Tribal health programme

In June 1978, the Department of Social Welfare, Government of Maharashtra, commissioned the Centre for Development Studies and Activities (CDSA), Pune, to prepare an Action Programme for the Improvement of Health in the Tribal Areas of Maharashtra. The following is the brief report submitted by CDSA.     

Zimbabwe's AIDS action programme for schools

AIDS education started very early in Zimbabwe and is now compulsory in all schools. This evaluation documents the development of the primary and secondary school AIDS Action Programme from 1991 to 1998. Six programme aspects were evaluated: programme start-up, planning and management, development of syllabi and materials, teacher training, research, monitoring and evaluation, and co-ordination. The Programme drew on resources from within the existing educational system. Due to broad-based consultation and participation, it was supported by Government and partners. Flexible management ensured implementation of mid-course corrections. It was concluded that school AIDS programmes should stress participatory teaching and learning methods and life-skills training. Curriculum writers and teachers needed training and supervision in participatory techniques. Cluster workshops between district and school levels were needed to strengthen the cascade model of teacher training that had been adopted. Systematic research, monitoring and evaluation were essential, including follow-ups to baseline surveys. The Zimbabwean programme was well-designed, relatively inexpensive and replicable.     

The district roads programme in Botswana

Two major themes of Botswana's Fifth and Sixth Development Plans (1976–1991) have been the creation of employment and rural development. As one means of fulfilling both objectives the Government of Botswana explicitly decided that labour-intensive methods should be used by District Councils to improve and maintain the 11,000 km of non-gazetted roads for which they were responsible. To this end, between 1980 and 1982, a Pilot Project was carried out to examine the potential of labour-intensive methods. In 1982, following its evaluation of the Pilot Project, the Ministry of Local Government and Lands decided that the methods developed during the Pilot Project should be replicated throughout Botswana. As a result District Council Roads Units have been established in all districts of Botswana. Over 2,000 people are employed.     

Development of the Stay Safe programme

The development and implementation of the Stay Safe programme is described in this paper. The programme, which was developed in the Republic of Ireland, is a culturally sensitive developmentally staged child abuse prevention. It is a multisystemic programme insofar as it includes modules for teachers, parents and children. It also involves liaison with local child protection and child health professionals as an integral part of implementation. Multimedia‐based instruction is employed to facilitate multimodal leaning. The broad curriculum covers bullying and child abuse as two related forms of victimization. Disclosure training, assertiveness training and coercion management training are included in the curriculum, which also focuses on enhancing self‐esteem and the promotion of peer support. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Expanded programme of immunisation for children

The Expanded Programme of Immunisation for Children (EPI) operates as part of the maternal and child health programme and budgeted under it. It has been assured that there shall be no constraints of finances for it. This programme will become the touchstone to prove the concern and commitment of the medical and health administrators for the cause of child health in the country. This paper deals with the background of the EPI, recommended schedule of Immunisation and Programme for the future.     

Evaluating a social work introductory programme

Many social work programmes spend considerable time at the end of the course consolidating learning experiences, looking to employment issues, the nature of supervisory contracts, future training needs and so on (see for example the Janus week at Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen). On a social level students also experience a round of parties, a graduation ceremony, the collection of certificates and formal farewells. Such activities are fairly predictable rites of passage. Whilst the importance of beginnings in social work practice is part of the folklore, little has been said or written about the actual process of induction onto social work training programmes. In this article we focus on the beginning of such a programme leading to an award of MA and Diploma in Social Work. We analyse what happens, describe the structures and under-pinning theories and conclude by arguing that the start of a course is an important land-mark for students' relationships with each other, with teaching staff and their own self-perceptions and sense of empowerment. Our reflection on these processes has been useful in looking at the conscious and unconscious messages given by ourselves and our institution.

Firstly, we briefly explore perspectives emanating from broad sociological discourse about the nature of professionalisation. We can then reflect on the perspective of anthropology which raises useful notions of initiation, celebration and ritual. We are particularly interested in looking at the power relationship between staff and students and at learning styles. Theory therefore demands that we look at this introduction in other than mechanistic or rational ways.

The second part of this article considers a three day introduction to a social work programme, concentrating on styles of learning and the inherent issues of power relationships.     

The impact of an industry-based rehabilitation programme

An industry specific rehabilitation programme was developed to cater for the special requirements of the New Zealand logging industry. The aims of the rehabilitation programme were to: reduce the amount of time lost due to injury, reduce the number of lost time injuries, and overall, to reduce the direct costs associated with logging injuries. The programme was field-tested on a logging company. The rehabilitation programme was effective for reducing the average amount of time lost due to injury and also for reducing the cost of the injuries. Although there were a number of factors that may have had an impact upon these results, this research provides evidence that this rehabilitation programme was effective for reducing the severity and cost of injury to the New Zealand logging industry.     

Evaluation of a pilot programme and a follow-up study of infant feeding practices during the scaled-up programme in Botswana

This paper describes the results of two studies concerning a programme to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV in Botswana. The programme included VCT, provision of oral AZT to the HIV infected mothers and to the infant, infant feeding counselling and support, and free provision of formula for infants of HIV infected mothers who opted not to breastfeed. The study evaluating the pilot phase of the programme concluded that the programme should be scaled up. After the programme expanded, a follow-up evaluation of infant feeding practices was conducted. Infant feeding practices differed significantly between intervention and non-intervention sites and between mothers of unknown HIV status, non-infected mothers and HIV-infected mothers. Among the infected mothers who chose exclusive formula feeding, 96% maintained this up to the time of interview. Health workers' knowledge about HIV transmission was weak. Counselling on feeding needs to be improved in many areas.     

Teaching programme evaluation: A problem of knowledge

This article conceptualises the problem of selecting teaching content that supports the practice of programme evaluation. Knowledge for evaluation practice falls within one of three categories of knowledge that are defined by the different roles they play in supporting practice. First, core knowledge relates to the defining activity of evaluation practice, i.e., that it informs the intellectual task of the determination of a programme’s value. Second, accessory knowledge informs activities that support and facilitate the concretisation of the previous activity in a delivery context (e.g., stakeholder participation, evaluation use, project management, etc.). Third and finally, supplementary knowledge informs activities that may, on occasion, occur during evaluation practice, but without relating to the determination of value, either inherently or in a support role. The selection of knowledge for the teaching of evaluation must match the knowledge needed for the pursuit of effective evaluation practice: core, accessory, and supplementary knowledge. The specifics of these three needs ultimately depend on the characteristics of a given practice. The selection of content for the teaching of evaluation should ideally address these specific needs with the best knowledge available, regardless of its disciplinary origins.     

Thinking about "culture": some programme pointers

This article exhorts development workers to develop an understanding of their own cultural heritage in order to understand how cultural subjectivity influences their work. While not endorsing "cultural relativism," the authors stress that women must work within their own cultures to develop empowerment and combat culturally legitimized practices which are harmful to women. Cultural constructs must be examined in order to understand such issues as the Northern tendency to encourage personal individualism and the Southern tendency to organize along communal lines. Gender identity is also a social construction which calls for a consideration of each situation (or harmful practice) as uniquely based in a given cultural context. General agreement exists, however, that in order to tackle gender oppression, women must be empowered and their status must be improved. Thus development initiatives should support longterm investment in research and programs, illiteracy rates must be decreased, and educational opportunities must be sought in every program. Women's groups must link up to share resources with each other and with traditional nongovernmental organizations. Governments should 1) integrate a gender component into every Ministry; 2) emphasize literacy for girls and women; 3) support local women's initiatives; 4) provide gender-sensitive training for professionals in critical fields; 5) increase attention to the needs of young women; and 6) offer more women visible official posts in public service.     

Developing an early intervention programme to prevent child maltreatment

This paper describes the development and implementation of a programme to prevent child maltreatment in a multicultural, inner city community setting with very high rates of physical abuse and neglect. The rationale and philosophy underpinning the prevention programme is outlined. It has a unique approach, combining several features present to varying degrees in other home visiting programmes within a well‐structured framework. This includes the identification of vulnerable parents during the antenatal period, the use of generic health professionals (health visitors) in identification and intervention with families, an ‘active engagement’ strategy, the development of specialist non‐stigmatizing clinics for parents and the creation of a consultation service for generic workers. A variety of interventions are briefly described which are used to support vulnerable families. These include antenatal parenting workshops; baby massage; dedicated crying, sleeping and feeding clinics; and clinics to help parents manage toddler behaviour.Evaluation over the first 5 years of these clinics shows almost 75% of cases have successful outcomes. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.