The MNGO Scheme     

The Voluntary Health Association of Assam was selected as a mother NGO under the MNGO Scheme of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India. The organization had to implement the scheme in five districts namely Darrang, Golaghat, Lakhimpur, Nagoan and Sonitpur through a network of 19 FNGOs.

Training Support to FNGOs

The VHAA team has provided technical inputs to the FNGOs so as to enable them to implement their respective projects efficiently and effectively. One of the most significant contributions of VHAA was regular distribution of need based, simple, low cost IEC materials to the FNGOs which helped to increase the knowledge base of not only the project staff and the in depth training and skill building of all the project staff and volunteers, so as to optimize the effectiveness of the programme at the field level.

Field level activities of FNGOs

The FNGOs' activities were limited to the most critical and important issues like -

AASTHA - An Adolescent STREET CHILDREN PROJECT AT JORHAT

VHAA started the project Aastha - a street children project for the first time at Jorhat with the aim of awareness generation, prevention and control of HIV/AIDS and STDs amongst the adolescent children (10-18 years) with support from Assam State Aids Control Society, Guwahati.

The activities undertaken were

1. Health Education Sessions

2. Individual and Group Counselling

3. Health check-up camps

4. Awareness programmes

5. Activities imparting vocational skills

6. Enhancement of inter-personal skills

The AASTHA project was able to garner good community support and each pocket having its own co-ordination committee - the community was kept well informed about all the project activities and initiatives. Though the project targets adolescent children, a positive aspect of the project has been the filtering down of important aspects of health education, immunization, family planning etc to the other members of the community as well.

SARATHI  

A small resource centre on reproductive health SARATHI focused on the following :

» Information sharing

» Capacity building

» Co-ordination & networking

» IEC materials development and distribution

» Campaign and Advocacy

» Maintaining database for RH (Reproductive Health)

» Consultants & funding agencies, govt. schemes &

» Policies, training resources etc.

» Area specific studies and documentation

» Liasioning with govt., non-govt. and other elated agencies at    the state, national and international level.

ISM&H

VHAA is perhaps one of the first organizations to have started work on the promotion of the Indian Systems of Medicine throughout the state of Assam. With the view of reaching out to the areas with minimal or no health infrastructure, VHAA organized and conducted ayurvedic and homeopathy treatment camps in collaboration with its 19 RCH partners in the districts of Darrang, Golaghat, Lakhimpur, Nagoan and Sonitpur.

One of the highlights of these camps were that they provided health services to a large section of the society who have hardly received any health care in the past. These were very effective in community mobilization and creating awareness about the ISM& H. Through these camps, the large uncovered population of adolescents were touched through group discussions, competitions etc. An attempt had been made to create an interest in the nutritional value of vegetables and fruits and the medicinal value of plants and herbs amongst the school children.

WOMEN AND CHILDREN DEVELOPMENT PROJECT AT GOLAGHAT

The Women and Children project at Golaghat, supported by CRY, focused on the pre-primary education of children with the basic aim to arrest the drop-out rate at the primary and high school levels at a later stage.

There were six pre-primary centres in the six project villages. The centres used interesting and innovative methods and teaching aids to teach the students. Besides the focus on continuation of education, community health with special focus on women and children was also an integral part of the project. The project was able to mobilize community participation very effectively. Some of the centres are being sustained by the community till date after the project has been over.