Community Development Centre

EDUCATION, PROTECT, HOLISTIC DEVELOPMENT

Educational and recreational activities at the Community Development Centres provide children support to engage in a range of community-based MHPSS, Social Cohesion and development activities with an educational and creative focus. These activities include participation modalities that are flexible and do not require long time commitments.

All these programmes are implemented in conformity with the protection principle of “do no harm”, which prioritizes the safety, wellbeing and dignity of the individuals and communities they serve. A strong psychosocial lens has also been used in the design of these programmes, which allows for a safe and structured interaction with the psychosocial support activities.

“Our lives have taken a positive turn at the JRS Community Development Center. We no longer focus on our problems. Instead, we focus on activities like games, drawing, and storytelling sessions that give me hope for a brighter future.”
Zahra*, a participant at JRS Centre

Social Cohesion

The inputs help to strengthen the capacity of target groups in social cohesion skills to identify, manage, mitigate and transform conflict within communities. JRS social cohesion programme methodologies include non-violent communication, dialogue and storytelling. It also focuses on critical awareness of self and group, encouraging recognition of the ‘other’ as one who suffers and who seeks to live with dignity – just like me

Art and Play

The Art and Play process is aimed at inclusion and development of children while creating Child Friendly Spaces. The process is also trauma-informed as it focuses on inclusion beyond physical presence, at emotional and social aspects of inclusion. The facilitators are key to creating the experiences for children, as they help the children provide experiences for psychosocial wellbeing to children. Another key focus is to build perspectives about children’s development, which at younger age (4-6 years) is about the four core areas of development including cognitive and kinesthetic development. For older children age 7-12, it will be about social emotional learning and at a later age (11-18) also about life skills development.

The set of group activities help in enhancing the skills and abilities to adapt to difficult situations, ensure they are using helpful and healthy coping mechanisms, and motivating them to learn and find different ways to address their current problems, daily stressors, and open wounds. The pedagogical and didactic dimension in form of games and recreational activities, cultural visits etc. contribute to the development of the nervous system of the children who have experienced trauma.

"I express my gratitude to JRS for having transformed our family through art and play activities, providing us a world of play, learning and laughter."
Farah*, a young participant in JRS Afghanistan Centre

Psychosocial Support

With the awareness that, if people are not helped to cope with their distressing past and present experiences, they struggle to peacefully coexist with others. The JRS approach reflect the nexus between MHPSS and social cohesion, and adopts a trauma-sensitive methodology that aims to break cycles of violence. Capacity-building activities are offered in safe spaces where people from different groups come together to strengthen their attitudes, knowledge, and skills while at the same time building trust and relationships among themselves. By investing long-term in the same groups and adopting a consistent approach to programme delivery across all centres, we hope to foster sustainable change in the communities served. JRS seeks to improve referral pathways to specialised mental health services, such as clinical psychologists and psychiatric care.

“Although a bright student in my class, I lost interest in everything and locked myself in my house,” Fatima said, explaining how losing her father in an explosion and the concern she has for her mother and siblings infringes on her ability to cope.
“The friendly approach of the JRS social worker helped me overcome the negativity in my life.” Fatima*, a young girl at the Community Development Center

Literacy & Nutrition

With a strong protection and psychosocial aspect, the Community Development Centres aims at creating a positive learning environment that stimulates the children's curiosity, fosters their creativity, and encourages their active participation in the learning process. The children participating in the programme are encouraged to continue their education journey and if out-of-school children, then are trained with the basic literacy and numeracy skills, so as they can enrol them in formal education. The section of education is integrated into the programme to help the regularity of the students at the Children Development Centre and provide support for the healthy development of the children. The social awareness activities in the Ccentre help the children to develop a sense of belonging to the community they live in. The feeling of belonging to a community will foster their overall development. The socioeconomic situation of households directly affects access to education in terms of affordability and negative harmful coping strategies. Provision of snacks encourages regular class attendance and protects children from unhealthy coping strategies by meeting their basic needs (layer 1 of the IASC MHPSS pyramid of interventions). The snack contributes to the physical wellbeing of children, and, consequently, their cognitive ability to follow the educational and the psychosocial activities.