Channels of Hope for Maternal Newborn and Child Health
Channels of Hope is a World Vision methodology that motivates and builds capacity in faith leaders and faith communities to engage with key child well-being issues. Channels of Hope for Maternal Newborn and Child Health (MNCH) catalyses faith leaders and faith communities to respond to health challenges facing women and young children. Once catalysed, congregations work with World Vision to meaningfully engage with sustainable, community-based MNCH interventions and advocacy to change behaviour and strengthen health systems within the communities.
Faith leaders and communities often lack necessary mindsets, skills and information to engage in a helpful way on health issues. Rather, they often can be the drivers of wrong information, creating barriers that prohibit people from visiting clinics, receiving vaccinations, or using birth spacing methods. Their influence is essential to address early marriage, harmful traditional practices, treating women and girls equitably, encouraging the involvement of men in MNCH or addressing stigma.
Channels of Hope for MNCH is designed to help actively deconstruct these religious and social barriers to health and equitable gender relations, as well as equip faith communities to respond compassionately and practically to the serious MNCH issues in their faith communities and the broader community. Through this process, participants contribute to positive changes that lead to healthier mothers, pregnancies and young children.
Learn more about the Channels of Hope process
Key outcomes
- Faith communities are engaged in actions that contribute to healthier mothers, pregnancies and children
- Participants and community members practice birth spacing
- Community members access improved prenatal care, antenatal care and care for children under 5
