[Soasiastudents] World Neighbors Brown Bag Nov. 6

[Keith Snodgrass]

NEPAL

Come to a Brown-Bag session with World Neighbors on November 6, 12pm - 1:30
in the Parrington Forum

World Neighbors is a unique international development NGO based in the U.S.
focussed on skills and leadership training. They operate programs for an
average of five to 10 years, build on local capacity, and leave behind a
network of leaders with the skills to enable the community to undertake
development initiatives on their own.

Next Monday two World Neighbors field officers from Nepal will be at the UW
for an informal discussion with interested faculty, staff and students:
Gopal Kumar Nakarmi, South Asia Program Coordinator, and Linda Jo Stern,
Associate Vice President, Community and Reproductive Health (short bios
below).

Come and hear about the unique model of World Neighbors, and the opportunity
to talk about other issues such as:

* Providing a sustainable approach to reproductive health needs -- Beginning
with a focus on South Asia, a global view of how World Neighbors
successfully integrates reproductive health into a larger approach to
community development
* Water as a source of change -- As global interest in safe drinking water
increases, World Neighbors is working to make potable water accessible to
all the communities it serves in 16 nations by 2010.   Gopal can share how
water is often the first priority identified by communities and how it has
often been the catalyst for other dramatic changes in rural South Asia --
including women's groups, savings and credit, and community organizing.
Linda Jo can share how Nepal is part of a larger global movement to address
the acute need for safe water to improve health.
* Savings and credit as a model of social change - a look at how World
Neighbors has worked with rural communities in Nepal and India to develop a
system where they are able to build up community controlled savings and
credit groups.   Instead of providing loans, World Neighbors has offered a
unique approach that has mobilized the community to generate local resources
that have enabled primarily women's groups to save money that benefits
community needs.
* Grassroots perspectives from Nepal -- A look at realities for people in
rural Nepal after ten years of civil war and how World Neighbors has been
able to continue operating there despite the many challenges of the
government-Maoist conflict.

********************************
Gopal Kumar Nakarmi
South Asia Program Coordinator


Gopal Nakarmi has spent more than 25 years working with remote, rural areas
in Nepal  that are usually not reached by government services or large aid
organizations.   He works with communities to develop organizations that
address people's basic needs and that are led by local people.   
This is a great opportunity to meet World Neighbors staff and hear about
some of the exciting health and development work they're doing around the
world. Their website is: www.wn.org

Linda Jo Stern, MPH
Associate Vice President, Community and Reproductive Health

Linda Jo Stern has 32 years of experience in international and domestic
public health. She joined the World Neighbors staff in January 2006.  Her
responsibilities include providing clinical and technical support to the
field staff, generating resources for community health initiatives,
representing World Neighbors in broad coalitions and building capacity
within the organization to tackle the complex and intrepid challenges
involved in improving the health and nutritional status of communities in
the 16 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America where World Neighbors is
working.  The community and reproductive work in the field focuses on
maternal and child health, HIV/AIDS,  nutrition, family planning, prevention
and treatment of STIs, water and sanitation and capacity building for
community health workers. 
_____________________________________________________
Keith Snodgrass      
Associate Director  & Outreach Coordinator
South Asia Center, Jackson School                     
Box 353650, University of Washington                  
Seattle, WA 98195    
p: (206)543-4800
f: (206)685-0668
e:snodgras at u.washington.edu                                    
w:http://jsis.washington.edu/soasia/
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