At the end of Step 1, the project team will have a list of major issues and potential target groups for the project. There are always competing needs or issues in any community. Limitations such as time and resources mean that not everything can get addressed. Issues will need to be prioritised. Needs and priorities vary from individual to individual, family to family, group to group. It is important to work out criteria to sort out which issue the project will address.
The following list of questions may help to expand group thinking and discussion on prioritising needs:
When thinking about planning a health promotion project, there are two ways to resource the project:
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use resources available locally | |
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seek funding from THS, other departments and organisations or from the Commonwealth. These funds will probably be tied to priorities based on 'normative needs'. However a project funded according to these needs can include other community identified priorities |
Confidence gained through participation in successful, well planned projects can mobilise community action and will. There are numerous examples of situations where community residents have taken on an idea from outside the community and become more fully involved in controlling and participating in activities. The following case study is one such example.
The Nyirrpi Grandmothers' Women's Health Program began as an externally driven program funded by the NT Women's Cancer Prevention Program to encourage women to have health checks. The women adapted and built on the program to better meet their cultural needs and priorities.
| Increasing community participation and control The Nyirrpi Grandmothers' Women's Health Program is run by the Grandmothers, Valerie Naparula and Margaret Napanardi, and me, the Aboriginal Health Worker. We have been having the program at Nyirrpi for two and a half years. The program shows that it is good for the health staff and the grandmothers to work together. Nyirrpi is a community of two hundred people, 400 km north west of Alice Springs. I have been the Aboriginal Health Worker there for five years. I became interested in working as an Aboriginal Health Worker because there was no one at Nyirrpi to do women's health. Colin is the nurse at Nyirrpi. Before Colin came I used to help Sister Joy. I used to get the women to come and see her. The women would listen to me because I speak Walpiri to them and I speak slowly. They used to get shy of the Kardyia [white] sister because she only came sometimes. I wasn't working then, but I used to help her to get the women. Then she asked me to become a health worker so we went to the council to ask. They said yes, we want you to be our AHW. The people at Nyirrpi respect me because I go to the clinic [health centre] every day and I go away for training. They say I am a good worker. They trust me. It was hard to get young women and old women to come for their women's checks. The women used to be scared and cross when they would see that Kardyia women's health sister come. They used to say, "tell that woman to stay away from us". But not now. Colin and Valmai talked with me about starting up the Grandmothers' Program. We had a big meeting in the women's centre. Valerie told the women what those women's checks were for. We talked about a woman who passed away from that cancer. At that meeting there were a lot of grandmothers. They said it was alright for me to do young women, but Valmai must do the older women. Now the women are happy to have their women's checks from me and Valmai. The Grandmothers help me talk to them and explain about women's check ups. When we started the program we started to take the women and girls out bush to teach them right way. In 1996 and 1997 sometimes we went out bush with Valmai and Jo and did some things like smoking babies, singing and dancing. I talked with Valerie, Margaret and Esther about taking the women and girls out bush to teach them about women's health business. I learned to use the video camera. I learned to use the magnel kit and flip charts for teaching. We learned to use our order book to hire the truck and to buy food from the store for going out bush. Now we organise everything ourselves. We have made a video about how we teach the women and young girls. The women and girls are very happy going out bush on these trips. They used to say, "when are we going for a picnic again?" Nola Wilson, Aboriginal Health Worker, Nyrripi |