Center for Health Market Innovations (CHMI)

Programs

Barefoot College

last updated Sep 27, 2011

Overview

Implementing organization: 
Social Work and Research Centre (SWRC)
Implementation Partner(s): 
Mekele University, Mekele (Ethiopia), Safer Future (Sierra Leone), Aide De Leglise, Norvegiene (Mali), Rural Women Development Centre (RUWDEC) (Cameroon), Lutherran World Federation (Mauritania), Abed Ong (Benin), Institute for Orko nerei Pastoralist Advancement (IOPA) (Tanzania), Norwegian Church Aid (Rwanda), Safer Rwanda (Rwanda), Kirewa Women’s Forum in collaboration with Mifumi (Uganda), Centre for Community Organisation and Development (Malawi), Tostan (Djibouti), Ru’ya Association (Sudan), Catholic Mission (Mozambique), Tostan (Senegal), Riders for Health (The Gambia), Norwegian Church Aid (Afghanistan), Taryana Foundation (Bhutan), Irupana Andeane Organic Food S.A (Bolivia)
Legal Status: 
Private (not-for-profit)
Year Launched: 
1973
Stage: 
Existing/expansion stage
Income Level of Target Population: 
Bottom 20%

Funding

Primary Source of Funding: 
Government
Additional Source(s) of Funding: 
Donor
Funders: 
Foundation Ensemble, GEF Small Grants Programme hosted by the UNDP, Government of India, Norwegian Church Aid, Rio Tinto, Skoll Foundation: Skoll Awards for Social Entrepreneurship, Stichting Het Groene Woudt

Scale

Personnel Employed: 
50-99
Number of Clients Served: 
150 villages
Summary: 

Established in 1972, the Barefoot College is a non-government organisation that has been providing basic services and solutions to problems in rural communities, with the objective of making them self-sufficient and sustainable. These ‘Barefoot solutions’ can be broadly categorised into solar energy, water, education, health care, rural handicrafts, people’s action, communication, women’s empowerment and wasteland development.

Key program components: 

The Barefoot College health care section aims to provide basic health services to more than 150 villages in five development blocks of Rajasthan through a team of Barefoot doctors, health workers, midwives, pathologists and dentists - all little or no educational background. The College has been training men and women from the villages so that rural communities are less dependent on external aid. Their involvement in the planning, implementation and supervision of all programmes have not only generated employment within rural communities, but also reduced migration. Through a network of the Barefoot health team and Barefoot communicators and teachers, the Barefoot College has created health awareness among rural men, women and children on issues such as hygiene, food and nutrition, maternal and child care, immunization, oral health, family planning, HIV/AIDS, midwifery, common ailments, etc.

Specific services offered by health workers within the Barefoot College network:

  • Immunisation
  • Maternal and child care
  • Medical camps
  • Tuberculosis control
  • Outpatient dispensaries
  • Family welfare
  • Medical check ups for pre-school and night school children
  • Training and health education for rural midwives and health workers
  • Use of homeopathy & bio-chemic health care
  • Pathology laboratory
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