Since the last Calcutta Kids off-site training in May 2011, our staff members have frequently asked, when will we go away again for training? For our staff, training is more than just an opportunity to learn new skills, it is also a special and exciting opportunity to leave the office and their homes to spend a few days away– a much needed break from the daily grind. We held a long awaited training on protocols and child health counseling last week at Monobitan, a training center south of Kolkata in Pailan run by our friends at CINI. The training was a welcome opportunity to take a step back from our day-to-day work and enjoy some fun learning activities.
The first day of training was held on-site in our new community center in Fakir Bagan—Ma o Shishu Shiksha Kendra (MoSSK). The first task was to come up with an entertaining nickname name for each staff member, using an adjective starting with the same letter as their name. The name would be used throughout the training, and it proved to be a great source of amusement. The names ranged from simple— ‘Sincere Sima’ and’ Jumping Jayanta’—to more complex –‘Na sunne ka pasand nahi Nasreen’ (Doesn’t like to hear no Nasreen) and ‘Shundor moner odhikari Sumana’ (Soul with a good heart Sumana).
The goal of the first day’s training was to clarify protocols for program activities held in MoSSK. The day was spent learning about new protocols for Growth Monitoring and Promotion (GMP), our MYCHI Clinic, Immunizations, Nutrition Corner, Community Meetings, and Child Development Corner, all which are now carried out in MoSSK. The team members role-played each of the activities to internalize the protocol and enjoyed playing different parts such as patient, doctor, mother, and counselor.
The next morning the CK team piled into several Tata Sumo trucks and sped through the streets of Kolkata, heading south to our training site in Pailan. After a quick breakfast, we dove into the training sessions on child health. We focused on two new child health topics: Family Planning and Hygiene & Sanitation. They were not unfamiliar topics to our health workers, but they were new in the sense that we were introducing standardized education and training materials for them. Each topic session consisted of a lecture, videos, and the introduction of an innovative counseling technique. After the Family Planning session, Sriya, our AIF Fellow, who has been working on behavior change communication (BCC) for maternal and child health, introduced a technique called Forum Theater an interactive form of theater that is used to demonstrate problem situations and involves the audience as part of the activity and resolution to the problem.
Chandan, Malti and Susmita participating in Forum Theater
After the Hygiene & Sanitation lecture, our program coordinator Sumana, who has taken a formal training course on puppetry for community health and awareness, organized a puppet show on the topic performed by the AICs and CHWs in order to demonstrate another creative technique that can be used for counseling and BCC.
It was incredible to see how quickly our staff members and, in particular, our health workers, adopted the new techniques. Performing both forum theatre and puppet theatre for the very first time, they successfully incorporated essential messages and both identified and found resolution to key problems using these two creative and interactive mediums.
As the day came to an end, the staff took time to enjoy the last bit of sunlight to walk around the gardens and playgrounds of Monobitan, pushing each other on the swings and merry-go-round. In the evening, we did a ‘guess the baby’ game which included showing baby photos of staff members and having to guess who they were. The highlight activity was the eco-friendly newspaper fashion show, where we split into groups by topic—popular female leader, favorite political leader, famous TV advertisement, movie, book, or cartoon character, and Bollywood actor or actress. Each group dressed up one or more models using newspapers and then walked up the runway as a group, using song or dance. It was truly a hysterical experience and brought out the creative side of our team members. Arpita dressed up as the Chief Minister and sang Ekla Chole Re along with her group. Kalyan posed as Rahul Gandhi, and Chandan danced around as the Joker from Mera Nam Joker—much needed laughter therapy for all of us.
The next day, the entire day of training was group work, focused on new strategies for BCC including the forum theatre and puppet theatre techniques from the previous day, along with counseling cards, interactive games, poster making, role-play, discussion groups, visual media, and demonstrations. Participants were divided into five groups and given child health topics–PNC and Care of Newborn, Immunizations, Care of Sick Child, Feeding Practices, and Child Growth and Development. All of these topics are familiar to the staff and our health workers already counsel beneficiaries on these topics. However the novel task was to identify key messages, challenges in changing those behaviors, and present solutions in a new counseling medium. Each group presented their topic and form of counseling technique to the rest of the participants, followed by discussion and feedback. All the techniques mentioned were effectively utilized—and at the end of the session, the whole team felt that they had really learned new skills in the BCC arena, and accomplished something very important. We will take this confidence building to our work in Fakir Bagan community, imparting essential health messages through effective delivery tools. The health workers commented how each of them had started at Calcutta Kids with virtually no knowledge of maternal and child health, and now they not only have internalized the information and the messages, but are able to teach the women they work with in new and exciting ways that will truly change the face of counseling and behavior change at Calcutta Kids.
As we left Monobitan that evening, I think that each of us felt a sense of triumph, that the training was a success and we came away from it with so much knowledge. We also felt a sense of peace, and sense of togetherness, as I think the training solidified relationships within the organization and really made us feel that we are working towards a common goal. Our Director Noah commented that the training was ‘a memorable few days which not only strengthened our team as a whole but also strengthened each individual working at CKT.’ —Sumana Ghosh and Danya Sarkar
I was recently asked, “If the population Calcutta Kids serves were to remember only one of the messages you give, what would it be?” Without any hesitation, I replied with a wonderful message I had just learned: “A child gaining weight cannot be very sick. A child not gaining weight cannot be very well.”
