Community of Practice as a strategy to strengthen capacities of community health workers

This project proposal develops a strategy to strengthen the practice of local researchers and community health workers in South Africa's Vhembe District, particularly in preventing increasingly prevalent Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs). It aims to do so through establishing a 'Community of Practice' (CoP), a physical as well as online interaction network of the District's community health workers, that facilitates social learning and the exchange of knowledge and 'best practices' around lifestyle habits and NCDs. A collaboration between Vives University College and the University of Venda (UNIVEN) aims to provide the structural basis of this CoP through setting up monthly workshops where participatory techniques will be used to generate transferable knowledge on the interventions that may impact community awareness, lifestyle habits and eventually the prevalence of NCDs.