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Promoting Health through Workplace-Based Programs & Cross-Sector Collaboration

Lauren Shields, Regional Program Manager, HERproject6th Conference on Peer Education, Sexuality and HIV/AIDS

KICC Nairobi, 20 June 2014

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HERproject

• Bringing health (or finance)

• To the workplace

• Using peer education

Healthy workers, healthy communities

o HERproject leverages workplaces to deliver health trainings

o Businesses are key stakeholders to promoting health

o Private, public, and NGO sectors have a role to play

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HERproject health curriculum

Health manual and trainings include:

• Eating healthy• Personal hygiene• Water-borne diseases• Your body and menstruation• Family planning• Maternal health• Reproductive cancers• Preventing sexually transmitted

infections• HIV/AIDS• Malaria and Dengue fever• Ergonomics

Improve awareness and behavior related to general and reproductive health, challenge harmful taboos, promote preventative care, and increase access to critical health products and services.

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HERproject approachHERproject uses a three pronged approach in each of our factory and farm-based programs.

Peer Education Trainings

Making workplaces better for workers

Linking workers to products and services

Use a train-the-trainer approach to increase knowledge and improve behavior of the entire workforce.• Peer trainers selected

according to criteria• Trainers meet once per

month, learn new topic every other month

• Trainings held on health topics including hygiene, nutrition, maternal health, and others, or financial issues including saving, borrowing, and talking about finances

Enhance human resources and employee social services to respond to women’s unique needs in the workplace.• Increase the

effectiveness of factory-based clinics to address women’s health and make referrals to external services;

• Upgrade factory clinic standards and record-keeping tools, and product stocking

• Enable direct deposit of salaries, and promote uptake of financial products

Leverage the workplace as an access and demand generation point to increase availability and uptake of critical products and services for women.• Increase access to

critical health and financial products and services within and outside workplaces, including:

Condoms, Nutritional supplements, Sanitary napkins Bank accounts Financial planning tools

Healthy workers, healthy communities

When my five- year old daughter grows up, I want to teach her many things from

HERproject

Peer Educator

Empowered workers through health

“I got promoted because my manager realized my potential when he saw me disseminating the information”

Supervisor and Peer Educator

Empowered workers through health

“I felt neglected in my community but since HERproject, I am not like any other women anymore, people call me the teacher”

Peer Educator

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Improved knowledge, behavior and access

Improved confidence

Good for workers

Increased productivity

Improved workplace environment

Good for business

HERproject’s Business Case

Measuring health improvements

Baseline assessment Endline assessment

Tangible outcomes

• More women can name 4+ family planning options , increase of 17 percentage points

• Increased awareness of nearby health clinics, increase of 5 percentage points

• More women know how to perform a breast self-exam, increase of 24 percentage points

• Decrease in reported back pain, by 14 percentage points

Demonstrating the business benefits

Direct Benefits • Reduced Absenteeism• Reduced attrition rates• Links with external health care providers

Indirect Benefits

• Increased role of the factory or farm nurse

• Improved relationships between management and workers

• Increased communication between peers and worker and management

• Improved relationships with buyers

“The program has not only helped to raise the awareness of health related issues, but to also mitigated the risk related to turnover of skillful workers.” –General Manager, Vietnam HERproject factory (September 2012)

“We have seen a better dialogue with factory management. Management is now asking questions.” –Buyer Participant (January 2013)

Building partnerships for goodLocal and global cross-sector partnerships for

sustainable impacts

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NGOs partner

BSR

Companies

Factories and Farms

Workers

NGOs

Other NGOs

Health bodies

Call for collaboration

Our vision for HERproject in Kenya >>>• More companies investing in worker health and

welfare…• …more partners that provide services to

companies…• …providing a platform for donors interested in

leveraging the private sector ….• …allowing us to reach more workers, their families

and their communities…• …to deliver stronger health outcomes.

<<<Your help is needed!

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Thank you

Lauren Shields, HERproject Farm, Francelshields@bsr.org

www.herproject.org