Total Health Village

promote. prevent. provide.

A program of mapInternational
OVERVIEW
In an increasingly economically challenged world where health care resources are in short supply, costly and inadequate to meet the demand there is a need for communities to take ongoing, comprehensive action to improve their health and well-being. MAPs guiding principles state that among the many human needs, it is called to focus on the ministry of Total Health. Total Health doesnt describe the state of someones health, but rather the ways that individuals, families, and communities can take responsible action to improve their well-being. Self-empowerment and holism are therefore important in this process.

The Total Health Village is an innovative project that facilitates self-empowerment so that communities are able to solve most of their own problems. The program is designed to be completely participatory in nature including the initial assessments, the planning process, the implementation, and even monitoring and evaluation. All aspects of the program have been carefully planned to safeguard against dependency, create sustainability, and facilitate self-empowerment.

PURPOSE

MAP Internationals Total Health Village is remarkably innovative because it does not relate to the community as a service provider, but rather as a facilitator that guides the community to identify needs, analyze their situation, plan a response strategy, actively work with the CORP (Communitys Own Resource Persons) and engage in solving their own problems. It is a therefore a cost effective community development strategy that leads to Total Well Being; a way to impact a village or cluster of villages of close to a thousand people through a facilitative and low input cost strategy.

LOCATION
The THV operates in a clearly defined area with a population of around one to two thousand people per village. In several cases MAP works in a village cluster, making an even greater impact on communities.

ALIGNMENT WITH MDGs, NATIONAL PRIORITY, AND MAP INTERNATIONALS STRATEGIC PRIORITIES
In addition to aligning with community priorities, special efforts are made to ensure that the THVs development program is in alignment with the National priority of the country, the Millennium Development Goals and MAPs 3-Pstrategy (to promote health, prevent disease and disasters, and provide essential medicines.)

OBJECTIVES
The THV seeks to address personal and social health determinants so that individuals and communities may experience Total Health and well-being. 1. To develop local capacity for socioeconomic health determinants related to issues of livelihood security and community organization through strategies such as agriculture, animal husbandry, and trade development leading to holistic well-being (50% of the effort) 2. To develop local capacity for the prevention of common diseases managing issues such as access to safe water, sanitation, and other preventions leading to holistic health (40% of the effort) 3. To develop local capacity for treatment of those diseases that cannot be prevented, such as gastrointestinal, respiratory, & systemic disorders so that disease incidence is drastically reduced (10% of the effort)

ASSESSMENTS
This program uses modern participatory techniques such as the Rapid Household Foodsecurity Status Assessment tool (RFSA) and the Holistic Worldview Analysis tool, (at right) to closely involve the community in determining the activities that will address their contextual problems. This results in a high impact that is manifested as a strong sense of ownership and ongoing sustainability of the program.

DEVELOPMENT PRIORITIES
After carrying out the Holistic Worldview Analysis with the communitysee sample abovethe development priorities of the community are addressed by stating each of the communitys major needs in the form of activities that need to be done and outputs that need to be achieved. These are then clustered under one of the three impact objectives, according to where they best fit: 1. 2. 3. Promote holistic wellbeing through integrated development Prevent disease and mitigate disasters Provide essential medicines and health care

LENGTH OF PROJECT

Each project is expected to last 5-7 years. In order to achieve sustainability and avoid dependence, MAP International works with the CORP (Communitys Own Resource Persons). These are usually community members who are socially active and involved in serving the community already. MAP works through this group right from the beginning, and as the project progresses, the CORP are encouraged to take over greater leadership, so that they will be able to access local and other development funds and networks, functioning like an NGO.

EXPECTED RESULTS

RESOURCES NEEDED
A typical THV that covers a population of around 1000 people costs roughly 35,000 to 38,000 USD. The ideal way for these funds to be raised is through a connection created between a Foundation or a social organization (such as the Rotary Club), or a church group linked with the THV in a community to community connection. The typical budget of a THV covers activities such as community organization, surveys, capacity building and skill building, technical training (i.e. agriculture, animal husbandry, water-shed development, health care), logistics, transportation, some preliminary input costs of a THV facilitator, and local administrative costs. Whenever specific material inputs are made available in the community, special efforts are also made to leverage other resources from the community in the form of sweat equity. This helps bring responsibility, accountability and ownership to the process.

The most important expected result is that communities will be empowered, and that such empowerment will be evident in the interactions of the community members (exhibiting equality, courtesy, and shared responsibility), the quality of life they experience, and their ability to take control of the development plan and solve their own problems. The extent to which the community is able to exert its control and influence on the 4 empowerment determinants is an indication of the level of its corporate empowerment. These empowerment determinants are: Extent of control over their own Health Extent of control over their Micro Economy Extent of control and influence on the decisions that pertain to their own lives--Micro Political decisions Extent of control over the Natural and Productive Resources of the village MAP International is in the process of developing an Empowerment Index participatory tool and will implement it for testing out the impact in the THVs.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
http://coursecast.sph.emory.edu/CourseCast/Viewer/Default.aspx?id=af2bc414-342d-4718-ae88-f7c3d005c444

CONTACT DETAILS
For more details on the THV, please contact:

Dr. Ravi Jayakaran, Vice President, Global Programs

Visit our website at map.org

rjayakaran@map.org | office: 404.492.6588

Read our blog at blog.map.org