Bigshoes Foundation Basic Child Health Training Programme
Mon, 28 September 2009
“I’ve got experience now about what I am doing. I’ve learned more about First Aid, HIV/AIDS and how to measure some of the medication with a syringe.” – Project beneficiary
Progress Report 1:Big Shoes Child care workshops underway
The Bigshoes Foundation Basic Child Health Training Programme is a 12-month programme running from April 2009 to March 2010. It seeks to empower 250 caregivers working in children’s homes and in communities in the Johannesburg area. These caregivers are trained in basic child health skills to adequately meet the health care needs of children in their care as part of their strategy to improve the overall medical care of orphans and vulnerable children. These skills will be delivered through ten 5-day workshops with approximately 25 caregivers at each workshop. Five of the workshops will focus on Children’s Home care giving, while the other five will focus on Community Member care giving.
As a result of the intensive training programme, the children will receive better nutrition, emotional support, palliative care and management of minor injuries and illnesses. Caregivers will be able to monitor the development of each child and look out for signs of discord correctly. This will in turn relieve the burden on the public health care system and Bigshoes’ medical clinics and outreach as better management of basic child health means that more time can be spent on complex medical problems, accurate HIV diagnosis and adoption medicals. The ultimate beneficiaries of this project are disadvantaged children who have either been placed in childcare institutions or are in need of care and are living in disadvantaged communities.
Outputs and Impact
- CPR Resuscitation dolls and booklets were purchased in February 2009
- Thus far, 98 caregivers have received training through five workshops. Two Children’s Home Caregiver workshops of 5 days each were held in March and May 2009. Six caregivers attended workshop one and 21 caregivers attended workshop two. Three Community Member workshops of 5 days each were held in February, April and June 2009. 26 caregivers attended workshop one, 20 caregivers attended workshop two and 25 caregivers attended workshop three.
- During the five-day training workshops, the child caregivers received training on basic health care, HIV management and palliative care. The training enabled the child caregivers to efficiently manage day to day illnesses and injuries in children. They learned how to apply first aid when required, administer ARV medication appropriately, manage common childhood illnesses at home and monitor the normal development of a child. Caregivers were trained to recognize early warning signs of serious conditions and seek medical attention, which will avoid unnecessary morbidity and mortality. The training has made children less dependent on overburdened clinics and hospitals for problems that can be safely managed at home.
- Results from comparisons of pre- and post-workshop tests for the five workshops indicate that caregivers have improved their knowledge by approximately 26%.
- Training possibly remains one of the most powerful tools in breaking the cycle of poverty, and the training provided here could stimulate interest in the health care sector and possibly open a new career path for some caregivers. With up-skilling child and youth caregivers who look after an average of seven children each, the project’s reach into the community is extended dramatically. If the 98 trained caregivers have approximately seven children in their care, this results in approximately 686 children benefiting from this project.
- The workshop trainer attended training as part of her continued medical education. This included attending a debriefing course on grief and loss and an international conference run by Children’s Hospice International. The aim of this was to ensure that the trainers are kept up to date with the latest developments in the field and are capacitated in order to deliver a quality high level of training.
Activities to be completed
- Three Children’s Home Caregiver workshops of 5 days each, including pre- and post-intervention tests
- Two Community Member workshops of 5 days each, including pre- and post-intervention tests
- Continued medical education, with sessions held every Wednesday
- Printing of remaining training manuals. This is being delayed as material may change slightly once the accreditation process has been completed. The process is currently being delayed by unforeseen procedural requirements.
Expenditure
The cost of the project is R258,460, with R142,317 outstanding
| Description | Total Budget | Total Expenses to date |
| Purchase Of Resuscitation Dolls | 19 500 | 21 313 |
| CPR Booklets with Resuscitation Kits | 11 970 | 11 212 |
| Purchase Of Stationery for the year | 5 000 | 5 139 |
| Monthly Portion half Post trainer | 23 040 | 7 680 |
| Monthly Position locums | 41 180 | 13 727 |
| Monthly Portion of HR/ Fundraiser | 34 000 | 11 333 |
| Monthly Portion of Project/Finance Manger | 18 000 | 6 000 |
| Sessional Trainer | 57 600 | 13 050 |
| Training Manuals | 19 500 | 3 738 |
| Nashua Rentals | 1 040 | 416 |
| Telkom | 5 000 | 1 667 |
| Venue Hire | 2 000 | 1 000 |
| Travel | 2 400 | - |
| Continued Medical education | 13 230 | 7 000 |
| Cleaning | 5 000 | 2 000 |
| TOTAL | 258 460 | 105 275 |
The project has not reached completion so expenditure thus far is obviously not at budgeted levels. As can be seen above, with a few minor exceptions the project is on track as far as expenses are concerned. There was marginal over spend on the Resuscitation Dolls as they needed to be imported from Canada and import prices has increased since the original budget was put forward. The organisation had managed to save on the purchase of CPR Booklets and Resuscitation Kits, but needs to reallocate this funding towards the unforeseen expense of replacing the plastic bags that form the lungs of the CPR manikins. Although this is not a big expense, a quote has not been received as yet. This is also a consumable item which would need to go through future organisational budgets. There was also a saving on the printing of training manuals.
Challenges
There was a minor problem with late arrivals as candidates sometimes travel long distances or struggle with transport, which delays the start of training significantly. Bigshoes have decided to inform future candidates that the start time is 8am instead of 9am. Often participants had difficulty finding the relevant building. Once they were in the building some could also not find Bigshoes. The organisation has consequently decided to put signs up for the next course and send directions through to the relevant participating organisations beforehand.
The February training for Children’s Home Caregiver workshop saw significant under-attendance, with only six of the fourteen booked participants arriving. Some care givers actually forgot about the workshop, while others found taking a whole five days away from their organisations would just be too difficult to manage. Very often, they were simply too busy and had nobody to assume their duties while they were away attending training. Bigshoes tries to be as flexible as possible by allowing caregivers to complete four out of five days and return for the remainder (CPR training – one full day) when it is more convenient for them. They have set up “catch-up” training which will include those who did not successfully complete the whole course. They are also considering making the training more easily available to organisations by training at their facilities, which will improve the consistency of attendance.
In most groups there were at least one or two candidates who would have benefitted much more significantly if the training was presented in their first language. To ensure that they are not disadvantaged because of this, Bigshoes asked that one of their colleagues interpret when necessary. This slowed down the training somewhat but was still manageable.
Many of the group asked if they could come back for further training in other areas – especially in dealing with children on an emotional level. Some mentioned a variety of psychosocial issues which they face on a daily basis and feel ill-equipped to handle. They also mentioned that they struggle with the emotional impact of the work. Bigshoes, while expressing sympathy, does not have the capacity to consider expanding the training to include psychosocial aspects at this stage. For now, they are compiling a list of resources to assist trainees in this regard.
There has been a delay with the accreditation of the training as proof of the organisation’s registration as a Public Benefit Organisation, which is still pending, has been requested by the accreditor. The trainer also needs to be trained as a moderator and facilitator, which can only be done after the organisation has been registered as a Public Benefit Organisation.
Monitoring and evaluation
- Pre-tests were conducted on the first day of the workshop to determine the baseline for the level of information held by participating caregivers.
- Post tests were conducted on the last day of the workshop to indicate the change in content knowledge of participating caregivers.
- Pre and post test results for workshops from February through to June:
| Community Org | Home Care | Community Org | Home Care | Community Org | ||
| February | March | April | May | June | Average | |
| Pre Test | 67% | 55% | 67% | 61% | 69% | 64% |
| Post Test | 81% | 87% | 80% | 77% | 78% | 81% |
| % Increase | 21% | 58% | 19% | 26% | 13% | 26% |
Conclusions and Evaluator Analysis
The project is about mid-way to completion and has seen good results in terms of increasing caregiver knowledge. There have also been positive reports from the caregivers who attended the training.
The project has experienced some minor challenges, mainly with regards to attendance and material not being presented in participants’ mother tongue. Wherever possible, these issues are being addressed. The participants also enquired about increasing the scope of the workshops to cover areas where their knowledge is lacking. While Bigshoes is not able to expand to fulfil this role as yet, they are compiling a list of resources to give to the trainees.
The improved capacity of caregivers in this area will improve the basic health of the children in their care. It will also relieve the unnecessary burden on immediate clinics as caregivers are able to see to problems that would have previously been referred.
