Voice from participant of ILDC 2024 – Himal
What is the most significant learning?
I learned about the logical thinking. Many of my counterparts are high-level people like government authorities. When I do advocacy, I used to speak a lot. Through the “Fact or Opinion” practice and debate activity that we did during the training course, I found that the evidence-based approach is more effective than just giving my thoughts and opinions in order to make people convinced. In the advocacy led by CBO members, asking questions with people for the actual experience is important, instead of my speaking in the front. We could show the evidence and involve them.
What did you learn about participatory approach?
In the small group discussion, we helped each other so that everyone could freely share their different opinions. Through these activities, I learned that it is important to create a safe environment for enabling the community people with different background to participate and raise their opinions.
CMC-Nepal engages in mental health and psychosocial activities. I noticed that most of which were likely to be done in top-down approach. The issues were identified by the medical consultants and the experts, so sometimes, there was a gap between the policy and community needs. However, people with mental health problems vary from person to person, such as in castes, tribes and the reason for causing mental health problems. I would like to apply participatory approach so that community people could fulfill the gap for ensuring their different needs.
How did you apply?
After I returned in Nepal, I facilitated a visit from the Province Health Minister, Secretary, other provincial authorities, CV leaders, and journalist who are in the process of developing the Provincial Mental Health & Psychosocial Strategy to the meeting with marginalized groups, including women, conflict survivors and the Tharu tribal people.
Government officers said, “it was good to hear their voices”. I would like to build a bottom-up relationship between my CBO (District Network of Mental Self-Help Group) and its stakeholders.
Any challenges during the course?
In the beginning, I was puzzled what we were doing in this training course. We often reflected our group activities and facilitation, but I didn’t understand what we should gain from these activities.
In the 3rd week, when we mutually made a CBO capacity assessment list and assessed my CBO, I naturally reflected what we have done in this training course. At that time, I found that the participants have done the same things as written in our CBO capacity assessment list!
Thanks to that exercise, I finally understood why we always reflected our activities in the session.
The process is to make this training course owned by the participants themselves. I realized the meaning of “participants are the learning resource”. And I expect my CBO to experience this process.
