The Ramba Kibondo “Live Long Child” Child Survival Project (CSP) has been managed by World Relief (WR) Burundi in Kibuye Health District in Gitega Province since September 2007. The projects goal was to achieve significant and sustained reductions in mortality and morbidity in children under five years of age and in women of reproductive age. World Relief implemented a community integrated management of childhood illnesses (C-IMCI) program using a care group model to mobilize communities and bring about change, to disseminate health education messages, and improve referrals in a timely manner to the nearest Ministry of Health (MOH) health center. Also, the CSP identified and rehabilitated malnourished children using the Positive Deviance/Hearth (PD/Hearth) strategy. The evaluation concluded that (1) the care group model successfully reached every beneficiary household in the Kibuye Health District; (2) the identification and rehabilitation of malnourished children through the PD/Hearth strategy was effective; (3) a total of 209 care groups with 2,853 volunteers have been involved in health education, referrals and data collection; (4) training of project staff at all levels of the project has contributed to significant capacity building; (5) the monitoring and evaluation system provided the data necessary for decision-making; and (6) as recommended at the mid-term evaluation, community health workers (CHW), MOH health center staff health promoters (TPS), and health center staff management committees (COSAs) were more involved in project activities, particularly in the analysis of data and joint planning of community meetings and home visits. (Excerpt, modified)
