Past Projects
One of the village schools in Punjab
Our Involvements Since 1991
CIES is proud of its successful partnerships that have connected people in highly meaningful ways over the years. These partnerships arose from the long-term relationship between Guru Nanak Trust and CIES. Past activities have included:
- Nursing student exchanges to Canada and India
- Fruitful meetings and collaboration among nursing faculty
- Sharing ideas through advisory committees
- Organizational development work
- Linking with other groups and organizations doing similar work
* Please note: Annual reports and other documents are available in PDF format at the bottom of this page. If you would like access to other information, please contact us.
Primary Health Care Project
From 2001 to 2005, CIES conducted a primary health care project in partnership with Guru Nanak Trust to improve access to preventive health care in the rural communities surrounding Dhahan-Kaleran. The project—Building Capacity for Primary Health Care in Rural Punjab—was funded jointly by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and CIES with in-kind administrative support from Guru Nanak Trust. CIES carried out the project in two phases: a focussed planning phase in the first year followed by program implementation over a three-year period.
The first phase of the PHC project involved a community health assessment process in 60 villages with the cooperation of village councils and local volunteers. Guru Nanak College faculty and students carried out household surveys and held village meetings; GN Trust developed an advisory committee of trustees, community representatives and hospital staff to provide guidance. The findings from the assessment were used to create a project plan that formed the basis for a second proposal to CIDA.
CIES used project funds to develop new outreach programs in community development, women’s support groups, school health promotion and maternal child health services in 8 ‘intensive-service’ villages where the need for programs was deemed to be highest. The remaining 52 villages received some project programming such as health fairs and educational sessions organized by team members and volunteers. The project employed a number of GN College graduates as community health nurses and also drew upon the expertise of faculty members and hospital staff.
The project was successful in increasing community health awareness, changing household health practices and achieving active participation by women. Project activities fostered new alliances among non-governmental organizations in the area, particularly among groups working in reproductive health and gender issues. There were health improvements in primary schools and changes noted in the village environments as a result of the work of the project team. To read more about the successes and challenges and the project’s overall results, please see a summary of the final report here.
Guru Nanak College of Nursing and UBC School of Nursing Partnership
From 1998 to 2007, CIES facilitated a partnership between the University of British Columbia School of Nursing and the Guru Nanak College of Nursing in Dhahan-Kaleran. The partnership aimed to enhance nursing education at GN College in a spirit of mutual exchange and learning and to provide opportunities for faculty and student exchanges.
Looking back on this 10 year partnership, we have concluded that it met many of its original goals. Guru Nanak College was among the first colleges in Punjab to offer the nursing degree program. By 2010 there were 389 nursing degree graduates from the Bachelor of Science in Nursing program and 649 diploma graduates from the General Nurse-Midwifery program.
Faculty development took place through two-way exchange visits that were well received on both sides. Faculty members participated in workshops, obtained ideas on resources for teaching and met together to plan relevant student exchanges for both the Indian and Canadian students.
During a visit to India by representatives of CIES and UBC School of Nursing in February 2011, we met with faculty members at GNCON to learn about new developments and to hear stories from faculty about their educational and career paths, connections to the institution and reasons for staying at GNCON. We heard about many successes both in terms of student success in the state-level exams and faculty accomplishments. Although there are many new faculty members who have been hired in the past five years, there are indications that recruitment and retention have improved considerably. Several faculty members identified supports provided by the organization as major factors in retention: faculty housing, a safe environment for their families, subsidies for their children’s school fees and free health services at the GN Hospital.
