Since 1997, the West African republic of Guinea has operated a CBD program to increase access to reproductive health services in remote parts of the country. There, rural villages are characterized by a preponderance of men in public functions, and women are socially prohibited from assuming visible social and economic roles. Thus, 497 out of the 500 community agents initially selected by their communities, were men. It was clear, however, that men confront cultural barriers that prohibit them from talking about reproductive health issues with women and have led to sub-optimal performance of the CBD program.
The USAID-funded PRISM project is working to promote and enable women to be CBD agents and to integrate them fully in the formal health system. PRISM introduced a scaled-up CBD program in 4 districts, covering 26 health centers. A total of 52 district and health care supervisors, and 136 democratically-elected CBD agents were trained or retrained. Of the newly recruited agents, 50% are women. Adapted H/MIS permits the monitoring of the agents and supervisors performance, and already shows that all 136 agents are fully stocked with pills, condoms, spermicides, and ORS, which they replenish during monthly supervision meetings at the health center. These monthly meetings are likewise used to update skills and discuss issues with other CBD agents. Data on this first phase will be presented and compared to data from additional villages where PRISM is revitalizing and assuring equal gender balance in the CBD program.
Learning Objectives: At the end of this presentation, the participant will: Know how one program succeeded in scaling up a male-dominated CBD program in rural Guinea to include women as CBD agents Understand the benefits of adult education training approaches to CBD supervisors and CBD agents, followed by regular and systematic on the job training during facilitative supervision, and improved H/MIS at the grass roots level allowing also illiterate CBD agents to make optimal use of records.
Keywords: CDC Guidelines, Gender
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: Management Sciences for Health
I have a significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.
Relationship: Employment