Edification of the community members through interventions in health and education…
The Social Sector Services cover the following areas:

	Education
	Health
	Sanitation

Teachers Training (Standard)

The institute is striving to build the capacities of the community school teachers by designing and implementing training activities. Through these training, community school teachers are enabled to use the joyful learning training techniques in class rooms that increases the students enthusiasm and motivation to improve their performance.

 

NRSP- IRM has designed a Teacher’s Capacity Development Programme for educating the educators and for increasing the number of students and teachers in rural areas. The capacity building of teachers encourages them to practice innovative teaching methods consisting of interesting activities and to use three dimensional visual aids for promoting student participation and interactive learning.

This training also aims at the formation of a Parents Teacher Association to ensure smooth functioning of the school and to effectively monitor the school activities. The purpose of the entire Endeavour is to ensure the provision of quality education to the children of the poor communities.

The training steps involved in the overall process are spread over a period of one year, following a three-step approach. A Basic Teachers' Training of ten days duration has been specifically designed for the teachers (teaching primary classes I - III) who have not received any training previously. Joyful learning techniques are imparted through this training to ensure an environment that is more conducive to learning. Teachers who have received the Basic Teacher Training and have on-job-experience of about six months are called for a structured Refresher course.

This Refresher course facilitates in content improvement and setting up course curriculum in the light of the feedback received from the participants. The Advanced Teachers' Training is a step ahead and has been designed to impart advanced methods that are useful for teaching in higher primary classes.Involves subject oriented teaching techniques. Apart from these training a 4-day training on School Health Services is also conducted.

Major Training Activities for Education
 

	Basic Teachers' Training
	Teachers Training Refresher
	Advanced Teachers' Training
	Adult Literacy Training
	Village Education Committee Training
	School Management Committee-SMC or
	Parent Teacher's Association (PTA)
	Training for School Monitors/ Monitoring

The Village Education Committee comprises of CO members and the parents of students enrolled in community schools. Each VEC is a 5-7 member committee and its members are trained to manage and monitor the schools effectively. Almost half of the VEC members are women. It aims at ensuring quality of education and learning as well as encouraging greater students enrollment rates besides creating a greater accountability among the schools, administration and teachers. Sometimes VEC is also called (SMC) School Management Committee or (PTA) Parent Teacher Associations.

The training of VEC is meant for sensitizing the members of the Village Education Committee (VEC) regarding their roles and responsibilities. In this way they are trained to plan for the school and identify the prospects for fund generation. In addition, they are also trained to conduct and record the committee meeting and to undertake school monitoring activities.

Just like any other developing country of the world Pakistan too is facing a multitude of issues arising due to existing high poverty level, out of which poor health services is one such major issue. Due to limited resources and capacity the public health systems are unable to provide primary health care services and information to poor households.
To spread awareness about issues of primary, preventive health and reproductive health among the illiterate and rural population, NRSP- Institute of Rural Management has designed a number of comprehensive training programmes. The training portfolio of the health component of SSTP offers training in three main areas which are as follows:

 

Primary Health Care (PHC) Reproductive Health (RH) Water and Sanitation (WatSan)

This training is designed for community activists, school teachers who are in a position where they can mobilize their local communities to adopt healthier lifestyles and promote community level health education.

This particular training incorporates all aspects of primary health such as nutrition, immunization, hygiene etc. Awareness is created among the participants about various diseases that commonly spread though polluted environment, contaminated water and unhygienic living conditions. Moreover, First Aid training is imparted to the participants for handling emergency situations.

 

For the purpose of creating awareness about reproductive health issues and to provide some technical know how to the community activists, a number of training events have been designed. These events not only create awareness, but have also improved the existing situation prevailing in the rural communities where women’s mobility is limited due to great distances from health facilities and cultural limitations. The Traditional Birth Attendant (TBA) Training offered by the institute provides a cost effective and an efficient solution to a number of reproductive health problems faced by rural women. It is an area where IRM has taken a strong initiative through designing specialized modules and organizing various training events for community members. This training also helps create awareness about health and hygiene as well as establishing productive linkages with the existing service providers.

NRSP - Institute of Rural Management responds to the lack of skilled and adequately trained professionals at the community level by identifying and utilizing the vast potential that lies with the communities in the form of untrained but practicing traditional birth attendants. These women, some of whom are already midwives, are chosen by the communities and trained in modern reproductive health practices. These birth attendants have been serving the local females and have gained substantial experience besides earning a livelihood for their families. For these practicing Traditional Birth Attendants TBAs an intensive training of 30 days duration is offered by IRM, which aims at enabling them to practice safe delivery techniques.

These training events organized in partnership with the existing government health centers are not only beneficial for the community but also facilitate the TBAs in earning a respectable livelihood in their respective villages by providing them with the required skills. Besides theoretical knowledge, the TBAs are also provided with practical exposure through attachment with the government maternal health care facilities.

Only 13.5% of rural households in Pakistan have any sewage collection and disposal system. Similarly an estimated 250,000 deaths occur each year due to water-borne diseases in Pakistan where the access to safe drinking water is as low as 19.4 %.

This abysmal condition is largely due to the lack of awareness and sensitization among the rural masses about the importance of a hygienic and safe environment and its direct relation to their health and economic condition. IRM conducts regular training of regional lead trainers who in turn sensitize the communities about the importance of water and sanitation. In a remarkably short time many communities have employed self help method to build their drainage and sewage systems and have collectively hired personnel for the maintenance and upkeep of their neighbourhood. In these communities almost all the households contribute to such maintenance as they benefit from a healthier cleaner environment with improved living conditions.