Group formation

This year, groups have been formed to capacity, with 40 groups containing 900 people. The formation of the groups has changed due to findings from the mid-term review; this found that 50% of those with children under 2 years old were not regularly coming to a group for a number of reasons. These include having less time due to having small children, and their mother-in-laws being in the same group, hence they do not want to attend.

Results of Mid Term Review

The results from the quantitative MTR were positive in all arenas; antenatal, delivery and post natal behaviour; and an improvement on women’s empowerment indicators. For example; the following changes were found compared with the baseline data:

1. Increase in any antenatal attendance from 85 to 97%

2. Increase in pregnant women completing their courses of iron from 57 to 77%

3. Increase in the use of Safe Delivery Kits for home deliveries from 5 to 40%

4. Increase in delaying washing the newborn baby until 24 hrs after delivery from 26 to 47%

5. Increase in women being allowed to make own decision about attending antenatal clinic from 39 to 59%

The results from the qualitative review show that the programme is very well thought of, but there are some problems with access to the programme, particularly for marginalised people. Some women with children under 2 were not known about to our health promotion staff. It was found that these women were often in families where another member came to the group, but it seems the information learned was not communicated between them due to a poor relationship. These issues have been addressed in the programme structure as follows;

1. Made “new mother’s groups” that are only for women with children under 2, even if there is an older women’s group in the area, and at a time they can attend.
2. Increased the number of home visits to pregnant and newly delivered mothers who cannot access a group
3. Stopped antenatal gatherings as these women now come to a group or are seen at home
4. Our programme manager is independently assessing access once a week through her own visits (separate to the health promotors) to verify that marginalised women are receiving health promotion.
5. Monitoring by the community and by health promotors continues.

Mass events

2 mass events have been held: one for Teej, Aug 2011, (women’s day) and another for men. Both events were successful, particularly the men’s event. It has been hard to involve the men in an antenatal programme as they consider this to be a “women’s area” but they felt proud that the GTT programme was supporting their community, and we were able to communicate the type of support we need from them. Since the event, many men have started to feel more involved in caring for their partners.

Empowerment of women

By the end of last year (2010), 1 new women’s NGO had been set up by the community women as a result of this work. Now there are 4, and one has managed to access local Government monies on their own in order to address domestic violence. Womens’ empowerment continues to grow hugely in the community and is transforming people’s lives. Many groups have formed their own savings groups so that they can collectively save for emergencies and business development, and lend at low interest to each other.

Training

Our focus of training this year has been on our staff, training them to improve their group facilitation and teaching skills.

Assistance given to local services

2 mobile clinics a month continue to be provided by GTT in coordination with Government health services. The plan last year was to add a third but it became unnecessary to add this.