WWF Netherlands and the IUCN National Committee of the Netherlands organized a three-day workshop on Citizen Science in The Hague in early July 2019. The workshop brought together  representatives from civil society, science and government to learn from interesting cases studies, unpack prominent themes related to citizen science and share experiences.…

I have been informally involved with Society for Community Research and Action. The group recently had an exciting discussion on definition of CP practice and how it can/is/should change! I watched the video later and found it very useful and want to share with you. Thanks to Nicole Freund, Research Scientist, Managing Editor, Global Journal of Community Psychology Practice for this video. 

Key takeaways from the video

Whose knowledge is…

Himani Sharma worked as SALT facilitator in NGO called Mamta, India. In this video, she shares her experience of engaging patients and communities in #HealthRise project supported by Abt Associates in Catholic Health Foundation of India - Udaipur and NGO Mamta- Shimla (India). This project used Constellation's approach CLCP and SALT for…

We often use the term community participation in evaluation but do we reflect enough on the degree and depth of this engagement?“Use of participatory tools alone do not guarantee ‘ownership’. Evaluation can be a largely extractive process of getting data from the communities…did the communities have a say in what data has to be collected?” (LaiaGriñó (2015), DME for peace webinar).In “Theory of ownership” Philip Forth argues, “When I decide what to do and I do…

Background : We started CLCP with adolescents( age group 17-19 years old) who attend computer classes in SAATHI Community centre of Institute of Social Studies Trust, Delhi, India. The aim is how they can be themselves and discover their inner potential. Additionally, how can they value and support each other and work towards a community they want. We met the adolescent girls, then boys and finally on 2nd November 2018, we invited both the groups to meet and share with…

Third meeting:  mixed group of boys and girls (step one of CLCP) 

We started CLCP with adolescents who attend computer classes in SAATHI Community centre of Institute of Social Studies Trust, Delhi in India. The aim is how they can be themselves and discover their inner potential. Additionally, how can they value and support each…

(On 28th Sep 2018,  I facilitated a one-day session on use of SALT and Community life competence process in development and M&E . NILERD -National Institute of Labour Economics Research and Development (An Autonomous Institute under NITI Aayog, Government of India) organises M&E course for foreign professionals every year in Delhi, India. Here is a short summary of the discussion we had on our ‘common humanity’ and what it means in context of our work with people. This is part II…

On 28th Sep 2018,  I facilitated a one-day session on use of SALT and Community life competence process in development and M&E . NILERD -National Institute of Labour Economics Research and Development (An Autonomous Institute under NITI Aayog, Government of India) organises M&E course for foreign professionals every year in Delhi, India. Here is a short summary of the discussion we had on our ‘common humanity’ and what it means in context of our work with people. This is part I of…

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…

Constellation worked with NGO Mamta in Healthrise project on diabetes and hypertension funded by Medtronic Foundation and supported by Abt Associates. SALT and CLCP were used as a pilot in 14 villages in two blocks of Shimal district, State of Himachal, India. Nuggets from Shimla Knowledge Fair…

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.)…

Knowledge Fair on 10^th August 2018 at Udaipur, India demonstrated why should we hold a knowledge fair of communities who are taking action for their issues.

This was under Catholic Health…

We are using SALT and CLCP with Catholic Health Association of India (CHAI) team for a patient-centred approach to diabetes and Hypertension through setting up of Patient Support Groups (PSG).

On 24th July, we had gone for a SALT visit to appreciate the actions the PSG of village Namli, Jhadhol block, Udaipur (India) has been taking. I asked them what are they proud of. The patients said that they have started taking medication regularly. The local health workers were able to…

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…

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 …

If I were to rate the most powerful moments of my work with communities, then Knowledge Fair in Assam would stand out. It was messy, confusing at times but very enriching and a delight to one who believes that communities can do things for themselves. In Assam, for the past one year we have been working in 90 villages in 3 districts with two organisations- VHAA and CNES. During the Knowledge fair we organised four events in April end. We did one event each in the three districts and the…

(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…