Community Health Promoters

Community Health Promoters (CHPs) were added to the program in mid 2010.  The CHPs are all female and come from the local communities in which they work.  One of their main roles is to visit new filter users within the first 60 days of filter use.  During these visits, the CHP assesses the filter construction standards and ensures that the filter user is fully confident in how to use and maintain their water filter.  They train the filter user on safe water storage, good hygiene practices and basic sanitation improvements.  To guide the visits, and to contribute to our ongoing program monitoring, the CHPs complete surveys on all of these WASH related topics as well as collecting some basic information about the purchasing household e.g. average household size; household income etc.  A recent survey showed high levels of satisfaction with the filter with over 95% of respondents stating that they would recommend the filter to others.

It is well known that it is the job of women in Kenya to care for the household water, sanitation and hygiene needs.  ACI believes that it is important that these women feel comfortable to communicate honestly about their thoughts and concerns about the biosand filter and other WASH issues, hence one of the reasons for female Community Health Promoters.  The ACI CHPs are trained to sensitively help women at the household level to make basic improvements in their water treatment, sanitation and hygiene situation.  The CHPs consistently report that they are very well received when they carry out their visits and that people are pleased that ACI is committed to keeping standards high.

The ACI Community Health Promoters are selected using the same process that is used to select the Community Development Officers.  The school administration, parent teacher association and local chief nominate 3 candidates who are then interviewed bu ACI staff.  This system has helped ACI identify some very motivated and qualified women who are excellent Community Health Promoters.  Most of the CHPs are housewives who derive their main income from selling goods at market or working on the family farm plot.

Another key aspect of the role of the CHP is to visit the ACI partner schools to train students in the ACI Water & Hygiene Clubs. These clubs help the students learn about various methods of proper water treatment, safe water storage and related hygiene, while also managing the school's water filters, water storage containers and hand-washing stations.  The CHPs also monitor the ACI products that are placed at schools to ensure that e.g. the hand-washing stations are supplied with soap and water.  The schools and CHPs take pride in a high performing school and this personal ownership of the project makes a substantial difference in how the demonstration items are cared for and maintained.

The CHPs meet with ACI staff once per month after the CDE monthly meeting.  At their meeting, the CHPs hand in their surveys and reports from the previous month, and are given their filter visit locations for the upcoming month.  They discuss what went well and what challenges they faced and collectively learn from each others’ experiences.  They CHPs oversee the work of 1-3 CDEs  and their income from visiting filters is dependent on the productivity of the CDEs in their area.  For example, if a CDE sells 10 filters in a month, their corresponding CHP will have 10 filters to visit in the following month.  The CHPs are paid a small amount for each filter visit and each school visit.  The CHPs will remain an integral part of the ACI program as we expand into other products.  Program monitoring that helps to gather honest feedback from the end users will be key in expanding the program to better meet people’s needs.