scholarly journals Evaluating Young People's Ability to Sustain an Evidence-Based Social Accountability Approach to Improve Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health in Ntcheu, Malawi

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patience Mgoli Mwale ◽  
Thumbiko Msiska ◽  
Etobssie Wako ◽  
Kriss Chinkhota ◽  
Tapiwa Munthali ◽  
...  

The Community Score Card© (CSC), a social accountability approach, brings together community members, service providers, and local government officials to identify issues, prioritize, and plan actions to improve local health services. In addition, young people in Ntcheu, Malawi have been using the CSC approach to mobilize their communities to bring change across varying issues of importance to them. An earlier cluster randomized trial in Ntcheu showed the CSC effectively increased reproductive health behaviors, improved satisfaction with services, and enhanced the coverage and quality of services. Building upon this evidence of effectiveness, this study aims to evaluate if and how young people were able to sustain implementation of the CSC, and the improvements it brings, approximately 2.5 years after the randomized trial ended. As part of a larger evaluation of CSC sustainability in Ntcheu, we conducted 8 focus groups across 5 health catchment areas with 109 members of mixed-gender youth groups (58 females and 51 males, ages 14–29 years) who continued to engage with the CSC. Audio recordings were transcribed, translated into English, and coded in Dedoose using an a priori codebook augmented with emergent codes and a constant comparative approach. Although the 8 youth groups were still actively using the CSC, they had made some adaptations. While the CSC in Ntcheu initially focused on maternal health, young people adopted the approach for broader sexual and reproductive topics important to them such as child marriages and girls' education. To enable sustainability, young people trained each other in the CSC process; they also requested more formal facilitation training. Young people from Ntcheu recommended nationwide scale-up of the CSC. Young people organically adopted the CSC, which enabled them to highlight issues within their communities that were a priority to them. This diffusion among young people enabled them to elevate their voice and facilitate a process where they hold local government officials, village leaders, and services providers accountable for actions and the quality of healthcare services. Young people organized and sustained the CSC as a social accountability approach to improve adolescent sexual and reproductive health in their communities more than 2.5 years after the initial effectiveness trial ended.

Author(s):  
Rahmat Salam

For more than twenty years, reforms that have been going on have mandated the existence of autonomy and decentralization of government to manage their areas and give the broadest possible power to self-determination. The granting of this authority is intended to improve. As one indicator to measure regional autonomy's success, the government will better serve its citizens and guide them towards a better life. The provincial government's performance has not matched the expectations, yet it has not done the community optimally. Increasing the competence of the apparatus to improve the quality of work is a determining factor in local government activities' success. The result of local government officials towards quality performance leads to the development of education, competence, and abilities because of the times' face. The competence that local government officials are expected to have is analyzing and addressing issues within the city under a realistic framework of local government.


Author(s):  
Luiz Rodrigo Augustemak de Lima ◽  
Davi Monteiro Teixeira ◽  
Elisabete Cristina Morandi dos Santos ◽  
Edio Luiz Petroski

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5007/1980-0037.2016v18n2p243 This narrative review examined documents that show the activity of Physical Education professionals for children and young people living with HIV. Forty documents were analyzed, highlighting the main contributions: 1) Sports / Physical Activity for social inclusion of youth in social vulnerability, reducing discrimination and stigma and development of motor skills; 2) Health, for treatment adherence, sexual and reproductive health, functional assessment, prescription, guidance and supervision of physical exercises; 3) Education, for prevention of infection / re-infection with HIV, education for sexual and reproductive health. These interventions include major initiatives to improve the quality of life and to coping the pandemic of HIV in children and young people. 


2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 88-100
Author(s):  
Umaru Mustapha Zubairu ◽  
Ruth Kolo ◽  
Hadiza Umar ◽  
Asma'u Usman ◽  
Yakubu Mustapha ◽  
...  

Economic Gardening is an innovative economic development strategy whereby local businesses are fostered and encouraged, and the skills of local workers are upgraded. Since its inception in Littleton, Colorado in 1989, this concept has been put forward by various scholars as a viable and more sustainable economic development strategy than the traditional business attraction strategy. Various implementation experiences have provided further evidence of its effectiveness in improving the quality of life of the inhabitants of a community. This paper charts a roadmap for the development and future implementation of an economic gardening strategy for a Nigerian local government whose officials have shown an interest in adopting such a strategy. A seven-step process was adopted from a review of economic gardening scholarship: 1) Working hand-in-hand with local government officials and other stakeholders, 2) Identifying the community’s assets, 3) Developing a collaborative effort amongst all stakeholders, 4) Developing a clear and transparent operating agreement, 5) Identifying the key targets for services, 6) Developing an effective way to deliver these services, and 7) Communicating regularly with the community so as to gain and retain their support. A lack of political will and a lack of adequate infrastructure were identified as the two biggest obstacles to the successful implementation of the economic gardening strategy in the local government. The first obstacle was mitigated by the fact that it was the local government officials who approached our team to develop the strategy, whilst the second obstacle was mitigated by a proposal for the development of a solar farm within the local government via a public-private partnership with an international solar firm. It is hoped that a successful implementation of this strategy will improve the lives of the inhabitants of the local government and serve as an example for other Nigerian local governments.


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