Workshops are conducted in vulnerable villages focusing on public health and safety by trained CWS staff. Participants usually consist of families, frontline workers, government staff, and members of other non-profit and self-help groups. The workshops are conducted using illustrations, videos, and demonstrations. Each workshop has five sessions. The first session titled “ Our Wildlife'' introduces the participants to various wildlife species found in their landscape and their significance. The second session, “Preventing Injuries due to wildlife” teaches the participants how to coexist with wildlife and the do’s and don’ts of wildlife encounters. The third session titled “Responding to Wildlife Encounters” takes participants through the steps one can follow if a conflict incident such as livestock loss or injury takes place. The fourth session “Zoonotic Diseases'' shares important information on seven relevant zoonotic diseases - COVID-19, Nipah, Scrub Typhus, Kyasanur Forest Disease, etc. The fifth and final session “Basic First Aid'' teaches participants various basic first aid techniques through demonstrations. After each workshop, we also distribute safety guidelines and emergency contact information. To obtain feedback and evaluate effectiveness, we conduct pre and post surveys before and after each workshop.
1. We ensure workshops are interactive with questions/ discussions/ local examples.
2. We encourage participation of representatives from all relevant sectors (health/forest/administration/self-help groups/panchayats etc.)
3. We use videos and demonstrations for better visualization of concepts.
4. While concluding workshops, we ask for feedback and try to apply it in following workshops.
5. We provide handouts with summarized information.
After conducting several workshops we have learned the following:
1. Most of the participants are busy and travel from far locations. We ensure we know about time constraints at the start of each workshop so that participants can be present for the entire duration.
2. Breaks between sessions are important for participants to discuss and absorb information.
3. We encourage local leaders to help us identify the people we can invite, which enables better discussions during the workshop.