Community Capacity Development

Community Capacity Building Program:

Children's lives begin from home and a child’s wellbeing and future in part depends upon the family, how s/he has been brought up. Educating children is not merely the responsibility of schools and teachers but their parents as well. Parents often do not have a sense of responsibility beyond day to day living and therefore, most of them rarely pay attention to their children’s education. There is little interaction with schools and almost no formal structure to address issues relating to their child’s education. There is, therefore, a considerable gap between schools and parents. To a certain extent this is due to a high illiteracy rate. Another factor is that there is a lack of awareness amongst parents. There is a lack awareness concerning their child’s education; the benefits of education; child rights; and women’s rights. There must be participation of the community in school's activities or at least the involvement of the parents or guardians, in order to generate interest, a sense of ownership and a sense of responsibility amongst the community.

What GAN believes

GAN believes that empowering the community is the bases for development and development of a community depends upon their education, level of participation in decision making processes, and awareness. For any development of the community and schools to occur, regardless of whether the issue is a school's infrastructure development or classroom teaching management, there should be two-way communication between schools and parents, and active participation and involvement of the community.

GAN’s approach

GAN supports communities in creating their own vision for their own community development and in implementing their own plans. GAN does this by forming & empowering functional civil society groups such as, the Children Education Concern Group (CECG), and Women Groups. GAN has been supporting communities to operate literacy classes or empowerment centres to enhance their awareness on child rights, women’s rights, and contemporary issues and ultimately to build up strong leadership skills.

GAN has also been supporting the most deprived and vulnerable communities to improve their livelihood opportunities. These programmes are tailored to the needs of the communities but all aim to provide a self-reliant society in order that their development is sustainable. With more/improved skills and greater income, families can afford nutritious food, healthcare and education for their children as well as to investing in their communities.

A loose forum of mother leads to legalization of groups which is an example of empowerment………. “We thought that we were only women and couldn’t do anything without the support of men. We hesitated in sharing our problems because we are uneducated and nobody listens to us. A lady named Parbati Gurung came to our village from GAN and set up a couple of meetings. We formed a committee named Ekata CECG. We discussed lots of different issues like: education of the children; our own literacy; social discrimination; the condition of women; violence; the dowry system of the community and so on. Now our group has become one of the leading saving & credit groups amongst the community and we are still continuing our focus on quality education for children by interacting with teachers, students and sometimes with School Management Committee/Parent Teacher Association members too. We monitor whether children are in the school or not; whether teachers are regularly in the school; and supporting the school in various ways. Our strength is in providing educational support to the children and regularly monitoring and following up. We have a monthly meeting on the 12th day of each month. Now we are in the process of registering this CECG at the District Adminisration Office (DAO) office and developing a networking strategy with other organisations in order to help their community development.”

Dhan Kumari Gurugn, coordinator of Ekta CECG expresses her feelings. “I am very happy with the team of GAN Kaski who were supporting us and made us a team within the community in a meaningful way. So please come and visit us and support us with your moral inspiration, knowledge and if possible with funds too. GAN empowered me and I can now express my feelings publicly. We are devoted to providing quality education to the children and being able to survive on our own two feet.”

CECG, A platform for developing confidence…………………………"I was quite unknown, I used to get afraid and even unable to speak with a stranger but when I started to engage in this group I learnt so many things. Now, I am able to share what I’ve learnt with other people too," says the chairperson of the group Mrs. Laxmi Sunar Shrijana Basti community, Daman-4, Makawanpur confidently. The group members interact and discuss their children’s education and visit the schools in order to get information. During their school visits they discuss and interact with the head teacher, the subject teacher, the School Management Committee and other concerned stakeholders.

Awareness Campaign inspired a drop out student to attend school again………………… “My name is Bishal Gurung, I am sixteen years old and live in a family of 12 people with my mother in Kaski. I left school when I was in Grade 2. I had forgotten the alphabet of my language. One day a volunteer came to our village and organised discussion groups for uneducated mothers. My mother and I attended these discussions regularly. It was at these discussion groups where I realised the importance of education. Now after 2 years of having left school, I have joined school once again and have been admitted to grade 4. Today, I help my mother in the morning with the chores and attend school in the afternoon.”

A inspiration lead 40 year old Sobha Sunuwar enrolled in Class 2 in formal school……………. “My name is Shobha Sunaar and I am 40 years old. I live in Kaski with my family. I have wanted to read and write since I was a child, however, due to my parents’ carelessness and my carefree behaviour, education was limited to my dreams. Now, after having attended the GAN women empowerment sessions, I feel that I can once again start going to a school. Before attending the sessions I felt ashamed about the thought of having classmates the same age as my grand children, but now I am confident in myself. I have enrolled in Grade 2 in a local school. During break times, I’m busy finishing my assignment whereas my classmates play around in the field. I am glad that I became a part of the women empowerment session and will continue to attend them in the future as well.