Stepping up community self-sustainability, one [Ethiopian] step at a time

Having just come back from evaluation and design fieldwork for an Ethiopian Red Cross (ERCS)/ Swedish Red Cross/ Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent project, the power of communities is still palpable in my mind. They know what great impact looks like. They know what activities they can best sustain themselves. It's up to us to ask, listen and…

The Karurumo team one of the five communities I am working in,organized an home visit into one of the homes of an orphan that comes for the KAY club meeting(KIDS AND YOUTH CLUB).KAY clubs is the avenue that we use to connect with youth in the communities,whereby communities have identified a field were kids and youth meet during the week-ends.The grand mother of the child lives in a government grave yard!What keeps you going Mama,One of the members of the group asks?The…

Simultaneous stimulation. 

Renaissance is one of the Mauritius Drug platform members. They are actively involved in the Platform actions. Over the last two months, Constellation Coaches have been simultaneous stimulating the Platform, Platform members to begin to integrate SALT/CLC in their context. Over the last 2  months period Coaches have been visiting (through invitation) platform members to learn and appreciate the work they do. As part of platform level process…

Dear all,

I am sharing my experience of few months back when I was invited to Hemja Youth Information Center (HYIC), Kaski for Personality Developement program as a trainer. In the program I applied SALT approach in 25 youth members of HYIC which was very effective.

People view 'personality development' as enhancing physical appearance and attributes which we…

On one of my last evenings in Barcelona a few of us gathered at a cozy shop in an old part of the city called La Villa de Gracias (the Village of Gratitude) to talk over mango milkshakes and crepes.



After three days of working together, we had reached a place of being willing to share quite openly of struggles in our lives.



I found myself drawing strength and hope from MariJo Vasquez in particular, a native of Barcelonia. MariJo has faced struggles yet has clearly come…

Hello friends :) !



Starting on the 6^th of April, a few of us gathered in Barcelona to dream about the “share” function within the Constellation and the ways in which our dream for 2050 could be brought about, little by little, through our concerted actions. Many of you were also present in thought, some through Skype, and a good many through the wonderful individual dreams for share that you sent in. Thank you everyone for contributing to making this get-together…

                                           THE MAGIC  IN  AFTER ACTION  REVIEW

The Mauritius experience with my great teammates  has taught me how the after action review is a powerful  tool  in helping me improve  my SALT visits and probably the best in strengthening relationship in communities ,families home visits ,organization and how  to connect better with ny friends

I remember the beautiful rides in taxi just after a Salt visit  to the next one how we made sure we never…

Our week ends with some magical reflections from SALT visits to homes and conversations with majorly Heroin(Brown Sugar) Injecting Drug Users(IDUs) in the most 'perceived' insecure zones in Port Louis. During the Visit we have conversation with Health staff in 3 Methadone distribution Center run by the Ministry of Health under the Drug Unit.…

I have been an HIV/AIDS Counsellor for the last 16 years, working with TASO - The AIDS Support Organization and Medical Research Council unit on HIV/AIDS in Uganda and Home visiting patients has been integral to my work. Without home visiting the patient your understanding is not complete. There is a lot to learn from a home visit. As I always say, health is made from home and repaired in the hospital. What we used to do is to seek the consent of patients to be visited at home. Those…

Dear friends;

Community engagement in any community Development Intervention is paramount in that there is that sense of ownership and responsibilities created in them. Long-term sustainability is ensured even when funding has phased out.

Through CLCP community is empowered to keenly come up with viable innovations to…

C’était lundi 24 février à Curepipe, à l’Ile Maurice. 25 participants ONG, Etat et du secteur privé sont invités à rêver. «  Nous sommes en 2035. La réponse des Mauriciens aux problèmes de drogue  est reconnue dans le monde entier.  Que voyez-vous ? Que sentez-vous ? Qu’est-ce que les Mauriciens font ? » Jusque-là, rien de neuf, c’est le processus habituel.

Ce qui fut neuf, c’est la visualisation. Gaston a invité les membres de la plateforme à fermer les yeux. Puis, petit à petit, sur…

Some people living with HIV think they can be in no further danger if they have sex without CONDOM because they are already infected which is not true. HIV has many different strains some of them very powerful.Its one's responsibility to take care of his/her own health.

Support groups should talk about difficulties members might have with condom use. Ensure that the members know exactly how to use condoms properly. support groups should help to correct any misunderstandings about…

Here I want to tell you a story, a story of women who were quiet and shy. What happened that they turned champions of the community? This is an example of  what we call in the Constellation a 'local response'. 

India competence trained the CARE EMPHASIS team in Mumbai who applied Community life competence on the issue of HIV with the migrant community for past 10 months.  Care team informed us that before community…

The fruit I see in my life today!

Yesterday, 24 March at around 6.15pm local time, the Constellation Coaches(Onesmus and Joke) working with the Drug Platform in Mauritius visited one of the plat members in Rose Hill as part of the ongoing Learning, Appreciating visits. The centre brings together the beneficiaries at least once a week to continue learning on various topics. The centre staff use this…

In development sector, we talk about going to scale. Can the NGOs do this on their own with limited funding and small staff? What if the community takes on the responsibility to share their vision, strategies and actions on issues they have taken action? What would happen? Here is an example from Mumbai area in India where the Constellation team, India competence, facilitated community life competence a strength-based approach with migrant communities on the issue of  HIV. Some interesting…

Dear friends on the Constellation social network, it is a pleasure to share with you the link between M&E and project success.

Monitoring and Evaluation are key aspects in…

Wakiso District facilitators brainstorming about the district vision/dream through Focus Group Discussions.…

There are no unimportant people, only people who feel unimportant,  Don't be like them...

The KAY club meeting was turning out great. We began by allowing the children some time to play soccer-the kind of soccer that can get attention from a lover of children not a lover of the game itself. The children chased the ball, kicking it in all directions, until at some point one young man took the ball, and said, 'we need to form teams and play against each other. Soon they started grouping themselves and the game began. As I watched the children play,my attention,was drawn to the…