The Aga Khan Foundation is partnering with Human Network International (HNi) to implement a four-year project entitled “Strengthening the ‘Soins Essentiels dans la Communauté’ Strategy Project (SECPro).” The project is funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), complemented by funds from the Aga Khan Foundation U.S.A. and contributions of airtime from Orange, the telecommunications company.

This project is improving health and reducing maternal, newborn, and child mortality by strengthening the implementation of Mali’s national basic community healthcare strategy, or “Soins Essentiels dans la Communauté” (SEC). SECPro aims to formalize community health workers (CHWs) into the National SEC strategy in three main ways: by facilitating the development of a national CHW training program, supporting efforts to recognize CHWs officially as civil servants, and collaborating with the Ministry of Health to include CHWs in the national human resources database. Furthermore, SECPro will support national, regional, and local SEC management committees, and ensure that they are strong, functional, and linked at all levels of the health system. Lastly, the project will create a National Advocacy Coalition to ensure that the Ministry of Health is adequately resourced to implement the SEC strategy after the project has ended.

HNi will provide access to their 3-2-1 Service, an innovative mobile phone information service that will provide CHWs with access to key health information to increase the accuracy and efficiency of health assessments. This tool will serve as a reference for community health workers who want to review topics covered during their initial training.

The project is funded through a $1.8 million grant from USAID, along with $556,000 from AKF USA and in-kind contributions from Orange Mobile.

Photo Credit: Lucas Cuervo Moura/AKDN