Intervention Journal: Volume 5: Number 2: July 2007
Dear Friends of the HumanDHS network
Please find here a link to the Intervention Journals, with a summary of the July 2007 Journal below.
Kind regards
Brian Ward
Intervention Journal: Volume 5: Number 2: July 2007
Linking economics and emotions: towards a more integrated understanding of empowerment in conflict areas
Barbara Weyermann
A tool is introduced that helps to better understand and assess the true extent of individual and collective disempowerment in conflict areas and to facilitate an integrated psychosocial approach to empowerment. Its application is illustrated with two examples: In economic projects in Nepal, staff looked more closely at their individual beneficiaries and realized how the fears of past and future influence economic performance; in a psychosocial project in Gaza, the tool helped counsellors to take the material needs of their clients more seriously and to turn sewing and pottery courses from occupational therapy into a form of economic empowerment.
Mathematics, psychosocial work and human rights: a unique partnership between technical consultants and community organizers in India
Martha Bragin, Vrunda Prabhu & Bronislaw Czarnocha
Best practice in psychosocial work with marginalized populations emphasizes the importance of community participatory approaches. However, the majority of field reports describe donor initiated projects in which the goal is community empowerment, ownership and control, rather than reports about collaboration with activist movements arising from the communities themselves. This paper addresses one recent example of the latter form of collaboration, in which activists of a social movement in Tamil Nadu, India requested brief, targeted, external psychosocial assistance, following the tsunami of December 2004. The focus of the assistance, at the community’s request, was to increase cognitive capacity among children and volunteer teachers in a community education program.
Challenges for a future reintegration programme in Somalia : outcomes of an assessment on drug abuse, psychological distress and preferences for reintegration assistance
Michael Odenwald, Harald Hinkel & Elisabeth Schauer
Based on an assessment of over 8000 active militia members and military staff across Somalia, this article reports on three groups of respondents who might require special attention in a future Somali Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) program. The assessment revealed distinct preferences according to region, age and gender. The findings suggest that variables such as the expectations, drug use and the psychological stress of individual ex-combatants will have to be taken into account.
The use of consensus methodology in determining key research and practice: development questions in the field of intervention with children associated with fighting forces
Ager, Boothby and Wessells
A report on a consultative meeting on best practices in care and protection practice with children associated with fighting forces, describes the consensus methodology that was used to identify issues on which research and practice development is needed the most, and identifying the importance of ‘documenting the comparative effectiveness of community- based psychosocial and clinical interventions’.
Medecins Sans Frontieres: mental health care in post-tsunami Aceh Province, a field report
De Gryse and Laumont’s field report from a program in Aceh province, a conflict area in Indonesia, after the tsunami of December 2004 shows that beneficiaries appreciated the community-based group activities the most, organising volleyball training and organizing discussions. Counselling proved to be an unfamiliar approach for the majority of the population that did not always meet their expectations of a fast, practical solution to their problems.
Psychosocial support for children, families and teachers in Iraq
Kos and Zemljak describe how psychosocial activities aimed at child mental health protection were implemented in primary schools and in primary health care settings; the difficulties they encountred and the potential benefits from the involvement of a reliable partner.
Intervention is published in close co-operation with the War Trauma Foundation and IRCT with the co-operation of Wolters Kluwers/Lippincott, Williams and Wilkins.
Online Resources.
Intervention is participating in several online projects to make information available to the widest possible readership. They include the PILOTS Index to Traumatic Stress Literature http://www.ncptsd.va.gov/publications/pilots/ )
Summaries and papers from previous numbers are downloadable from http://www.interventionjournal.com ..
Full papers from the current issues are available from Lippincott, Williams and Wilkins at http://www.lww.com .