Training of Community Mobilizers

Four big long days. From 7 – 10 June I am in Kolkata training 65 community workers in mobilization skills so that they are able to deal with the resistant families and are able to take up the challenge of making them understand the need of polio vaccine for their children. The challenge for us has been much more! There is regular drop out of these mobilizers (mostly women between the age group of 19 – 28) as their own families resist these girls and women from going out of their homes to work! And they do not want their women to move from house to house, talk to men and women, convince them about taking polio vaccine because it is socially unacceptable to them. 

So, at times it happens that even on the day of training they drop out! How to convince those who are supposed to convince others? The days were hot and humid, but the evenings had a bit of thunderstorm. In fact the newspapers reported that 4 people died in a wall collapse inside Kolkata, and two persons died in nearby Hooghly district, about 30 kilometers from Kolkata, after a lightening stuck a group of people watching a local soccer match. 

Coming back to the training part, I had just one long session on the first day, and on other days it was mostly coordinating with the other three trainers, and step in whenever required. I also managed to have couple of meetings separately : one with the coordinators and another with the supervisors, to understand gaps, to motivate them into program implementation and achieve highest standards in reaching the goals set.