Action for Child Health and Community Improvement (ACHCI) Project

Duration: Phase I: December 2007 - April 2010; Phase II: May 2010 – July 2011
Donor: Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA)

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The goal of Pact's current 15-month, DANIDA-funded, ACHCI Phase II project is to strengthen the existing civil society structures developed in Pwint Bhyu townships in Magway Division of the Dry Zone during Phase I of ACHCI program through continued engagement with communities in the areas of health, education and women’s empowerment through livelihoods development. Through the growth and success of community managed health, education and development funds from the project’s first phase, Pact has recognized the demand from communities for greater access to income generation funds to increase household incomes, further involvement of women in the community development process and encouragement for even greater community involvement in village-generated action plans for change. For this reason, Pact chose to adapt the WORTH model to the context in Myanmar. WORTH is Pact’s award-winning women’s empowerment program and savings-led micro-finance initiative that has been successfully implemented in eight countries throughout Asia and Africa.

From December 2007 to April 2010, Pact implemented Phase I of the ACHCI program. Pact sought to empower vulnerable residents in 131 villages in Pwint Phyu Township in the Dry Zone, helping them to design and implement sustainable community-based programs to improve health and education outcomes. Pact’s approach centered on a series of participatory workshops designed to build the capacity of local volunteers to support community responses to disease and lack of education; introduce women to important children’s health information; and support the growth of community-managed development funds.

Pact’s approach to locally-driven health improvements and development began with workshops in which community members engaged with the idea that development of their village is guided by their own actions. The communities then identified common challenges; selected volunteer Change Agents to lead responses to TB, malaria and children’s health concerns; and formed Mothers’ Groups as forums for shared learning about family health issues. Pact worked with the Change Agents to build their capacity to respond to health challenges in their area using local resources. Mothers’ Groups met weekly for information sessions, and their members initiated nutrition and child growth monitoring days, identified vulnerable children for monitoring, made plans for better community sanitation, and supported each other in practicing new behaviors. Mothers’ Group activities also played a role in increasing women’s participation in decision-making processes in their communities, allowing women to cultivate leadership skills that they used to engage with development planning in their villages. Pact also facilitated the creation of Village Health and Development Funds (VHDFs) which drew on community savings to create a pool of resources that could be lent out to villagers to help them meet their basic needs. Pact’s support assisted communities in developing policies and management capacity for the VHDFs.

Significant accomplishments during the ACHCI project include:

• 4,401 fly-proof latrines constructed and renovated by communities, resulting in an increase in sanitation coverage from 64% of villages at the start of the program to 89% when the program ended.
• 6,882 women received training in infant care techniques and created child well-being action plans. Following Early Childhood Development workshops, proportion of women exhibiting understanding of importance of exclusive breastfeeding increased from 29% to 78% and proportion of women able to identify how to wean children to nutritionally sound, child-appropriate foods at six months of age rose from 44% to 92%.
• Value of VHDFs increased 35% over life of the project, making $77,664 available for loans to vulnerable households, with 248 given for health needs and 2,510 for education.
• 131 TB Heroes have received Change Agent training, leading to the identification of 400 suspected TB patients, of which 150 tested positive and are currently on Directly-Observed Treatment Short-course.
• 131 Malaria Control Leaders received Change Agent training. These volunteers conducted 244 net retreatment demonstrations with 6,370 households, and helped coordinate village actions to control malaria through cleaning up of mosquito breeding grounds. 11,600 insecticide-impregnated bednets and over 11,600 re-treatment tablets were distributed to households covering 70 percent of the population in target areas.