Identification and solving problems existing in the community is a crucial task of any community worker. For this, it is necessary for the workers to identify the chief problem and to list the causes of and possible solution to the problem. Then, developing a plan of action and implementation of action is the next step in the process. We will learn about these steps one by one in the following section.
A. Identification of nutrition and health problems
Initially there is a need to collect information for identifying problems in the community. In order to get information on community problems, we will need to know all about the community. You will want to know things like what people do for a living, the conditions under which they live, their backgrounds, conhems, interests, customs and traditions, way of life, what they think is rewarding or good in life, what their position is in the community; how much they know about what you want to talk about, what they think of the work you are doing and what they think of you. You also need to know what are the common diseases in the community and all the factors which cause food, nutrition and health problems to occur.
The basic information you have collected will help in identifying the most important nutrition and health problems as seen by the community, e.g., malnutrition, diarrhoea and the factors involved. After collecting the information, you should meet with the people and discuss the problem. Meetings and discussions with individuals or groups are useful for helping people look closely at the causes which lead to these problems. People need to understand why problems do or do not occur so that they will be able to choose the best actions to rake to solve their problems. People in the community, other community workers and health workers are examples of some of these people with whom you will discuss the problems.
The aim of the discussions is to learn as much as possible about the problems such as:
- how they are regarded by each group?
- the number of people who have these problems
- the behavior that causes the problems
- possible reasons for this behavior
- other causes of the problems
- what solutions are possible?
- what are the best solutions?
- how these solutions will fit into people's lives?
- the advantages and disadvantages of each solution etc.
B. Finding the cause to the problem
Once the problem is identified the next step is to find the causes to the problem. There are many reasons why these problems occur and it is essential to try and identify the most important causes. Some of these may be:
- - not enough food for everyone, especially for young children
- - too little money to buy food
- - no jobs
- - not enough education
- - bad roads and no transportation to take crops to the market
- - not enough clean, safe water
- - infections and diseases in children
- - poor families with too many children
Nutritional problems are caused also by bad practices such as:
- poor handling and storage of food
- unsanitary disposal of rubbish and human waste
- improper weaning practices
You need to work with the community in finding out possible causes for the problems as well as possible reasons for the undesirable practices which cause problems. After finding out the cause for the problem, develop strategies to solve them.
C. Developing a Plan of Action
Since problems often have several causes, the community must decide on different actions to take in solving them. Deciding on which actions to take will depend on the kind of problem, its causes and the reasons behind the behaviours which cause it. A plan for taking action will involve:
- understanding and stating clearly what you want to achieve
- deciding on the activities and materials you will need
- identifying the people you will need
- giving jobs or tasks to people
- putting the whole plan into a time-frame which shows when the activities will start and end.
No comments:
Post a Comment