Family planning and voluntary workers
Bhende, A.
Parivar Ayojan 2: 53-58
1968
ISSN/ISBN: 0254-4563 PMID: 12338667 Document Number: 519405
The Family Planning Communication Action Research Projects at the Demographic Training and Research Centre, DTRC, Bombay, and the Planning Research and Action Institute (PRAI) Lucknow, provide guidelines for implementation of a program in which voluntary workers play an important role. DTRC has concentrated on urban areas and PRAI on rural areas. In selecting the volunteers, emphasis is on involving those who are already active in community affairs, or those who wield some degree of influence. In rural areas, the literacy level of the leaders is an important factor, as well as those who have a wide circle of acquaintances. The training programs conducted by the DTRC are for 3-5 days, covering 6-10 hours, and the involvement of some local association is always sought. It is found that an informal, permissive atmosphere, the use of visual aids, the distribution of reference material, and the lecture and group discussion methods are effective in orienting the participants to family planning educational activities. The PRAI trains the workers 1st through individual visits, and then when a good number have participated for 3 or 4 months, a training camp is organized. When high officials attend and address these camps, and when certificates and badges are distributed, it serves to keep up the enthusiasm. The main problem in both urban and rural area are sustaining the interest of the volunteer and involving men as volunteers. Where cash incentives are not feasible, newspaper and radio publicity is effective, and words of recognition and appreciation also help. Where male volunteers are involved, it is found that they can work well in their places of employment rather than in residential communities. In highly cosmopolitan areas, various linquestic groups live side by side, and it is necessary to enroll voluntary workers from the individual groups.