Zambia

The way we approach community-wide engagement contributes to the overall success of our projects. We invite and encourage community collaboration and support. As a   result, the improvements that occur become sustainable and continue long after a program ends.

• Community Meetings: When we first begin working at a new site, we hold a meeting with local leaders and organizations that play a role in the health and wellness of the community. Sometimes more than 30 participants attend, including key members of government and health offices, Influential church members, and other neighborhood leaders. We work together to identify issues and obstacles and make sure all parties understand how they relate to health outcomes. It is so gratifying to see everyone come together and agree to contribute! This collaboration leads to improved health and lives saved!
•  
• Community Support: In some of our target communities, local leaders have been so supportive of our health education efforts, they created bylaws to encourage women to deliver at a clinic instead of at home without medical assistance. Families who still choose to risk giving birth at home must give the local clinic a goat. This is a significant penalty in these communities. The by-laws and community health education have contributed to reductions in the number of mothers and children dying during childbirth.
• Community Contributions The community contributions to water, sanitation and hygiene activities are also essential. For instance, when we construct boreholes, communities come together to contribute materials like gravel, sand, and blocks, and use them to build a perimeter to protect the borehole. With our support, they establish Water and Sanitation Committees that are responsible for ensuring the boreholes are properly maintained and repaired when needed, using funds contributed from the community. It’s been two years now and the boreholes continue to be maintained this way.

In Zambia, we collaborate with a local organization to train frontline health workers from six project sites on newborn and maternal survival initiatives.

“Helping Mothers Survive” addresses the prevention, detection, and management of maternal complications during and after childbirth. As a result, health workers are better equipped to save maternal lives while maintaining safe and clean delivery practices.

“Helping Babies Breathe” equips skilled birth attendants with essential competencies to care for newborns, focusing on managing healthy births and addressing immediate challenges when babies fail to breathe independently.

Missionary Sisters of Immaculate Conception: Kayanga (East)

Government-Ministry of Health: Nkhanga (East), Munyukwa (East) 

Sisters of Our Lady of Kilimanjaro: Minga (East)

Sisters of Charity of Ottawa: Muzeyi (East) 

Benedictine Nuns: Msupazi (East) 

Sisters of The Child Jesus: Kayambi (North) 

Archdiocese of Kasama: Lubushi (North) 

The Sisters of Our Lady Queen of Africa: Mambwe (North) 

Sisters of The Child Jesus: Santa Maria (North) 

Government-Ministry of Health-DHO: Kawena (North), Nsumbu (North) 

Religious Sisters of the Holy Spirit: Chivuna (South) 

Religious Sisters of Charity: Chikuni (South)