Ground Report

“Orientation Meeting with LSOs representatives on Community Based Saving Groups (CBSGs) in the Chitral Child Survival Programme (CCSP)”.

A joint initiative of AKHSP Chitral and AKRSP Chitral.

CHITRAL: A one orientation workshop on Community Based Saving Groups (CBSGs) organized by Aga Khan Rural Support Program  (AKRSP) Chitral was held in a local Hotel for Local Support Organizations  (LSOs) representatives.

The main objective of the workshop was to take on board the LSOs on the implementation plan of CBSGs.

Chitral District of North West Frontier Province (NWFP) has some of the highest maternal and infant mortality and morbidity ratios and rates in Pakistan; these result from high levels of poverty, low female literacy, cultural practices favouring childbirth at home, women’s limited mobility outside of the home, and the difficulty of accessing health facilities, often located in remote and isolated valleys and operating in harsh and inhospitable climates.

In Chitral, like many other rural districts of Pakistan, these issues are interlinked and must be addressed through a holistic approach. Therefore the AKHSP, Chitral and AKRSP Chitral entered into a partnership in the Programme by the name of Chitral Child Survival programme (CCSP) the first of its kind to reduce maternal and neonatal mortality and morbidity in Chitral district. For that purpose communities needed to be organized, sensitised and supported to address the constraints through context-specific arrangements that lead to ensuring a safe delivery.  AKRSP Chitral in this partnership through its social mobilisation expertise would try to address the factors, that constrain access by pregnant women and their newborns to health care and that being low community awareness, traditional cultural practices, the limited paying capacity of the family and delayed decision-making and  Aga Khan Helath Service for Pakistan (AKHSP) Chitral would put in place a package of interventions that overcome the constraints to accessing skilled care during pregnancy, assisted deliveries, pre and postnatal care and services to the newborn. As currently 30 community mid wives (CMWS) are going through a rigorous training process, selected by AKHSP Chitral from those areas where no government or AKHPs services health services or facilities are available.

These CBSGs have to be in place before the trained Community mid wives (CMWs) are trained and deployed in their respective villages.

In the workshop RPM AKRSP Chitral  Sardar Ayub gave an overview of the CCSP in detail and also explained the role of AKRSP in the social mobilization component of the CCSP with the formation of the CBSGs, then a detailed presentation was given on CCSP from the AKHSP, Chitral by Miraj Manager MER AKHSP Chitral accompanied by Ms. Aisah Maab Program Coordinator CCSP. Their presentation was then followed towards the conclusion of the orientation meeting with LSOs by Farid Ahmad Project Manager CBSG who explained CBSGs as being Community Based Savings Group (CBSG) group of 15 – 25 women who save together and takes small loans from those savings with the establishment of special social fund for emergency purposes and also explained the role of LSOs in ensuring efficient and effective implementation of the CBSG project and CCSP program in general.

The roles are as under which the LSOs had to take responsibility for the effective implementation of the project and program in general.  To Facilitate AKRSP in identification/recruitment of field officers,  to Facilitate AKRSP/AKHSP in the formation of health houses,  to Facilitate in developing fee structure and payment of mid wives services. As well as to Encourage and Facilitate in developing transport mechanism for the referral cases,  Monitoring of progress and performance of filed officers and CBSGs, Inclusion of poor and female of reproductive age in CBSGs.

G.H. Farooqi PO Box No. 50 GPO Chitral Pakistan phone No. 03025989602, 03469002167, 0943-302295, 414418

Email: gulhamad@gmail.com