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Children and Local Religion as Assets in the Nepal Project

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This was a very active participation, women’s carried sand and stones as most of them were illiterate. And men work for more technical activities. And because of this participation, the toilet and safe drinking water became very sustainable. But only this was not enough. When these facilities were completed, we learn the wisdom from a local NGO in Nepal. They advised us to put a plate of a Hindu God on the top of the drinking water facility as people there were very religious, and they can consider it as a holy drinking water spot. We also collected a small amount of money from people.
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We also trained some people to repair the water tap, but this idea of using a Hindu God was very effective. And such a local wisdom is also an asset which you can only find after visiting there. So not bringing something outside, you can find something interesting from the local situation, local setting. After the toilet construction, child club members acted very well, they demonstrated how to use the toilet and some smart students gave health education to other students. They were indeed precious assets and they also found they were not vulnerable anymore when they played such roles in community development activities.
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So in summary, children are assets for health promotion and they can overcome diversity and inclusiveness challenges by acting as players for community development.

Continue explaining the Nepal project, Dr. Jimba will introduce more local settings.

Men, women, child and even the local religion proved to be valuable assets that aided the completion of Dr. Jimba’s project. Dr. Jimba first explains how local religion helped convince locals to use their newly built water spots. He then moves on to illustrate how the children club acted as agents of change, conducting health education on the public. This is hence a prime example of how local assets can be used to overcome diversity and inclusiveness challenges, creating a healthy environment. Dr. Jimba also highlights how children, by participating in the development of their own community, realized that they were no longer vulnerable.

In this step, we witness the importance of on-site research and active participation. Population approaches would not be able to utilize these local assets, and neither can they empower the local folks to the extend Dr. Jimba and his team did.

Can you think of the reasons, the characteristic of these Nepal villages, that rendered population approaches ineffective? Please give your assumptions in the comment section below and the reason why you think it causes the approaches ineffective.

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Capacity Building: Core Competencies for Health Promotion

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