Save the Children trains community pot leaders on various child welfare topics

Leaders of communal pots from San Juan de Lurigancho in Lima received training on child physical and mental health care.

“Tromes (Masters) of prevention” is the initiative that Save the Children has been promoting to promote that women leaders of common pots and community health committees can be trained in healthy eating, emotional well-being, care in the face of the pandemic and promotion of vaccination. The common pots and community health committees serve the most vulnerable people, such as boys, girls, the elderly and low-income adults, to whom they provide food and primary health care.

“The funniest part was the drawing, the most interesting part was with the psychologists. They guided us on how we should look at children and how we should treat them to help them with their emotions so that they grow up healthy. Right now, reaching my little pot, Some moms are already waiting for me, I’m going to have to come and show them the little notebook they gave us and tell them how we should be prepared,” Amanda, a participant in the initiative, tells us.

Through recreational activities and group conversations led by professionals from Save the Children, 92 women from San Juan de Lurigancho, the district of Lima with the highest density in the country, shared their prior knowledge and learned about child care.

In addition, as part of the training and with the aim of equipping common pots for disease prevention, two handwashing and cleaning kits were delivered for each pot. The kits consist of a bucket with a spout and a basin for washing hands, bleach and alcohol for cleaning their premises, as well as masks and calendars and booklets with key information on the topics developed in the training.

This activity is carried out within the framework of the Sanit@s project: Healthy and protected families against violence and COVID-19, which takes place in the district of San Juan de Lurigancho, in association with Paz y Esperanza and thanks to the support of the United States Agency for Development (USAID). As part of the Project, which began in August 2021, actions have been developed so that families adopt preventive self-care practices against violence and reduce health vulnerabilities caused by the pandemic.

Tromes (Masters) of prevention

Save the Children’s community strategy in times of COVID has included strengthening the capacities of community leaders, leaders of communal pots and community anticovid agents. In this sense, Save the Children has implemented the “Tromes of Prevention” strategy in the districts of Santa Rosa, Ancón and San Juan de Lurigancho – Lima.

“For Save the Children, the Tromes Prevention strategy is important because it strengthens the social fabric and the community response capacity, we are happy with the response and commitment shown by the participants” Roxana Pingo, coordinator of the projects against COVID-19 .

“Tromes (masters) of prevention” aims to equip community members with basic knowledge and materials so that they can lead and promote health prevention among families in the neighborhoods and can gradually adopt health care behaviors from childhood.

In the last years of intervention, it has been possible to reach the districts of Ancón, Santa Rosa and San Juan de Lurigancho in Lima, where actions have been coordinated with the Directorate of Integrated Health Networks of North Lima and Central Lima.

FACT

According to the latest data reported by the register of common pots in Metropolitan Lima, there are currently around 2,090 mapped and registered, of which only 17% have access to a connection to the public drinking water network, 33% have provisional access to electricity, 81% of common pots continue to cook with firewood, while 61% state that they do not receive any type of food assistance from a municipal food supplementation program.