Training of Doctors in Flood Preparedness

I must write about part of my experience while training four groups of doctors in the State of Bihar in flood disaster preparedness. The training had been organized by Unicef and the Disaster Management Institute of the Government of Bihar. The training support was given by RedR India, and I was part of the RedR India team. In the first two trainings in Supaul and Madhepura we had to go beyond the training module as I and my co-trainer also had to work on improving the training module and schedule to help it more useful for the other eight trainings to follow. My third training was at Darbhanga where the district health administration was sluggish in organizing the program, and so had to wrap up the program in just five hours of total work in the two days. Then six such trainings in six other districts followed in which I was not present. The last of the trainings was in the district of Katihar, where I joined my co-trainer Dr. Prabir Chatterjee who was also my co-trainer in Madhepura. In Katihar the doctors and health personnel were very much interested in the training and wanted to know more and more. But, unfortunately, some of the IEC materials, training tools and some organizational faults on the part of the district personnel ensured that the program was not a big success. 

Looking back, it was time for me to share some very interesting and personal moments with my co-trainers. Learn from them and learn to be a better health conscious person, as all my co-trainers were professionally medical doctors. Thank you Dr. Ravikant, Dr. Prabir and Dr. Sanjay 

Days after the Polio Round

The days after the last polio round (from 24 June) were mostly uneventful. I spent some time in preparing the Annual Report of CKS which is now nearly complete, but for one or two simple details. I also traveled to Kolkata for field visits. A friend from United States (Ms. Mary T) was with me till 1 July. And so, spent some time with her as well. There was a visit from Core Group (Deputy Director Mr. Jitendra A visited for a meeting with all project coordinators and block coordinators. And, from 30 June till 2 July noon, I helped in preparing the team of trainers of CKS to go to Bihar to give a training in Disaster Preparedness. The days went too quick that I just couldn't sit down to write my blog. Pretty busy days. 

One thing that I have found to have happened to me is this - I have not found myself to be without work. If there is no work, I generate work ! People and friends continue to support me all the time. That remains a meaningful thing in life.Well, there was a sudden call from RedR India, asking me to go to Bihar to train doctors in Flood Preparedness. Till the day I left, not much of training material was available. All that I knew is, I will have to go to Supaul, Madhepura and Saharsa to give training to doctors and Block Health Managers for two days each.

Sphere - Minimum Standards in Humanitarian Response

The new Sphere Handbook released in April 2011 has several new insights and better view of the crisis situations. The fundamental approach in the book is to look at standards in humanitarian response from the perspective of affected population, in stead of the humanitarian agency, as previous two versions of the book had done. The book also has the revised Core Standards, Protection Principles and several other new features. The Key Action in every standard is really a good guide for organizations to understand what type of activities can be taken up and the Guidance Notes are elaborate and well-written.

I am in Pune since last Sunday to understand and learn this wonderful document, (I have been trained in the previous versions of the book twice before.) under the guidance of two senior trainers in RedR India. The four days long training which started on Monday has helped me understand the new standards in emergency response and how the assessment and response mechanisms can be improved, better coordinated and response to the needs of people can be with strong humanitarian imperative. Thank you RedR India!