Amplifying Voices partner in Pakistan recently hosted a workshop for women to learn more about health and hygiene. It was a great opportunity to give some hands-on help, so after the event the women received free check-ups from health workers and medicines were provided through Amplifying Voices Pakistan. The local partner based in the Khyber…

A couple of weeks ago HCR Pakistan held a competition in a village primary school near Charsadda. The competition got children thinking about sickness and how to prevent it – especially Covid-19. It was community-centred media – but not as we know it

Community-centred media helps people facing disadvantage or injustice to speak out and be heard by those in positions of power. Local stories are powerful, as HCR Pakistan’s partner, New Dawn, saw recently when responding to a scam that was hurting low income families. A few years ago in Pakistan, the government started to roll out…

In a world suffering from too many strong people using their strength to enforce their will on others, its really exciting to find this Pakistani youth group who are using their strengths to listen to their community. These young people from a church in the small city of Jauharabad said they had felt despair about…

In a health crisis, fear can spread faster than a virus, and with that, the potential for hatred and violence. Clear, actionable and trustworthy communication is essential to combat this. It is also essential for service providers and government officials to listen. What have people actually heard and understood from the health messages? What are…

It can’t be done! How often do you hear this said? What does it stir up in you? Disappointment? Or determination? “It can’t be done” is a phrase the New Dawn community services group won’t accept! They’ve heard it said that local women can’t talk on the media about topics that are considered shameful in…

Eighteen months ago, Nanda could not read or write – today she regularly reads stories to her parents! The ADIVASI VOICES PROJECT is changing the lives of Nanda and others in her remote tribal community in Maharashtra, India. Her teacher says, “Thanks to the project there is now 100% school attendance and there are more girls in school than boys. You have helped parents see the value of education.”

Whatever we asked, the reply was: “no, we do not have it”, “no one listens to us”, “no one comes to us” or “no one is willing to help us”.

A community leader told HCR’s Hazeen Latif, “we are 3000 houses and an estimated population of 15000 including children and elderly people there is not a single BHU (basic health unit) or even some private clinic. There is no public dispensary. The list goes on and on.  This is “Sunda Sar” or “skull of bull” meaning a place of prosperity and power.

In today’s tech savvy world, information is just a click away with our mobile phones and computers, or if those aren’t in reach, our televisions and even radios all help keep us informed. But what if we didn’t have any of these available to us? How would we find out important health and community information? HCR has been working in partnership with Seva Social Welfare Foundation in remote parts of India’s Maharashtra state, home to many indigenous groups known as Adivasis.

What a joy to be back in the remote Maharashtran village of Kahandol in time to celebrate the inauguration of their two new wells.  Just four months earlier I had been standing on a dried up riverbed with my Indian colleagues, Shilpa, Sam and Akshay and the head of the village, Patil Ramdas Warde.  Ramdas told us how the drought had brought great hardship to his village, with only 28 days of water, and he had asked us if there was anything we could do to help …