The Covid pandemic had just begun in 2019 when we were contacted by a small group of philanthropists from Denver, Colorado in USA, who were starting up an ambitious new NGO to develop the Kisii region of Kenya where they had already an income generating project going on, but where they were searching to add a public health component. They had heard that Africa AHEAD Association was providing training to other NGOs in the Community Health Approach and were persuaded by our methods of community mobilisation which enables community to manage their own development.
They invited us to come in person to train their staff in Kenya, but this became impossible due to Covid travel restrictions. So we invited them to join another NGO in Malawi for our first online training which would provide the same training without the need to travel. There was some doubt as to whether we could transfer the skills and knowledge needed to start this demanding training programme in the community.
Global Health Connections identified three skilled Kenyans to head up the project, who were exemplary, attending all 40 sessions in our three modules as shown in our training section. When the training was over these driven individual who had a great talent for social work, immediately went back to their community, and started up two community health clubs, each with over 100 members. They issued membership cards and did the training with the community over six months as they had been taught. By July 2021, their CHC training had been completed and the community were making significant changes to their hygiene facilities and were rearing for more training. They then introduced what is in fact the standard second phase of the AHEAD Module, and themselves did the training for the club members in financial management and skills to enable the generation of income. In the process their rebranded the CHC into CHEC, Community Health and Empowerment Clubs.
Their Director Blair Gifford and the team from Global Health Connections visited the project in July 2021, and this is the video they produced: proof of concept that the CHC training as done online by Africa AHEAD results in a real and highly appreciated project on the ground, without our help in country.
If you are impressed by Global Health Connections achievements, contact us and get your staff trained online. Covid or no Covid, CHC works! The shut down didn’t stop this community. Transfer this magic to the community you support, let us train your staff online.
A new series of training is starting in November, 2021.
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