2013 UNC Africa AHEAD Side Event

The Community Health Club Approach:

Case Studies and Debate on the Sustainability of  Hygiene Behavior Change

 Convened by Africa AHEAD

Date:     Friday 18th October, 2013

Time: 8.30 – 3.30

With only two years to go until 2015, the challenge of the Millennium Development Goals to halve the number without safe sanitation is still to be met in most developing countries. Yet a proven methodology exists that is able to induce high levels of behavior change as well as create a demand for sanitation at minimal cost. For the past decade the CHC Model has been refined in different countries and contexts, and has repeatedly demonstrated how Zero Open Defecation can be achieved within 6 months at under a US$2 per beneficiary. The purpose of the workshop is to bring together leading practitioners who have used or would like to use  the Community Health Club Model to share experience, research, and findings to enable more rapid dissemination of this cost-effective approach.

The presentations in the morning will start with an overview of the CHC Approach, examining in depth the Social Psychology of the Model. This will be followed by case studies from countries where Community Health Clubs have been started, providing insight into cross-cultural triggers that makes people change. Addressing the challenge of scaling up the CHC approach has been institutionalized for the first time at national level in all 15,000 villages of Rwanda. The first objective rigorous evaluation of the CHC approach is now being done by the Gates Foundation and a presentation of preliminary findings will provide latest insights. The panel of the presenters will address crosscutting issues within the sector, including the ethics and cultural challenges of hygiene behavior change in relation to the presentations from different countries. A lively debate is expected and recommendations in the afternoon on the relative advantages of the CHC approach as opposed to the Community Led Total Sanitation strategy with key experts in each field presenting their ideas and experiences.

 PROGRAMME
  1. The Social Psychology behind the CHC Model                     J. Waterkeyn      Africa AHEAD
  2.  Integration, Sustainability, Institutionalisation & Scale  A. Waterkeyn     Africa AHEAD
  3. One year of Community Health Clubs on Hispaniola      J. Rosenfeld           University Texas
  4. CHCs sparking self supply  in Zimbabwe                                J. Waterkeyn         Zim AHEAD / USAID
  5. Rwanda:  Randomised Control Trial of CHCs                      J. Habyarimana     IPA/Gates Foundation
  6.  Four Evaluations of CLTS in Africa                                            A. Waterkeyn        Africa AHEAD
  7. Triggering for CHC or CLTS?                                                         General  Debate
  8. A  Visual  Summary                                                                              J. Waterkeyn