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Refresher Training on SHG of Persons with Disabilities towards Rights-based and Sustainable Community Development
18 July - 3 August, 2006
APCD organized a Refresher Training on SHG of
Persons with Disabilities towards Rights-based and
Sustainable Community Development. Nineteen exparticipants
of SHG/SHO of Persons with Disabilities or
Community based Rehabilitation (CBR) Courses organized
by APCD from 2003 - 2005 participated. Persons who came
from Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Viet Nam and Thailand
were engaged in directly developing SHG of Persons with
Disabilities at the grass-root level or supporting SHG of
Persons with Disabilities under their CBR projects.
Mr.Balakrishana Venkatesh from India was the main resource
person; others included Mr. Suporntum Mongkolsawadi,
Mr. Terayudth Sukolthavit and Mr. Tammawit Suwanapruk.
The objective was for participants to be able to
- nurture their insights and attitudes to be effective facilitators for SHG of Persons with Disabilities;
- equip themselves with practical facilitation skills; and
- formulate strategies and action plans to ensure sustainability of their related SHG of Persons with Disabilities.
The contents of the training were divided into the following:
- Reviewing main concept ideas about Disability and Development.
- Practicing Facilitation Skills in 2 sections; one, participants practiced amongst themselves training; the other was in the villages with the SHG members of Persons with Disabilities in Chainat Province.
- Learning about production of facilitation materials, how to produce simple and attractive materials for their facilitation activities.
- Formulating and presenting an Action Plan.
An effective facilitator equipped with advanced knowledge and skills, is a development worker who works with the community to bring about change in the situation of people/ issues in the community.
As a development worker, s/he should facilitate the development of SHG of people with different disabilities to carry on the work started by him/her. This requires building a healthy working relationship with everyone in the community, having a good understanding of the situation of people/issues in the community, identifying the problems faced by poor people in the community, and working with disabled people and their families, etc.
From this, we could see great hope that many of new effective facilitators who were more confident and ready to facilitate SHGs' members in areas of leadership, team working through learning process in their own countries. APCD believes that the participants will bring good outcomes and impact their society and the Asia-Pacific region.
Interview Corner
1) Mr. Yutaka Takamine, JICA Short-term Expert on SHO/SHG from Japan
"SHO and SHG of persons with disabilities are run by persons with disabilities not non-disabled persons. SHG consist of many types of disabilities and include family members in the community. They can form SHG together to become a federation and many federations joining together can fundraise from other organizations. However, the key point here is that SHG are from the grass-root level. A SHO seems like a national organization of persons with disabilities, larger than SHG with either a specific disability and/or cross disability organizations. Factors to strengthen SHO and SHG are commitment, building a working environment, and attitude. These are the main factors to empower persons with disabilities."
2) Mr. Balakrishana Venkatesh, APCD Resource Person on SHG from India
"The concept of SHG is based on freedom of choice and participation. SHG initiates when people gather together to understand each other and share ideas and experiences, when they begin to have their identity and to learn leadership life skills. SHG provide the opportunity for persons with disabilities to gain self-confidence, self-worth, help each other, take action to change their situation, and also include cross-disabilities since persons with disabilities have two major problems in the community; one is poverty and the other is social discrimination. Forming a cross-disability group can ensure acceptance in society and by family members. They can sing, work, play jokes, and feel free. This shows that SHG can bring about very wonderful things."
1) Participants from Myanmar
"Before attending this training, we didn't understand how to become an effective facilitator in our group, but from this training we learnt how to use codes, pictures, and other methods. When we return to our country, we will use simple pictures and a different type of media to teach SHG in Myanmar."
2) Ms. Phengmany Phengphomkong, participant from Lao PDR
"I used knowledge from the previous training to form SHG in Vientiane, where there are 18 SHGs. From this year's course, I have learned how to communicate and coordinate with other sectors such as governmental and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). I will apply these skills and knowledge in developing my group. Apart from vocational Interview Corner training, I would like to motivate other sectors, for instance, the medical sector, schools, and NGOs to develop accessibility for persons with disabilities."
3) Mr. Suchin Samphosri, participant from Thailand
"From the previous course, I used my knowledge to motivate persons with disabilities in the community about raising awareness and advocating for persons with disabilities. I have learned techniques to be a facilitator from Mr. Venkatesh on how to present and analyze problems. The new things I have learned are techniques of facilitating, decision-making, and group members' participation. I gained lots of new knowledge and will share them with my group here in Thailand. Along with this, I will coordinate with other related organizations to provide education for persons with disabilities."
