Rural Advancement Plan

Taking Action in the Community

Assess:
In 1994, Dr. Hugo Tempelman and his wife Liesje started Ndlovu Medical Centre in Moutse, an underserved area with 130,000 inhabitants with no access to medical care. They noted that there were many significant barriers to health in the community – poverty related malnourishment, no infrastructure, and limited clean water supplies.  So they developed the clinic, which has now grown to an integrated Community Health Centre, where they work to alleviate the problems of the community; they were the first in Mpumalanga to start a free ARV (anti-retroviral drug) roll-out for the population they serve.

Plan:
Attaining our mission lies in a strong mobilization and communication strategy to encourage early care seeking behavior, informed choices, and early intervention. The value of the program also lies in the holistic approach that goes beyond health awareness: the community uplifting, personal skills development, talent promotion, entrepreneurial development and job creation that our programs offer take the community a step further towards ‘Community Well-being.’

Act:
A full-time community liaison officer engages with the community to obtain community involvement and acceptance before rollout of new initiatives. Each new project is presented, discussed with and pre-approved by village representatives. This interaction allows for and contributes to co-operation and sustainability.  Some of the projects that Ndlovu Care Group has supported are:

• Four Nutritional Units were established to reduce poverty related malnourishment.  The nutritional units have a capacity for 150 children each, where holistic care and education support sustained health and development.
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• 3 Pre-school centers were developed to sustain early childhood development.
• Social workers monitor and seek out orphans and vulnerable children.
• Child-headed households are sought out and enrolled in Ndlovu’s Children’s Programs.
• 34 Boreholes and waste removal points were established to strengthen the infrastructure and provide access to clean water.
• Entrepreneurial projects are aided.
• Arts, sport and culture projects, life skills instruction, and computer literacy programs facilitate individual development.
• Sports grounds and an open air amphitheater facilitate community participation and interaction.

Evaluate:
Ndlovu uses a combination of tools and processes to assess, plan, implement and monitor program progress and capture all information in a computerized database system.  A list of indicators for efficiency, effectiveness and impact has been developed. The monitoring and evaluation system provides regular reports on project progress. Monthly and annual reports indicate the progress or difference the programs have made to the program beneficiaries.  Components of our monitoring and evaluation system include work plans and budgets, financial monitoring and auditing, process monitoring, progress and performance monitoring, external evaluations and impact assessments.

The most recent monitoring and evaluation studies that we conducted show that the Rural Advancement Plan has increased health awareness and promoted positive behavior change and early care seeking behavior, increased condom use, lessened stigmatizing behavior, and increased hygiene in the communities of Elandsdoorn and Lilydale.

Sustain:
The Rural Advancement Plan has two main objectives, community health and community care, both of which are ongoing projects and will hopefully continuously improve the communities we serve. Ndlovu Care Group plans to franchise the Rural Advancement Plan to other rural sites in distress in South Africa. This has already been done at the very successful Bhubezi site in Mpumulanga.

Ndlovu will always be dependent on donor funding for the maintenance of the individual programs. The interdependence of programs makes donor dependency one of the risk factors of the Ndlovu Care Group.

Adherence to treatment is a challenge in rural areas where distances and financial restrictions are an issue. Ndlovu Care Group has developed an inter-referral system that allows patients to get medication from clinics anywhere and allows representatives to collect medication. Government participation facilitates sustainment of the clinic activities.