Workshop helped build capacity for ‘simple village people’

MORE than 50 teachers, ward members, youth leaders, health workers and community leaders in the Barai Plateau in Northern took part in a strategic planning workshop facilitated by Christian Health Services (CHS) last month.
CHS health promotion coordinator Nickson Samblap said CHS, as a service provider, wanted to empower people starting at the village level.
He said Itokama was one of the best model villages he had seen that had implemented the Effective Development of Empowering the Nation (Eden) programme.
The three-day workshop looked at detailed steps involved in writing a strategic and operational plan.
The participants came from Jorura, Umbuwara, Aniafe, Naokanane, Naifae, Itokama, Afore, Madokoro, Kokoro, Gora, Serepuna,
Kuai and Natanga villages and Barai.
The director of the Village Technology Foundation, John Kumbo, thanked CHS for promoting capacity building at the village level to empower people to promote change in their communities.
“It is very hard for such trainings to be provided for simple village people like us,” Kumbo said.
“When we have the opportunity, let us empower ourselves to be agents of change for our communities.”
The workshop was part of the CHS health promotion programme which promoted healthy lifestyles through the Eden programme.
The strategic planning workshop, a component of the Eden programme, was held in Itokama village in the Afore local level government in Ijivitari and organised by the Village Technology Foundation.
The foundation is partnering with CHS, which has implemented the Eden programme over the last 15 years in the Barai Plateau.