Cultural Preparedness

The intention to “greet” is common to all the groups in these pictures.  Yet, each of these groups are culturally prepared to say “hello” in different ways. 

Work… job… career are deeply embedded in culture.  One of the pillars upon which Jiva stands is that it is a culturally responsive intervention. 

Cultural Preparedness is a theoretical framework that has been developed to facilitate these cultural transformations.  According to the cultural preparedness framework, a culture prepares its members to engage with life in a particular manner.  The learning that occurs between an individual and his or her culture is not only the result of interactions with present members of that culture, it is drawn from a deep repository of experience that has accumulated and grown over the ages.  

An intervention developed in a certain culture may be necessary and sufficient for that context.  However, the same conditions may be neither necessary nor sufficient for a people who have a different cultural heritage. 

Jiva uses the cultural preparedness approach as a framework for research as well as for the development of culturally resonant interventions. 

Jiva’s overarching objective is to help the young person draw upon his or her cultural values to construct his or her career.