Training to Strengthen Community-based Rehabilitation (CBR)
through a Participatory Comprehensive
Approach: Developing Agents of Change
11 October - 3 November 2005
Twenty-three participants from Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Viet Nam and Thailand participated in the CBR training.
The training's objectives were to strengthen existing/planned CBR programs in the participants' countries by:
- Sharing common fundamental values in CBR.
- Understanding a comprehensive approach to CBR.
- Equipping themselves with practical methods for enhancing community participation in CBR.
- Developing CBR strategies according to each situation and the needs.
The training curriculum was composed of the
following 4 main modules:
- Basic concept and information about disability and development.
- Experiences and Case Studies by sharing CBR experiences. The various experiences in this module involved implementing CBR, Inclusive Education, Income Generating Activities, Networking and Civil Society, Awareness Raising in the Community, Initiating and Strengthening of SHG and Advocacy in the Community.
- Skills taught that are needed to develop and strengthen CBR projects included participatory Project Management, Participatory Training Process, Facilitating and Presentation Skills, and Mobilization of Resources and Fund Raising.
- Action Plan Formulation and Presentation. The Action Plan can act as a tool to evaluate how much the participants learned and were able to apply from this training. The Plan is also helpful for APCD to do future monitoring as well as support projects/activities initiated by the participants.
Highlights of the training course were:
- Participants considered what was applicable to manage the SHG with full participation of PWDs in their target areas.
- The curriculum covered all the essential topics to implement a CBR project and most of the facilitators used participatory training methods. This was an excellent opportunity to learn this approach.
Participants would have appreciated more time to present their plan of implementation as well as more time to share and learn from each other's experiences.
The evaluation of the training by the participants and resource persons shows that most felt they could apply the comprehensive participatory approach in their projects. They can be Agents of Change, pushing for an effective holistic CBR movement in their communities.
