervisors from other two sites of Koyu and Mechukha have also joined as staff facilitators. Pura Aiya, Project Coordinator, Best Practices accompanied them to coordinate the program which was conducted at ADC office conference hall in Yachuli.
Two senior women, one village welfare worker (VWW) and a women group leader from Palin, FGA old site have invited as community resource person in Yachuli to share experiences and to exchange new ideas were Matin Yalu, VWW of Hill-Top, and Takam Nyani, women group leader of School colony, Palin. Both of them have empowered by FGA, experience and expert enough in motivating other women groups and mobilizing community empowerment through learning by doing.
The three days workshop was enriched with the full of excitements by the facilitators through their varied experiences and commitment towards the empowerment program in community level. Length and breadth discussions on various important topics were covered up in this workshop which has incorporated by many interesting ice-breaking as well as role play, group drama and action songs etc.
As many as 30 women participants from villages of Yachuli area including Zath, Mai, Lumri, Toon, Block complex and Yachuli centre have enthusiastically participated this three days workshop. Some women from village come with their small baby, and few ASHAs were also there.
To know about the basic problems faced by the women in villages, the first day covers the sharing of pregnancy history by the participants, where it has observed that most of the women have less idea and no knowledge about ANC & PNC, Family planning and child immunization. On the basis of learning experiences, the following two days were used to cover as many important related topics as possible to input new ideas as well as knowledge to the mothers and village women.
Pregnancy care session was taken by Project Supervisors, Punyo Rina led the session; it covers on the following important topics:
- Briefing on right age of marriage, fertile age and healthy pregnancy etc.
- Risk moment at the time of delivery
- Balance diet from locally available food
- Direction of baby in womb- month wise after 3 (three) months of pregnancy by showing pictures in the chart.
- Safe delivery process
- Warm welcome to newly baby born
- Delivery of placenta
- Process of colostomy
- Cord cutting
- Importance of immunization: Rina continue by participatory methods of ASHA participants [shown pictures to relate immunization].
- Importance of Institutional delivery etc.
Kago Yam, Project Supervisor Mechukha added with briefing the topics and moral of the pictures.
Role plays on ‘Pregnancy care’, ‘Safe delivery’, and ‘Pneumonia’ have displayed by all the trainers, two volunteers from Rubdi village, Yazali and staff facilitators including Rina, Meena, Yam, Yalu, Nyani, Yall and Yama.
Matin Yalu, VWW (trainer) shared success stories- with experiences on before and after coming of Future Generations in Palin. She also reveals on following incidental facts:
- Diarrhea and Cholera epidemics in Palin before FGA intervention
- Improvement on individual and group after receive trainings from FGA
It was followed by eals on following incidents:-nization the functioning of ys were used to cover as many important topics as possible to input Diarrhea topics, the session was taken by Takhe Meena, Project Supervisor, with the help of practical demonstration on local or home made oral re-hydration therapy system (ORS) added by Takam Nyani, women group leader, Palin (trainer). A very good response from the trainees on home made ORS as they did not practice earlier; particularly they were interested in cereal base ORS made of millet powder and rice soup etc.
Role of VWW was shared by Matin Yalu, VWW Palin (trainer) while Meena highlights and briefed on meaning and functions of VWW and Yam shared from her past experiences as some participants get interested to know more about formation and functions of women action group.
A session on formation of Women Action Group (WAG) was taken by Takam Nyani, group leader from Palin by sharing her experiences before and after join FGA women group and briefed on successes of their women group as follows:
- Bring unity and equity in the group as well as in the community
- Fund raising for an economic stability; they have more than a lakhs of amount in their group account and they have a vision or plan to open a School in the name of their group.
- Participant must feel proud for being selected either as a trainer or as trainee amongst other village women for getting opportunity to learn many new ideas.
- How an illiterate village woman become able to provide medicine and give trainings through learning by doing from training of FGA and practicing in the field.
- Cited a good example on importance of group as- to catch and hold a thing all fingers has to function or used.
Taba Yall, WAG leader from Rubdi village, Yazali shared on function of women action group started with WoW conducted at Kuch-Kuth village and formation of WAG and activities carried out so far.
Topics on Leadership quality was taken by Rina and Meena through group exercise by free listing of the leadership quality and presentation by respective group leader amongst the participants.
Yam added with different kinds of leadership quality as being sound of- mentally, physically, economically and spiritually, she also encourage the participants to acquire all those quality.
Pura Aiya, Project Coordinator, take a session on SEED-SCALE methods emphasizing the four important principles, describing the processes correlating in practical life. Rina added on four principles with examples of successes from Palin site.
Village wise work plan have prepared and presentation given by each village representative WoW participant from respective 6 (six) villages including Yachuli centre. The important work plans included such as:
- To conduct women meeting in their respective villages to share the learning experiences.
- To form as many women action groups in the village
- To conduct cleanliness drives in the village and cleaning of public water supply tanks.
- To maintain village connecting routes etc.
The participants have also cleared about the differences in functioning of government and non-governmental organization (NGO), particularly Future Generations Arunachal works.
