Partnership for the Community Management of Child Health – Partenariat pour la Prise en Charge Communautaire de la Santé Infantile (PRISE-C)

Overview and Objectives

Worked with local partner CEID to strengthen and accelerate delivery of proven, low-cost child health interventions in three health zones in two Beninese departments: Zou-Collines and Atlantique.

Developed, tested, and implemented innovative strategies to strengthen the health system workforce and community health systems. The project team is exploring the effects of financial and non-financial incentives in enhancing the performance, engagement, and retention of community health workers providing child health services. The project annually reached ~145,000 children under five.

• Promoted healthy communities by liaising with community leaders to develop action plans that not only guide community-based activities but also enable measuring progress
• Promoted the renewal of memberships in community-based health insurance schemes (mutuelles) to lower the cost of health care
• Enhanced the knowledge and skills of health provider teams through training and supportive supervision
• Provided supervision and on-the-job tutoring/coaching of community health workers to improve community-based management of childhood illness and healthy behaviors
• Implemented a community-level improvement collaborative to improve community health workers’ performance and retention
• Improved processes and tools to reinforce the referral and counter-referral system
• Developed, tested, and implemented cell phone technologies for communication between community health workers and their supervisors to improve performance, engagement, and patient outcomes.

Achievements

• Completed baseline survey
• Submitted an implementation plan and operations research concept paper to USAID
• Held zonal level meetings with stakeholders (MOH staff, local government, and community members) to inform them of the development of the project’s implementation plan
• Spearheaded the organization of a Ministry-level committee to provide technical support to PRISE-C and other projects

This project was also known as the “Benin Child Survival Grant or the Child Survival and Health Grants Program – Benin”.