186 health volunteers get bicycles in Mchinji

 Investing in Early Years Project (IEYP) has donated 186 bicycles to care group promoters in Mchinji District to ease their mobility as they visit communities to ensure they send their children to early learning institutions.

Speaking in an interview on Wednesday during the handover in Traditional Authority Mlonyeni, Mchinji district principal nutrition, HIV and Aids officer Davie Panyani said the promoters were previously failing to go to hard-to-reach areas with nutrition messages.

He said: “The bicycles will help ease mobility challenges when promoters travel to communities to meet the care groups under their leadership.

“The care group promoters will regularly meet with their care groups and conduct learning sessions with cluster leaders so that nutrition and health messages are delivered to beneficiary households on time.”

Panyani said the care group model is an innovative approach primarily used in international development settings to promote social and behavioural change through supported peer-to-peer knowledge sharing, mainly among mothers.

“The model has been instrumental in disseminating critical information about nutrition and health practices in communities in the district,” he said.

One of the care group promoters, Brenda Deusi of Tsamphare Village, thanked IEYP for the bicycle.

She said: “We were facing problems reaching out to care groups as some are in hard-to-reach areas.

“The bicycles will motivate us to work hard to ensure people understand the importance of sending their children to early learning institutions.”

Mchinji is one of the districts where IEYP is being implemented.

The project seeks to improve utilisation of early childhood development services, with a specific focus on nutrition, stimulation and early learning.

The bicycles were bought with support from the World Bank.