News in March

INDONESIA – The Constellation’s International SALT visit inspired by a member of the Kebaya transgender community.

“I go out and "sell service" once a week to ensure that we have money to provide for our members, especially those who are sick and are in need of food and medicine” said an older member of the Kebaya transgender community. The participants of the Constellation’s International SALT visit hosted by IndoCompetence in Yogjakarta February 15-18, 2012 were taken aback by this person’s humanity.

Jean-Louis Lamboray more than ever amazed by the practice of SALTdescribes a very emotional After Action Review where everyone realized the depth of the question “Are we human?” He wishes that the river of tears will turn into a river of life.

It also inspired Gloria anak Aloysius Dom and Maizy Tan from Beyond Social Services, Singapore. Gloria wrote on Ning her reflexions on what it means to relate as human beings: “The countless hours and years of religious studies on the meaning of love is nothing compared to the few hours I spent with the communities.” Maizy found “renewed passion and energy to apply what she has learned in her work”, and she already sees a paradigm shift in communities she works with in Singapore: Back to the basic of being Human.

Christina Maria Padman illustrates two of SALT’s components Appreciate Strengths and Listen with examples from the event’s visits. The spirit of learning, sharing and transfer has materialized thanks to this event, and despite the many languages of the Constellation as humorously described by Wiwin Winarni.

 

INDIA – India’s National Knowledge Fair: 1500 years of experience!

You want to know how to calculate the number of years of experience in a room, and the implementation rate of ideas? Read Mohamed Rafique’s blog,Little drops of knowledge. SIAAP (South India AIDS Action Programme) and India Competence facilitated the fair March 1-3, 2012, in the serene and spiritual environment of DMI Training Institute, at the Hilltop of Saint Thomas Mount, in Chennai, India.

 

“An interesting thing was that two of the AAR (After Action Reviews) were done in presence of the community. The community found AAR useful, and it helped them understand what SALT is.” It has also helped the visiting team, as its strengths were revealed to its members too. Rituu B. Nandadocumented the AAR on five of the fair’s SALT visits, where three questions were asked: What strengths did we see? What did we learn? What can we do better next? “I am going to use it (AAR) in all aspects of Life” concludes Anand from SIAAP.

Rituu also shares on Ning a story captured during the fair; a story to emphasize that care leads to change. “The experience of many local communities confirms the link between care and sustainable change at individual and community level. The capacity of people to respond to that sense of care can be integral to prevention in the global response to HIV.”

 

RUSSIA – An intense third week of March in Ekaterinburg

Knowledge Fair, Learning Event and Action planning: an intense third week of March in Ekaterinburg for the emerging Russian Facilitation Team, MariJo Vazquez and Rituu B. Nanda. Video on the Dream Building.

Maria Dupina, transaltor for the event, describes her first encounter with SALT : “The stories of others correspond to your life and reflect your problems. This similarity makes an enormous impression and enables us to be in tune with each other. We were acting as a harmonious system.” Find out more in her blog.

An unexpected situation turned out to be a source of joy and contentment for MariJo: ” It was for me an experience that stimulates me to continue practicing SALT and receiving the gift of appreciation, both when I receive it from others and when I practice it in my relation to others.”

Planning to organize a Learning Event? Rituu B. Nanda gives us some key facilitation points planned by the facilitation team for this event in Ekaterinburg.

 

GLOBAL – A non expert solution for Cholera.

“We all know that there exist thousands of expert solutions to Cholera. If that was the only thing we needed, we would control Cholera already for years”, said Ibrahim Mayaki from the Global Coalition against Cholera. During a session on Cholera at the World Water Forum in Marseille, France, he advocated for public/private collaboration and community ownership as a prerequisite of expert intervention for cholera and other diarrheal diseases. His remark followed the presentation of Marlou de Rouw, Constellation, at the Forum. Marlou proposed Cholera Competence as a Solution (seehttp://www.solutionsforwater.org/solutions/cholera-competent-communities-towards-a-social-vaccine). Currently member organisation RDCCompétence is applying the Cholera Competence in partnership with UNICEF. Conversations are ongoing with WHO Geneva to bring the approach to other countries as well. 

 

Requests for help and inputs:

What does CLCP mean to me?

In the context of the Constellation’s Annual Report coming out in April 2012,Ricardo Walters invites you to contribute to it.

What's the difference between a Forum and a Blog?

Mohamed Rafique proposes a table showing the pros, cons, similarities and differences between e-mail and web-based e-forums. Please contribute, or suggest edits, based on your experience.

Your feedback on a video: “Building the Dream”. Watch it on Ricardo’s blog.

What do we mean by knowledge mobilisation?

What entails to put it into practice? What constitutes or what are the key components? To consult documents on the subject posted by Rituu B. Nanda, or to share your experience, please see T. N. Anuradha’s post.

 

 

What else is happening in our online community?

Ian and Alison Campbell are re-visiting all the communities they have worked with in past two decades.  They will cover 25 countries in six phases. In their respective countries, local team-mates join them. You can find on Ning the reflections from Ian after the first phase of his journey (Glocon) which took them to India, Bangladesh, Thaïland and China: Local response is about movements for care and change.

Eleven former residents of the Red Cross center for asylum seekers in Beho, Belgium, welcomed four new members. The next meeting will be held April 14 in Vielsalm. For more information, contact Fabien Manirakiza.

A new training strategy for BelCompetence. In Vielsalm, Belgium, Sunday, March 11, 2012, the team met to prepare for the upgrade training of its facilitators, and for the training of new facilitators. The first upgrade training for facilitators will take place in Taverneux July 5 to 9, 2012. For more information, contact Fabien Manirakiza.

March 5 -9, 2012, Constellation Coach Sirinate Piyajitpirat participated in a planning workshop of the WorldFishCenter in Pennang Malaysia - with the aim to integrate the Community Life Competence Approach in the work plan. For more information, contact Sirinate Piyajitpirat.

 

 

Upcoming events:

Glocon in Rwanda. The Glocon Team will be in Rwanda April 7 – 13, 2012. More information on Affirm’s website and on Facebook.

Caring Communities in Uganda: Second Learning Event. Ricardo Waltersand Arthur Namara will facilitate this event for the Constellation’s partnership with WHO aging department April 17 – 20, 2012. They accompany communities applying CLCP to the inclusion of older people in the response to HIV/AIDS.

IndiaCompetence, with SIAAP as a host, is inviting you to participate in the Constellation’s Global Learning Festival in Chennai, India from 20th to 24th November 2012. More information on Rituu B. Nanda’s post.

Africa Youth Ministries proposes an unpaid Internship to promote Accelerated Comprehensive HIV/AIDS Service Delivery across Uganda. More information on Albert KUNIHIRA’s post.

June 4 – 8, 2012, visit Guinea the Constellation way! For more information on this International SALT visit, contact Marlou de Rouw

  

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