Regis Matimati
Name and highest qualification : Regis Matimati, MPH (UoR), PGDWSS (IWSD), Graduate Executive Cert. Prog Mgt M&E (UZ), Prog Mgt (IPMZ).
Designated role in Africa AHEAD: Executive Director
Date of joining Organisation: 2007
Summary of experience with CHC:
Regis started his career as a clinician (1988-2000) in one of the pioneer CHC districts of Makoni where he saw the life changing outcomes of the CHC methodology to his community who became more health seeking and health conscious when they started participating in the CHCs. He first came in contact with Zimbabwe AHEAD in Makoni District where the first CHCs were being tested in a field trial in 1997. As Nurse-in-Charge of Nyamidzi Clinic, he contacted the organisation with his observations of the positive efffect of the CHC on Communities where he was working, as he saw a reduction in water related diseases. He described how he thought the CHC develop a ‘Common Unity’, a phrase first coined by him, which has been used ever since to explain the effectiveness of the CHC approach.
Regis worked in Industrial Health and Safety in the private sector (2001-2002), before joining the UZ-UCSF (2003- 2007) for a 5 year adolescent reproductive health research project . From there, he was head-hunted by the Founders of Zimbabwe AHEAD and in 2007, he joined Zim AHEAD as Project Officer in Chipinge–Chiredzi. He rapidly proved his worth, and was rapidly promoted to Project Manager for the Cholera Emergency OXFAM project in Mutare in 2008. His capacity for team management in this emergency programme served Zim AHEAD well and he was appointed Programme Manager of Zim AHEAD in 2009. With the Founders frequently out of the country, he was asked to stand in as Acting Director, which he accomplished well for three years, when he was appointed Country Director in 2014. Since then he has fund raised and co-ordinated numerous project through Zimbabwe. In 2019, when Africa AHEAD was wound up in the UK, he was appointed as Executive Director of Africa AHEAD with the Head Quarters now based back in Harare.
Regis also trained National and International NGOs and government officials on the Community Health Club approach across the country resulting in Zimbabwe adopting the CHC approach in its National Strategic documents and Policies. He has trained other development partners in Zambia, Namibia, Malawi and South Sudan in the CHC approach and has also presented on the CHC in USA (North Carolina University), Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique.
Regis studied did a Post Graduate Diploma in Water Supply and Sanitation with the University of Zimbabwe and graduated with a Masters of Public Health (MPH) from University of Roehampton in the UK in 2019.
Languages: English & Shona
Thesis: 2017. Perceptions towards Water, Sanitation and Hygiene among Communities in chipinge district, Zimbabwe. A research project submitted for the Master of Public Health Programme Department of Life Sciences University of Roehampton London
Publications:
Waterkeyn J., Matimati R., Muringaniza A., Chingono A., Ntakarutimana A., Katabarwa J., Bigirimana Z., Pantoglou J., Waterkeyn A., Cairncross S. (2019) Comparative Assessment of Hygiene Behaviour Change and Cost-effectiveness of Community Health Clubs in Rwanda and Zimbabwe.IntechOpen. DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.89995
Conferences:
2012 UNC Africa AHEAD Side Event: Classic CHC: The Zimbabwe Experience