Community participation in the recruitment of community health workers: a case study of the three community health worker programmes in South Africa

Abstract

This research investigates the nature and extent of community participation and involvement in the recruitment and selection processes for Community Health Workers (CHWs), primarily through detailed case studies of three CHW programmes, one in the Western Cape, another in KwaZulu-Natal, and a third which operates in the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal. The first utilizes CHWs in health education and home-based care in Khayelitsha and Nyanga. The second specializes in the training, management and supervision of home-based care CHWs in the rural areas of KwaZulu-Natal. The third utilizes CHWs in addressing maternal and child health issues in targeted peri-urban and rural areas in the three provinces. The mini-thesis is organized into five chapters: the first chapter provides the introduction and background as well as the methodological design of the mini-thesis; the second chapter focuses on providing a detailed literature review of relevant materials that cover the subject matter; the third chapter provides the descriptive background of the history of CHWs, CHW policies and community participation in South Africa, as well as a description of the three case study organizations; the fourth chapter describes and discusses the findings and the last and fifth chapter provides a summary of the findings as well as recommendations and conclusions.