Community Health Volunteer's Training Manual - Population Council
Community Health Volunteer's Training Manual - Population Council
Community Health Volunteer's Training Manual - Population Council
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Advocacy for <strong>Health</strong><br />
As we saw earlier, advocacy is a set of actions targeted at decision-makers to support a<br />
specific issue. For example, members of the VHC may convince traditional leaders (chiefs,<br />
queens), assembly members, elders, health authorities, and political authorities to bring<br />
development to their community. Such development activities include building of houses,<br />
schools, pit latrines, bringing electricity to the community, paying fees for children to go<br />
or remain in school, or buying clothes and food for their families. In the long run, the VHC<br />
must help the community to stay healthy and think about development.<br />
As a VHC member you need to be able to convince community leaders about all the<br />
things that make the community healthy. This should be done over and over again to keep<br />
reminding people to promote health.<br />
Exercise 3.2.2: Advocacy Skills<br />
Objective<br />
To discuss effective advocacy skills<br />
Time: 20 Minutes<br />
Questions<br />
1. Why did you select it as an advocacy<br />
issue?<br />
2. Which decision-makers should be<br />
advocated to?<br />
3. What are the arguments that can/should be<br />
raised to your case?<br />
Topic 3 Advocacy for family planning<br />
Key advocacy issues in family planning<br />
Instructions to the Facilitator<br />
1. Guide participants to<br />
identity an advocacy issue<br />
in their community.<br />
2. Role-play how they will<br />
advocate this issue to one<br />
of these decision-makers.<br />
In this topic participants will get to know the advantages of family planning and the<br />
challenges to family planning promotion.<br />
Everyone likes to take control of their life. It is up to the individual to decide whether to<br />
have children, when to have them and how many to have. Anyone who is able to make these<br />
decisions and act accordingly is practising family planning. The VHC must be able to assist<br />
people (especially women) to practise family planning.<br />
The following exercise will help us know the key advocacy issues in family planning<br />
promotion.<br />
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