A Mother & Child Community Development Initiative Chilenje, Zambia

Overall Aim of the CWCG Project

To improve the welfare, health, nutrition and survival of mothers and children and other community members through community action.

Specific objectives

• Establish a community support group in Chilenje which, with the guidance of a steering group (including a community midwife, a psycho-social counselor and a doctor with experience of working in the community) identify a range of activities which empowers the group in a sustainable way
• Empower women who have attended the antenatal clinic at Chilenje to increase their vision and activity within Chilenje such that poor families, especially those affected by HIV, can access welfare and health services more effectively for the improvement of welfare, health and nutrition of mothers and children living in poverty
• Develop a range of income generating activities using the existing systems of trust in the health care staff and increase confidence in the ability of community members to network and establish sustainable schemes to improve income for individual families
• Establish a monitoring and evaluation system so that the programme feeds back information on the scale of activities, community awareness, response and impact of the programme on welfare, health and nutrition of mothers and children
• Explore the possibilities of developing Mother and Child Health Support Groups in rural areas by making visits and developing relationships with key players in communities, government, non-government (NGOs) and donors