By SRSO Team
Ms. Latif Khatoon, 36, lives in Almani village of Union Council Tatri, District Larkana. Mother of six sons, Khatoon was only able to go to primary shool. Her husband, Nisar Ahmed, is a patient of Hepatitis, and unemployed. Winning bread and butter for the family is not easy. Latif herself stitches clothes for her neighbours and co-villagers, earning small amounts of money. Her eldest son has studied up to grade 10 (matriculation) and runs a tea stall in the village. The two, mother and son, are unable to meet the family’s financial needs.
Despite these difficulties, Ms. Latif carries on with life with great dignity. She always maintains cordial relationships with fellow village women.
Ms. Latif says that when the Sindh Rural Support Organisation’s (SRSO) European Union funded SUCCESS Programme team reached their village, she supported the team for conducting a programme introduction dialogues. After the initial dialogues, the entire village agreed to enter into partnership with SRSO. When a Community Organisation was fostered, fellow women selected Ms. Latif as the CO’s President. Later, when all seven COs were formed in the village, they federated and formed a Village Organisation (VO). CO leaders selected Ms. Latif as manager of VO. Given her basic education and social skills, Ms. Latif was selected as Community Resource Person (CRP) for the village. Ms. Latif attended a three-day CRP training event organised by SRSO. Earlier, Ms. Latif also attended Community Management Skills Training (CMST) and Leadership Management Skills Training (LMST) training.
Latif Khatoon says that the CMST, LMST and CRP training opportunities significantly enhanced her knowledge, skills and confidence. Now she feels more empowered to work with COs and VO for making a difference in the community. Ms. Latif said that during CRPs’ training, she was taught about the importance of keeping holding regular CO/VO meetings and record keeping. She also learned about the Community Awareness Toolkit (CAT) and its twelve sessions that she will conduct with members of COs. Ms. Latif said that she is supporting her COs for holding routine meetings and savings.
After the CRP training, Ms. Latif decided to conduct awareness sessions during the CO meetings, to inform each household.
One day the SRSO Social Mobilization Team (SMT) visited the VO to access the members’ training needs. The team has found that members were seated in a circle and Ms. Latif was busy conducting CAT session on maternal health related issues with her CO members. This was pleasantly surprising for the team, because at that time no CRP agreement had been signed with Latif Khatoon, who was using the CAT counselling cards provided by SRSO very effectively to train the women on important issues.
Ms. Latif said that even though Lady Health Workers (LHWs) are present in their village, very few women have even the basic knowledge of maternal health related issues. She has taken it on herself to talk to the women, and prepare them in a better manner for the challenges of motherhood.
In the next few months, Latif plans to conduct all 12 CAT sessions in every CO meeting, as well as to ensure that the CO meetings are regularly held and savings are made.
Latif feels that since the CO formation, women in the village have become more active socially and their hopes for a better life have also increased.