American International Journal of Humanities and Social Science (AIJHSS)

Since the inception of the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 2003, and subsequent Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs) in 2017, there has been a call for development programs that empower local communities to address a broad range of SDGs in order to address the complex challenges in low income countries. Africa Ahead has successfully advanced more than four thousand Community Health Clubs (CHCs) in low income areas of Africa. CHCs are aimed at MDGs and they have led to improved hygiene and health in their local communities. The authors of this report are proposing a more holistic model – called Community Health and Empowerment Clubs (CHECs) - which address the majority of the SDGs. CHECs include not only community health education, but also economic education, income generation projects, social capital, economic empowerment, gender equity, and sustainable governance of villages. Base-line to mid-line data from CHEC villages in Kenya was collected and analyzed. Data analysis shows very strong statistical support for the CHEC model for improving household health as well as household economics and social well-being.