For People-centered Health Care and Realization of Peace
Regional Health and Medical Projects / Support for Education /
Advocacy
(source: "JVC Annual Report - 2008 report / 2009 plan", Mar 2010)
Program background
Afghanistan's precarious social situation, which has continued since 2002, has reached it's worst point since the onset of this conflict. The battles between anti-government armed groups, Afghan armed forces and foreign troops spread through more than half of the country and the number of the citizens bombed by the foreign troops increased by about forty percent from the previous year. As a result, dissatisfaction of foreign troops by the people is stronger. After the abduction and murder of a Japanese NGO staff member in the end of August, Japanese NGOs including JVC reinforced the safety measures such as reducing the number of trips to Afghanistan. In July before this accident, the Afghan Government and the United Nations jointly announced an urgent appeal saying that 450,000@families could not buy enough food; 550,000 women and children under five years of age were suffering from severe malnutrition. Everywhere in Afghanistan, a large number of people were struggling to survive and calling for help and support from the international community.
Summary of Activities
1.Regional Health and Medical Projects (Nangarhar Province)
JVC is supporting the only clinic in Great Gorek Area of JVC is supporting the only clinic in the Gorek area of Shiwa district in Nangarhar Province (covering a population of about 21,000) and it's sub-clinic in a remote area which was started in 2008. The main clinic has a delivery room and a room ex-clusively for female outpatients. Besides the regular facilities for mothers and children, JVC is conducting training for community health workers(CHWs) who will offer basic medical service in the communities, traditional midwives for helping childbirth at home and opening classes for new mothers. Through these activities people will become more attentive to the importance of preventive care. These activities are ongoing since 2005.
2008 Annual Report
The activities in the greater Gorek area entered the fourth year. JVC has been closely cooperating with the clinic, the training of CHWs and traditional midwives and the management of a sub-clinic which wrestles with prevention and treatment of diseases and care for safe childbirth. As a midterm project, we drew up a three year active plan. For the first step, we carried out a medical checkup and a survey on living conditions of 265 persons in 36 families within one village. The results were shared amongst the staff members and through them circulated back to the villagers. This was the first time to build an active alliance with the villagers in preventing diseases. In cooperation with CHWs, new classes for mothers started, too.
2009 Annual Plan
We will continue our support for the management of the clinic, sub-clinic, CHWs and traditional midwives training programs. On the top of these, JVC is going to set up a health committee, which will help villagers to become more conscious about their own health and wrestle to improve their living conditions by themselves. That is the target of the 2nd year of our midterm plan. We will also focus on the problems revealed through the medical checkups conducted in the last fiscal year. Problems focused on will be improving anemia, family planning, and the reduction of the burden due to ill health.
2.Support for Education (Nangarhar Province)
In cooperation with the administration, JVC is conducting a training program to improve teaching methods in the elementary schools in Shiwa District, Nangarhar Province. Sighi girls school, for which JVC gave support in enlarging their school building, is one of these schools.
2008 Annual Report
Since 2006, the course for how to use elementary school teaching guidelines has been conducted. This fiscal year, a course aimed at 81 teachers of the lower grades, was given for 12 daysCfrom Jan. 20th to Feb. 3rd, using a 3rd grade textbook. Among the 81 participating teachersC17 were female. We also planned a 4 day workshop for school principals from Feb. 23rd. They compared old and new teaching guidelines and shared the problems they were facing in school management. Most of the participants finished the program and hoped to have the same kind of program in near future.
2009 Annual Plan
We will continuously conduct the training course of the STEP Method for the improvement of teaching skills in Shiwa District. This training is intended for lower grade elementary school teachers over an 11-day period. We will also provide a set of instruments for conducting science experiments to two high schools and to cooperate with the regional health project by providing health education to the teachers in nine schools.
3. Advocacy (Nangarhar Province and Japan)
From October of 2001, US forces and NATO-led international forces have been operating in many areas. Along with the military operation, they did humanitarian activities such as providing food and building schools. However, their conduct became the cause of people's distrust toward them and thus local NGO agents had to work in very risky situations. So JVC has been continuously trying to draw people's attention to this problem both in Afghanistan and Japan. We believe military operations should not step into the realm of humanitarian activities, thus we have been working hard to advocate the policy " to support Afghanistan without the force" to the Japanese government and the society.
2008 Annual Report
In September of 2008, JVC and other International NGOs submitted an epistle requesting of the United Nations to keep neutrality central to the UNAMA (United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan) and to reinforce the adjustment of humanitarian support. These requests affected the reopening of UNOCHA (United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs). In November of the same year, appealing to members in responsible positions, we invited representatives from International NGOs and the Afghan NGO Network to discuss the problems caused by PRT of multinational forces, the overall humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan and the importance of political bargaining with the Taliban. We also held an open symposium.
2009 Annual Plan
Along with the Middle East Forum we are planning, JVC is continuously appealing for a nonmilitary policy for supporting Afghanistan. Against the argument to amend the Japanese Constitution and legalize the dispatch of Self Defense Forces, we also will indicate the problems caused by PRT (Provincial Reconstruction Team) and humanitarian activities by armed forces. When we attend regular meetings between military and civilian members, we will bring out concrete problems and emphasize the importance of following the guidelines.
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