After many months of training, research and hard work, Meaningful Volunteer and the Project Lifecycle team are delighted to announce that thirty-six local health care workers have been successfully trained in the SDM (Standard Days Method) method.
Mitos Rivera - a family planning expert who works with the IRH (Institute of Reproductive Health) - was flown in from Manila for the training. The training was carried out in the small barangay (village) of Sugod,
Being a poor province in a developing country, there were some technical issues to overcome that you wouldn't get in a developed country. Just getting the health workers to the venue was a challenge! Several tricycles has to be hired to get the workers there.
Due to some maintenance on some power lines, there was no power at the training venue. Our sound technician bravely put together a very long power extension cord that ran down the length of a street. Once the power was sorted out, Mitos was able to launch into her presentation (using the projector kindly donated by Bob Bosza).
Mitos did an excellent job with the training. The health workers learned about the SDM method, studied the SDM support materials, worked through some case studies, and had some fun as well.
A special thanks goes out to our sponsors for their financial help in making this training happen. They are (in no particular order):
- Elizabeth Ebrey
- The Lytle Family
- Christina Smith
- Carmi Louw
- Sunita D.
- Claire Hazelton
- Ana Jones
- Amanda Vercoe
- L and Z Potgieter
- Bob Bosza
Thanks guys. You are all awesome!
Check out all the pictures from the event here.
The next stage for Project Lifecycle is to distribute the SDM products and support materials to the health workers and to run some information days in the villages.
We then plan to work closely with the Catholic Church to get SDM introduced as part of their standard family planning methods