Community health facility offers around-the-clock service

"With accommodation, we are motivated and proud to serve our community all the time, any time. When we are happy, so are community members," says Charles Leo Ongwech, a health worker at Okwadoko HC II.

The health facility, located in Wol sub-county, Agago district, is an example of what is possible if ordinary people of faith band together to raise their voices on behalf of children and themselves.

World Vision's social accountability approach—Citizens Voice and Action (CVA)—equips communities to speak up for better services and holds the government accountable.

Through the CVA model, the once neglected health facility now has 4-unit staff houses worth US$21,167 built by Agago district local government after community members demanded improved health services.

So how does CVA work?

Sarah Katusabe is a World Vision coordinator responsible for Uganda's local governance and social accountability. She says the basic idea of CVA is to help people rather than bring services to them. "It's about helping families and communities develop the ability to bring those services to themselves by holding service providers accountable for the effective delivery of the services they promised to provide in national policies and standards," she says.

Today, Okwadoko Health Centre II serves more than 2,000 patients quarterly from 1,600 patients before the construction of the staff housing.

We attribute the high numbers of people seeking health services to the availability of health workers. Before, it was simply frustrating to walk a long distance and not be served because health workers were absent or late," said Ongwech, now a resident at the facility. "We now offer 24/7 services.

Okwadoko Health Centre II is orienting the new management health committee on CVA, empowering them to transform the facility.

CVA has been used in more than 700 programmes in 48 countries since 2005, improving access to health clinics, schools, and other service points, including child protection and extension services.

Results from more than 20 evaluations in a randomised control trial led by Oxford University in Uganda, Zambia, Cambodia and Indonesia demonstrated CVA's efficacy.

Story and photo by Angeyo Sunday, Project Officer, Wol Area Programme—World Vision Uganda