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To inaugurate and handover the newly built women center NJSI team went to Haibung-3, Sindhupalchowk on 22^nd of November, 2018. The agenda behind building women center is to provide women with a safe shelter where they can come together to hold meetings and organize programs for themselves as well as center can be used for upliftment of the entire community. In presence of 36 local participants, the key was handed over to the chairperson of Majuwa Swabalamban women group.

The program started with the national anthem and lighting of the lamp. Then it was followed by speeches from appointed chairperson of women center, chairman of the village and NJSI guest Lucia. The women group also performed dance. To end the program, mats were distributed and finally handing over of the center was performed. The program was well organized and was not much time consuming. Every one participated and helped each other.

The gratitude of the beneficiary women were exhibited in the warm welcome they provided to the team. Mr. Ram Kumar Gurung, was strength of the village because of his continuous support whether it be in terms of providing the land or supervising the construction with deepest wishes for the development of his village. Chairman of the village, Mr. Basanta Gurung also took the opportunity to express his thankfulness towards NJSI and assured to help the women in empowering them and to make good use of the center.

Mahadevdanda, Godawari- 2, approximately 10 minutes driveway from Godawari bus stop is a small community of people inhabited majorly by people of Silwal community, was the next destination for conducting paralegal program in NJSI’s newly built women center which addresses the need of almost 300 members.

On 15^th and 16^th November, 2018 the paralegal program was organized and as per the plan, the first day of the training was to make participants aware of their Fundamental Rights as Nepali citizens mentioned in the Constitution of Nepal. It was followed up by participants’ role playing skits in different situation for explaining hegemony in the society. The following day, the staffs discussed with the participants to understand and explain Gender based violence and Nepal’s legal provisions for it.  To mark the end of the program, certificate was distributed to participants who had attended the program on both days.

The participant group of Godawari were different to that of other places where the same program had been conducted. The residential area in itself looked better and so did the people. They were not shy to put forth their experiences and to speak their mind. The participants took the opportunity to share and discuss cases of their lives as well as those of others. The group consisted of health assistants, considered leaders of the area, laborers and housewives. Most of them seemed to have ideas about the subject matter that the two days program had to offer. The participants themselves participated in the skit and experienced and learned the meaning of it. Many of them backed up the content with their own share of knowledge that they learned in their real life practices and experiences in dealing with them themselves. Participants expressed verbally towards the end of the program that the two days program had been beneficial for them. They were thankful towards NJSI for the program as well as extended their gratitude for building the Women Center for them.

Personal Development Camp is a program designed to help the students identify their potential and encourage them to be mindful of self, community and environment through promotion of critical thinking by conducting interactive sessions and at the same time to make them aware of the environment issues by establishing Eco-club with the student representatives of the school. This time the camp was held for the students of grade 8 and 9 of Shree Path Pradashak Secondary School, Badikhel, Godawari for 2 days. There were altogether 72 participants and a teacher who continuously helped in conducting the program.

On 12^th November (first day) the students from class 10 were invited to participate in the first session of the camp “Higher Education and Dreams” to make the students know about themselves, their strength and aim and to inform about education systems and scholarship available for education. After the break, class 10 students left and the program was followed with critical thinking session. On day 2, program went well with session on “Eco Club’s Importance and Formation” and “Child Rights”. The executive members of Eco club was formed with President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer and Logistics In-charge. The club formation was followed with School Cleaning Competition where 6 groups were asked to collect maximum amount of waste inside the school compound. The program ended with certificate, gifts and prize distribution.

The students seem interested in every activities and had a frequent interactive session. The students reflected very well about what they learnt during the session. Most of them responded that they are clear now about their aspirations in life and have got better knowledge about the scholarships available. They also made inferences about the content they learnt during the session making connection with their personal life.

The third paralegal program was held in Naubise which is a small village in Kunta rural municipality of Kavre district.  The area is very close to the main road that links Kathmandu with Melamchi. On 1^st and 2^nd November, 52 women participated in the program of Kunta besi and Kalidevi women center.

The first day of training was followed by making participants aware about the Fundamental rights of every Nepali citizen as mentioned in the Constitution of Nepal and the skits were designed by the staffs with an aim to explain different kinds of hegemony that exists in our society that we are a part of which was performed by participants. On the second day the staffs then worked with the participants to understand and explain Gender based violence and basic components of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights. The two day program came to an end with the certificate and refreshments.

The participants actively participated in the program and tried to learn all of the rights though they were aware about some of the rights but did not know all of their fundamental rights. They enjoyed and enthusiastically participated in different skits they were assigned with and also expressed themselves, shared their personal stories as the participants were very open about it. Participants expressed that due to the program they got an opportunity to understand all of their fundamental rights. They were also thankful that the program included legal provisions in regard to Gender based violence along with SRHR. They also expressed their wish for continuation of such programs where they would get to learn with NJSI.

Nepal Jesuit Social Institute has been conducting awareness programs in various places to aware and educate women on Constitution of Nepal and Fundamental rights and also to share knowledge on women’s right, gender based violence and SRHR. On 14^th October, NJSI team went to Jaretar, Kavre to conduct Paralegal Program for 2 days. Jaretar is a small village, 45 minutes driveway from Panchkhal Bazaar, inhabited majorly by the people of Danuwar community.

On the very first day of the training participants were made aware of the Fundamental rights of every Nepali citizen as mentioned in the Constitution of Nepal and on the second day, the program started with a role playing skit for explaining hegemony in the society. The participants themselves participated in the skit and experienced and learned the meaning of it. The team then worked with the participants to understand and explain Gender based violence and basic components of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights. Post evaluation was also carried out to ascertain that the participants had understood what was delivered to them in the two day program. Certificates and refreshment were provided to the participants to mark the end of the program.

It was found that many of the participants had not heard about something as Fundamental Rights and Constitution Rights or even Constitution in itself. Those who had heard about it, had little or no idea about what it comprised. The women opened up a little more after the skit and role play. They put out their queries, enacted skits and were more active throughout the program. Towards the end of the program, they kept on asking if we had more content to talk with them about which was out of their curiosity to learn more.

Integrated Pedagogical Paradigm (IPP) is a method which focuses on the holistic development of children rather than only focusing on the book and knowledge based approach. The idea was introduced to expose teachers to different teaching methods that can be fruitful in teaching and learning approach. A two days long program of IPP training was conducted by NJSI in which 19 teachers were invited from 6 government schools of Kavre, Sundhuli, Sindhupalchowk and Ramechhap Districts.

On 11^th October 2018, the program started and was focused on briefing the flow of teaching and learning: Context, Experience, Reflection, Action and Evaluation and techniques of making lesson plan. The session incorporated different group activities, reflecting on songs and metaphorical stories and applying them as a teacher.  Another day on 12^th October, the day was followed by evaluating self in terms of teaching professionalism, role of a teacher in counselling the children, different techniques to make classroom environmental friendly and learning.

Teachers seemed interested in learning new things and were frequently interacting and asking different scenario based questions on how a teacher should approach those issues. One of the teacher, Subash Tamang expressed “The presentation and videos made all the subjects relatable and easily understandable. We also knew the importance of time management as every activities were perfectly managed according to schedule. We are thankful to NJSI for providing opportunities and looking forward for more programs like this.”

With more exposure to such program and practice, it is hoped that they will be able to implement the idea of values and reflection in their methodology.