Implementing a One Health village volunteer programme in West Sulawesi, Indonesia: A pilot study

ABSTRACT

A pilot village volunteer programme (VVP) was implemented to produce new knowledge about the extent to which 24 trained village volunteers, taking an integrated One Health approach, could assist their communities by disseminating information on better agricultural and health practices. Just prior to the six-month pilot, the volunteers were mentored in a four-day training programme by local agricultural extension and public health experts. On returning to their villages, contacts and activities by volunteers with local community members were monitored using a CommCare application, enabling uploaded data to be accessed in real-time. The six volunteers in each village coordinated activities to address concerns of households. The VVP resulted in 960 actions (356 agricultural; 604 health), helping in 97% of contacts, most (55-61%) by providing information and others by advising community members where appropriate information could be sourced. Focus group meetings with village leaders, community health staff and local extension officers supported continuation of the VVP through local funding. Six months after the pilot, volunteers were continuing their activities and assisting with other government measures, such as district programmes to reduce childhood stunting and improve waste disposal. Community empowerment using local human resources is sustainable and could be supportive in government programmes.

KEYWORDS:

• Volunteers
• health
• cocoa
• prevention
• empowerment
• One Health
• Indonesia

Acknowledgements

This work was funded by a grant from the Australia-Indonesia Centre. The participating volunteers in the programme were: Hidayanti, Muhlis, Rahmania, Nurhidayah, Abdul Kadir Mastu, Nurlina Sabir (Duampanua Village); Herna Basa, Muammar Syah, Bahri, Murtini, Eka Alfionita, Muliati (Kelapa Dua Village); M. Anwar, Nolbi, Budi, Asriani, Alfianita, A. Latif (Landi Kanusuang Village); Rusli, Rudi, Rasmudi, Restu, Nur, Afrida (Sattoko Village). The volunteer training instructors were Syamsuar, Devintha Virani, Arman Abbas, Jumriani Ansar, Elvita Bellani, Hasnawati Amqam, Triani Arfah, Andi Tenri Kawareng, Saharan, Rauf, Burhanuddin and Pasenanggi. Special thanks to Andi Suaib Nawawi and Muh Sukri Arif (Polewali-Mandar District Health Office), and Ibrahim and Faisal (District Agricultural Office).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by The Australia-Indonesia Centre.