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Project Description:

Healthy Generations is the charitable Foundation of the Healthy Child Uganda (HCU) project. HCU provides health education for rural communities, in order to fight the high rates of illness and death in children under the age of five. From each of the 174 Ugandan villages where HCU works, two volunteers are elected by their community. These volunteers are then trained by HCU on a variety of topics, including sanitation, hygiene, malnutrition, prevention of disease, recognition of child illnesses and leadership skills. Upon completion of the five day training, each receives a distinctive blue T-shirt and a certificate.

Leading by example, the Village Health Volunteers (VHVs) are able to teach their neighbours about healthy foods, how to wean a baby and the importance of vaccinations. Furthermore, they are able to refer community members to health centres, mobilize for and assist with Child Immunization Days and help HCU identify the at-risk children in the area that require extra attention. The VHVs conduct home visits in their village to provide individual attention and health information to their neighbours, as well as attending monthly meetings with HCU staff.

In three communities where HCU operates, VHVs have launched a youth branch of the program.  After attending the HCU training in 2007, Mitoozo VHVs, Janepher and Efrance began looking for ways to strengthen the relationship between the VHVs and the children in the community. These two volunteers went among the homes in their cell and invited parents to bring their children to a meeting to become Junior VHVs (JVHV).  The group now has 30 children and a further 33 more are in groups in two neighbouring communities.  These youngster have fundraised for goats and school supplies. JVHVs attend meetings hosted by the senior VHVs every Sunday and parents attend meetings on the 15th and 30th of each month. 

When Janepher and Efrance were asked why Junior VHVs are important they said:

Children are able to quickly learn and accept health messages and carry these teachings to their homes; they are less resistant to new information and new ways of doing things than adults. Children are able and eager to help construct such things as dish racks and tippy taps in their homes. They can also be made responsible for watering and tending to fruits and vegetables grown in their home compounds, as well as, neighbouring homes. Furthermore, Young VHVs help pass on health information to their friends and peers. When they grow up knowing what to do they will automatically be examples in their homes, schools and will have healthier babies. The next generation will be healthy too.

When asked why she likes being a junior VHV, one girl replied:

We are taught how to participate in community work and then have the skills to actively carry out the work ourselves.  In doing so, it allows use to promote good behaviour in our community.  It is also a great way for us to practice our singing!

These JVHV are excited about their new role.  They borrow the VHV training manual from their parents and have learned how to use interesting techniques to present health education such as puppetry, story boards, drama and songs.  However, they lack money to pay for transportation to do their presentations in distant villages, and uniforms for their members. They often travel along way but are not always provided with meals on the days that they perform.   They have few musical instruments or costumes to make their presentations interesting. The Young CORPs also mentioned that they would like to receive some training from HCU.

JVHV Project will support the work that these motivated youth do in HCU communities by funding visits to neighbouring communities for educational purposes and providing a seed fund to each of the two groups to fund the purchase of musical instruments such as drums and costumes.  It will fund a tee-shirt uniform for each child and a tool-kit of materials that will allow them to make their own educational tools (e.g. scissors, markers, tape).  HCU to provide formal training to the JVHVs in the fall of 2009. 

Update from the field: March 2010

Junior CORPs
The project also facilitated two trainings in which 64 Junior CORPs were equipped with skills in passing on health messages.  This will help Junior CORPs to influence the behavior of both adults and fellow children to improve health practices, such as hand washing, immunization, nutrition and hygiene both at school and at home. Junior CORPs are groups of children, who, once initiated by village health volunteers, support health education and practice what they learn at school and at home. Village health volunteers want the young children to grow up knowing what is good for their lives, families and schools so they may have a better future.