Pioneer of the Community Health Club Model of Sustainable Development

The Community Health Club (CHC) Approach was first pioneered when the organisation was known as Zimbabwe AHEAD in the Manicaland Province in the late 1990’s, and is one of the most effective Participatory Health and Hygiene Education (PHHE) approaches currently being utilized in WASH programs. The CHC Approach is a structured program that utilizes health and hygiene promotion as an entry point to holistic development. By combining time-tested PHHE activities and Africa AHEAD’s specially designed IEC materials with the structure of weekly health promotion sessions with a dedicated group of ‘learners’ (Community Health Clubs), this approach stimulates sustainable behavior change through social pressure to conform that alters community WASH norms and values. This ‘Common-Unity’ helps to establish a culture of health that evidence has shown is sustained over time and is leveraged beyond the immediate goals of WASH programs. In this way, the CHC Approach utilizes WASH promotion as an entry point to a process of development that involves a series of stages.