TURKANA – Thirty Community Health Promoters (CHPs) serving villages 1–3 in Kalobeyei Refugee Settlement have completed a seven-day training as part of efforts to strengthen early childhood development services for children under five.
The third cohort of CHPs was trained on Nurturing Care for Early Childhood Development and the Instructive Manual, equipping them with skills to guide caregivers during household visits and community sessions on play, communication and early stimulation for children aged zero to three years.
The training also focused on improving the identification and referral of children with developmental concerns by strengthening linkages between households and health facilities through the eCHIS platform.
The CHPs were trained on the five components of the Nurturing Care Framework: good health, adequate nutrition, safety and security, responsive caregiving, and opportunities for early learning.
They also learned how to track developmental milestones using community checklists and were introduced to mental health and psychosocial support, social-emotional learning, and age-appropriate play and communication activities for caregivers.
Maximila Mana, the County Community Health Services Coordinator, said strengthening the skills of CHPs was critical to ensuring households in both refugee and host communities receive effective community health services.
“This training reinforces our commitment to an integrated community health system where every household − whether in Kalobeyei or the host community − has access to a well-equipped CHP,” she said.
For some participants, the training provided practical lessons they could immediately apply at home and within their communities.
Uwaikani Sineno, a CHP from Natukobenyo 2 Community Health Unit and a mother of a two-and-a-half-month-old baby, said the training had changed her understanding of the importance of engaging children despite the demands of daily life.
“Our people are very busy fending for their children and most get home too tired to engage them. I have learned that however tired we are, we must create time for our children because they need us,” she said.
Sineno said she would apply the skills at home before sharing them with other caregivers during community visits.
Bosco Juma, a CHP from Natukobenyo 4 Unit and a father of six, said the training also highlighted the role fathers can play in early childhood development, including bonding with babies before birth.
“After learning about playing with the belly for the first time yesterday, I tried it this morning, and it made my day how the baby responded to my touch and voice. My wife was very pleased with me, and it has brightened our home. I will make this a required component in my father-to-father support groups,” he said.
The training was conducted by two Community Health Assistants serving as trainers of trainers, with support from Care for Child Development trainers. It was a collaboration between the Turkana County Government and Amref Health Africa, with funding from the LEGO Foundation.
The latest cohort brings to 90 the number of CHPs who have completed similar training, following 60 others who had previously undergone the programme.
Gladys Arika, Director of Medical Services under the Kalobeyei Integrated Socio-Economic Development Programme (KISEDP), said investing in CHP skills would contribute to the survival, growth and development of children in Turkana West.
“You the CHPs are the backbone of care in our communities. By investing in your skills, we are investing directly in the survival, growth, and development of every child under five in both host and refugee communities,” she said.
Reinhard Anzeze, Technical Officer at Amref Health Africa’s TuchezeTustawiprogramme, said the training was intended to move early childhood development interventions from policy into practical support at household level.
“We designed this training to move nurturing care from paper to practice. When a CHP can walk into a home and confidently guide a caregiver through play, communication, and early stimulation, that is when we know the Framework is truly working and attracting measurable outcomes,” Anzeze said.
The programme also developed an implementation roadmap and enabled participants to make age-appropriate play materials for use during household and community sessions.
For many families in the settlement, CHPs are the first point of contact for health and child-development concerns, helping bridge the gap between households and health facilities. Their work is particularly important in communities where caregivers may have limited time or knowledge on how to support early childhood development at home.
The training is expected to strengthen the CHPs’ ability to help caregivers track developmental milestones, identify possible delays early, demonstrate simple play and communication activities, and link children requiring further assessment to health facilities through the eCHIS platform.
