Recently, we facilitated an introductory session with 11 girls aged 17-19 years who attend after-school English and computer classes at Saathi Centre, Institute of Social Studies Trust in Delhi, India. Ivanka, Kanika and Sneha were my co-facilitators. The project aims to build an enabling environment for the girls in a neighbourhood in Delhi. We are at step one of Community life competence process- Who are we? We began with a SALT meeting…

Lalit Sharma is  working with Catholic Health Association of India (CHAI) for healthrise program supported by ABT associates and funded by Medtronic philanthropy.Through SALT and CLCP, the programs is  trying to motivate patients to respond to hypertension and diabetes. He has written his experience in facilitating SALT visits in CLCP in Patient Support Group in village- Bhandimagri, Girwa Block. He did SALT visits with patients and stakeholders.)…

Hello all!

I have recorded a podcast about SALT. It's intended to help as many people as possible to understand SALT. I'd be very grateful if you were to listen to it, and share it with others:

Things happen when ready to happen.  I quote this from Jean Louis's email some days ago. Yes, I feel the true of that inspiring sentence. 

IndoCompetence as newly-recharged group of facilitators is pleased to share what we have been learned as we facilitated Aids Competence training for two selected AIDS support communities at City of Bandung. Its been assumption that participants of training were conducted by City Aids Commission did not attend its until the training were fully…

Begenning of Jully, I had a week of  reconnexion with members of my team. And reconnexion to the essence of what make me an active member of this human network of people seeking to live in harmony with their environment and people around them.

I'm trained as facilitator of local response since 2013. In my training I learned that the best facilitators are local…

The dream of Patient support group (PSG) in Junga Panchayat, Himachal, India had focus on health. We have set up PSGs in a large number of villages and have used CLCP and SALT in 14 villages. Each PSG is composed of patients with diabetes and hypertension, their families and village leaders, health workers and other stakeholders.

PSG wanted a village, which was green, clean and healthy. This is what came up during the dream building session, which I had facilitated. I got busy in…

Earlier people used to not share their deep concerns and personal issues. We listened to their stories and helped them find their strengths. We were able to create a good environment and they found the conversation useful. No one got up from group meetings because everyone had the desire to do something and gave their time for the meeting.People realised that they are for each other and they have to jointly find a solution. 

We work with communities on the issue of diabetes…

As the Sun beat down on us on a hot, sultry summer afternoon...the women in Jongakhali village in Kamrup district of Assam, were in turns shy and reticent, but it took a few moments for the reticence to change to expressions and words and confidence...as they admitted that they have dreams, but are wary to share them...they proudly show off…

For a practitioner of SALT and CLCP, our work does not finish with facilitating action plan, accompaniment of the community in taking action is critical. This is my learning in our Assam project in India where we are stimulating community response to immunization, WASH and nutrition.

In Hirajani community, water supply is a major issue and the community is getting frustrated as in spite of a lot of effort and applications to the government they have not been able to…

SALT Group from Dhanoth village.

About 12 Stakeholder attended the SALT action plan meeting at Dhanoth village. This is patient support group for those with diabetes and hypertension. In this meeting people came from the different area also included the village Pradhan, frontline health worker, ASHAs, Ward member and patient of diabetes and hypertension. After the dream building, the action plan was made. e.g. They have decided the date for plantation third…

Background: Under the HealthRise project, Catholic Health Association of India (CHAI) is facilitating SALT and community life competence process for strengthening patient centred approach in the state of Rajasthan, India. As part of this project, the CHAI team has set up patient support groups and we are using SALT so that the groups can own the issue of diabetes and hypertension and take action. Technical inputs: Dr Sameer and story credit: Asha, Brinda and Sharad.

I want …

(This blog is by Asha Meghwal, Outreach worker, Block Jhadol from Medtronic Foundation funded, Abt Associates supported and implemented by Catholic Health Association of India (CHAI) in Udaipur, India. The HealthRise project is using SALT and CLCP for patient centred approach to Diabetes and hypertension. Asha is a SALT facilitator whose blog I translated into English. Asha is very strong in documentation. Thank you Asha for sharing! Photo courtesy Asha who is sitting on the left…

(I had the privilege to talk to Gloria, Acting chief information, Education and Communication and Chanana, information, Education and Communication both from National AIDS Coordinating Agency (NACA), Botswana Government. Here is a note from our conversation. It was held in Entebbe October 2017. Kudos to NACA and Botswana Government have recognised the critical role of communities for an effective response to HIV and have taken a bottoms up, strength-based…

“Hey, we want to be part of this. We are here. What can we do?”

The newly trained SALTy facilitators who carried out a first round of living room conversations in February were pleasantly surprised by the warm welcome and smiles with which people in ‘de Fier’ opened their doors for them.

The Fier is one of the newly built apartment buildings in Zeeburgereiland,…

Though Beatrice hails from Namisindwa District in the Eastern Region of Uganda, she is working and living presently at Masaka, in Central Uganda. Beatrice is a social worker working for the older persons in the organization called: Support the Elderly Persons (STEP), Uganda. 



Why Older Persons?

STEP is her own initiative. As there was…

Catherine Nyirinkindi lives on – the legacy of indiscriminating love

We are in 2017, on a beautiful October day in Bugonga, Entebbe, Uganda.

Betty, the chairperson of the community, starts telling us the history of the community and how they came together.

She speaks one name: Catherine Nyirinkindi.

Suddenly, the ten to twelve members…

Becoming human

Story written during GLF 2017, a tribute to Bugonga community

Sohail Bawani, Pakistan

October 17, 2017 was the first day of our groups’ visit to Bugonga community. It was a disaster as we ruthlessly throw questions at the elderly people to document what they have been through during the lives and how HENU is helping them to revive. With much patience they gave us the time and energy to respond to…

I facilitated SALT approach in a neighboring country; Tanzania on 18th and 19th September 2017. Two trainings were conducted in Shirati and Musoma in Tanzania. The first training was for 30 staffs of Shirati District hospital who work with terminally ill patients. They were able to learn about the SALT approach which was new to the staff. The participants confirmed that much of time is taken concentrating on the weaknesses and problems.

The second training involved representatives…

http://www.affirmfacilitators.org/together

Enjoy the film which affirms that neighbourhood matters most; systems need to adapt to local neighbourhood strength for response; and personal faith is a core foundation for courage and action.

The exhibition expands some of the stories in the film, and includes some images from the GLoCon stories gathered during 2012/13.

The community journey continues.…