Local resources have been the purview of community-based rehabilitation (CBR) but have received little research and evaluation. This study examines the factors of developing local resources in the CBR
programme in rural areas in Sri Lanka. Of all the resources, the study mainly focuses on community workshops. An action research approach based on qualitative methods was applied in the Anuradhapura district as a follow-up to the previous research. Actions include meetings with stakeholders, as well as outreach courses. The study used narrative data from semi-structured interviews with the participants of community workshops (n=24), separate focus group discussion with participants (n=34), and CBR core group officers (n=5), and the author’s field notes in social work practice. Data was analyzed within the framework of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT). The results show positive and negative attributes of community workshops in both internal and external aspects. In particular, we find strong support for the strengths of developing local resources in the CBR programme from the perspective of disabled people and local government officers. The result indicates the possibility that local people take full advantage of opportunities to overcome the weaknesses of local resources. Finally, the implications of this research and recommendations for future studies are discussed.
Local resources have been the purview of community-based rehabilitation (CBR) but have received little research and evaluation. This study examines the factors of developing local resources in the CBR
programme in rural areas in Sri Lanka. Of all the resources, the study mainly focuses on community workshops. An action research approach based on qualitative methods was applied in the Anuradhapura district as a follow-up to the previous research. Actions include meetings with stakeholders, as well as outreach courses. The study used narrative data from semi-structured interviews with the participants of community workshops (n=24), separate focus group discussion with participants (n=34), and CBR core group officers (n=5), and the author’s field notes in social work practice. Data was analyzed within the framework of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT). The results show positive and negative attributes of community workshops in both internal and external aspects. In particular, we find strong support for the strengths of developing local resources in the CBR programme from the perspective of disabled people and local government officers. The result indicates the possibility that local people take full advantage of opportunities to overcome the weaknesses of local resources. Finally, the implications of this research and recommendations for future studies are discussed.