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Equal opportunities for all : promoting community-based rehabilitation (CBR) among urban poor populations. Initiating and sustaining CBR in urban slums and low-income groups

ASSOCIATION AMICI DI RAOUL FOLLEREAU (AIFO)
October 2001

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Most CBR experience has come from rural areas in developing countries. However, even in large cities specific population groups - such as people living in slums or low-income areas in the urban peripheries - may face difficulties in accessing rehabilitation services. To address this, the World Health Organization set up a number of pilot consultations and projects in seven countries (Indonesia, India, the Philippines, Brazil, Bolivia, Egypt and Kenya) in 1995. This document gives a report of a final meeting of representatives of these pilot projects.

School readiness : helping communities to get children ready for school and schools ready for children

October 2001

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This is a brief introduction to the concept of school readiness with a focus on the US. It presents a framework for community involvement in supporting children's transition to school, based on an 'ecological' view of child development. A variety of factors relating to the child development are considered and explored, including the different roles played by the child's family, early childhood care and education, schools, neighborhood, and the wider society

The experience of self-care groups with people : ALERT, Ethiopia

BENBOW, Catherine
TAMIRU, Teferra
September 2001

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This paper describes the development of self-care groups in Ethiopia by ALERT, and the successes and failures experienced in the process. The groups were started in 1995 in response to two main problems, the increasing number of people dependent on ALERT to heal their wounds despite years of health education, and the limited financial resources of ALERT for wound healing supplies
Leprosy Review, Vol 72, Issue 3

A participatory approach in practice : understanding fieldworkers' use of participation rural appraisal in ActionAid The Gambia

HOLMES, Tim
June 2001

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This paper uses a case study to argue that participatory approaches emerge from a complex process of negotiation where fieldworkers are subject to unique combinations of competing influences from the organisations they work for, the communities they work with, and their own personal characteristics. It suggests that fieldworkers can actively pursue personal agendas and can also be involved in changing the structures that condition their actions. However, the paper concludes that elements of the organisational structure can leave little room for fieldworkers to use their agency positively, and that managers need to address this in order to reduce the gap between the policy and practice of participatory approaches

Understanding community approaches to handicap in development (CAHD)

KREFTING, Douglas
March 2001

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This document, part of the Handicap and Development Collection, introduces an expanded concept of community-based rehabilitation (CBR) called CAHD (community approaches to handicap in development). It is aimed at CBR planners, policy-makers and managers. CAHD aims to develop two-way relationships within communities to change attitudes so that community practices will include disabled persons and provide them with services and assistance

Lessons from malaria control activities in urban West Africa using a research-action-capacity building approach

FELBER, G
OTHINGUE, N
YEMADJI, N
et al
February 2001

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In the South, urban environmental and social management is often based on top-down approaches which use technologies and strategies not corresponding to the demands of the inhabitants and to their social, economic and ecological realities. This paper discusses how a community-based approach - Research Action Capacity Building (RAC) - can be valuable for malaria control and more specifically for the dissemination of insecticide treated bednets. Taking a bednet project in NDjamena, capital of Chad, as an example, the article investigates the potential and the limitations of this approach for mobilising and strengthening sustainable activities and capacity building at community level

Health by the people : a celebration of the life of Ken Newell

MARTINEAU, Tim
PRICE, Janet
COLE, Robert
Eds
2001

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Proceedings of a colloquium at Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, in memory of Ken Newell. Organised around four themes in international health: equity, epidemiology in action, community voices, and future challenges. Approximately 20 papers

Community based rehabilitation : a strategy for peacebuilding

BOYCE, William
KOROS, Michael
HODGSON, Jennifer
2001

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There are features of peace building which distinguish it from peace keeping and which make it an appropriate strategy in dealing with vertical conflict and low intensity conflict. However, some theorists suggest that attempts to impose liberal values upon non-democratic cultures are misguided and lack an ethical basis. During post-conflict reconstruction, disability is a powerful emotive lever that can be used to mobilize cooperation between factions. Consequently, the paper investigates the peace building properties of community based approaches to disability in a number of countries. The paper describes the practice and impact of peace building through community based rehabilitation (CBR) strategies in the context of armed conflict. Finally, a number of benefits and challenges to using CBR strategies for peacebuilding purposes are identified

Starting school : effective transitions

DOCKETT, Sue
PERRY, Bob
2001

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This paper focuses on effective transition-to-school programmes. Using a framework of 10 guidelines developed through the Starting School Research Project, it provides examples of effective strategies and transition programmes.The guidelines argue that effective transition-to-school programmes: establish positive relationships between the children, parents, and educators; facilitate each child's development as a capable learner; differentiate between "orientation-to-school" and "transition-to-school" programmes; draw upon dedicated funding and resources; involve a range of stakeholders; are well planned and effectively evaluated; are flexible and responsive; are based on mutual trust and respect; rely on reciprocal communication among participants; take into account contextual aspects of community and of individual families and children within that community. In this context, the nature of some current transition programmes is questioned, and the curriculum of transition is problematised. In particular, issues are raised around who has input into such programmes and who decides on appropriate curriculum

Female genital mutilation : a teacher's guide : integrating the prevention and the management of the health complications into the curricula of nursing and midwifery

WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION, Department of Gender and Women's Health
WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION, Department of Reproductive Health and Research
WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION, Family and Community Health
2001

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This manual is part of a set of training tools (which includes a teacher's guide, a student's manual and policy guidelines), which have been produced to build the capacity of health personnel to prevent and to manage the health complications of FGM. They aim to bring FGM into mainstream education for health professionals will increase the pressure for the elimination of the practice. The teacher's manual contains four modules. The first module gives an introductory overview of the problem, considering cultural, ethical and human right implications of the practice. Module 2 looks at ways of involving the communities, and policy makers, in the prevention of FGM. Module 3 explains how to provide support, both medical and psychological, to girls and women with FGM complications. Module 4 looks at the implications of FGM during pregnancy, labour, delivery and post-partum period and at ways to manage complications. This is a useful tool for nursery and midwifery teachers, for community and health workers, and for those willing to raise awareness around the issue of female genital mutilation

Participation and sustainability in social projects : the experience of the local development programme (PRODEL) in Nicaragua

STEIN, Alfredo
2001

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This paper describes the work of the Local Development Programme (PRODEL) in the eight cities in Nicaragua where it provided low-income groups with small grants for infrastructure and community works projects, and loans for housing improvement and micro-enterprises. Donor funds were matched by municipal, community, and household contributions. Between 1994 and 1998 more than 38,000 households benefited and both loan programmes achieved good levels of cost recovery. The paper describes the micro-planning workshops and other methodologies, and explains how local governments and the bank responsible for managing the loans learned to work in a more participatory way, and it outlines the measures taken to ensure that the needs and priorities of women and children were addressed. The paper considers lessons learned in sustaining the initiatives and institutionalising citizen participation in social programmes, and describes how PRODEL's methods have come to be used by central and local governments in other programmes. [Publisher's abstract]

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