Improving basic child healthcare skills

Mon, 7 February 2011

I learnt more than I was expecting. As a manager of the house now I know that you need well developed staff to work with so that they know the importance of record keeping, CPR and when to worry about the children’s health.” – Project beneficiary

FINAL REPORT: Bigshoes Foundation Basic Chid Healthcare Training

The Bigshoes Foundation Basic Child Health Training Programme ran a 12-month programme from April 2009 to March 2010. The programme aimed to train 250 caregivers, who work in children’s home and within Johannesburg communities in basic child health skills. As a result of this training, caregivers would be better equipped to meet the health care needs of children while also providing relief to the public health care system.

Training sessions were structured into 5 day workshops. Children’s home caregivers were the focus of five workshops while 6 workshops were conducted for community members. The training received by caregivers will allow them to monitor child development, provide better nutrition, emotional support, palliative care and to manage minor injuries and illnesses.

Outputs and Impact

232 participants were trained between April 2009 and March 2010 through the homes and community workshops. This amount was slightly less than the 250 target set by the Bigshoes as a result of financial constraints experienced by participants and their places of employment.

• Six children’s home caregiver workshops were conducted. Each of these workshops took place over five days. Citing demand from the homes, Bigshoes scheduled an additional workshop. These workshops reached a total of 95 caregivers.
• There were five community member workshops held throughout the funding period, with each workshop being conducted over 5 days. All in all, 137 community members received training; participation was driven by a keen interest in skills development within the communities.
• Despite the high number of participants receiving training, a lack of response from community organizations in the Johannesburg region resulted in one of the community workshops being changed to a homes workshop.
• A highly qualified trainer joined the Bigshoes team; the organization initiated a new programme for the specifically designed for police officers. As a result, 34 police officers were trained in the emergency care of abandoned newborns.
• As more community members were trained than originally anticipated, this is likely to increase the number of indirect child beneficiaries.
• Bigshoes intends to accredit their course through the South African Qualifications Authority to ensure alliance with national unit standards. External factors have delayed these efforts with Bigshoes subsequently seeking to gain accreditation through Foundation for Professional Development.

Expenditure

The total budget cost for the project was R258,460 and has been paid out in full.

Challenges

• Ensuring that training information remains current has proved to be challenging. The field of HIV is a particular concern as new research is continuously being conducted. To address this Bigshoes has established relationships with medical specialists, nurses and HIV organizations.
• Financial constraints were again a negative impact, resulting in training groups being smaller than initially expected
• Punctuality in regards to the training workshops was also an issue. On most occasions, the first day was delayed because of latecomers. Bigshoes ensures that the importance of punctual arrival is highlighted on the first day of training, along with the consequences that could arise should too many training hours be missed.
• Communication with project participants proved to be rather challenging. Information regarding the programme had to pass through a number of levels before reaching participants. To address this issue Bigshoes provides continuous feedback to the organizing body to deal with such glitches in future training.
• The community member workshop and the abandoned baby training proved challenging because of large groups arriving for CPR training. Bigshoes consequently hired a second registered nurse to assist with training facilitation.

Monitoring and evaluation

• Pre- and post-intervention tests covering the contents of the course were given to participants at the beginning and end of the course. On average, scores increase by 16% throughout the course of the year
• Information on participants and their activities is maintained on an electronic database, with statistics being reported to management on a monthly basis. Caregivers were asked to provide information regarding how many children they worked with directly. Through this monitoring process the organisation realised that they were having an indirect impact on more children than the 1500 they had originally estimated.
• The training co-coordinator kept in contact with the managers whose staff participated in the homes training programme. Feedback was received on any noticeable change in terms of participant’s skills, knowledge and work since the course. The programme has been widely supported by mangers who continue to send their new staff for training. Although feedback is currently received on an informal basis through manager calls and visits, Bigshoes aims to formalise this process in the future.
• After each course, a report detailing where participants are employed, their positions and their test results is completed and circulated to the relevant role players within Bigshoes as well as to the managers of participants who have completed their training.

Conclusion

The Bigshoes training programme has come to the end of its year long course. A marked increase in participant’s basic health care knowledge and skills was seen. The managers who sent their staff to the training unanimously support the course and continue to send staff for training. Participants also spoke well of the training remarking on their increased knowledge and skills and how they would be used to better care for children. Although the financial constraints of participants and their organizations, hindered Bigshoes’s ability to train 250 caregivers, the target was almost reached with 232 successful participants.

Other Reports

• Workshops to keep kids safe and healthy
• Bigshoes Foundation Basic Child Health Training Programme