Maternal-health donor and program partner.
Mennonite Central Committee supported SHED's Mama Maisha maternal-health work, including the Hygienic Birth Kits project. The program focused on practical measures to reduce preventable risks during childbirth by combining education for women of reproductive age with training and supplies for traditional birth attendants and distribution of clean delivery materials.
SHED managed the local implementation. Staff and community-based advocates organized education groups, identified pregnant women, trained traditional birth attendants, distributed birth kits, tracked participation and reported on results. SHED also managed the financial and narrative reporting required by the grant and adapted the program when experience showed that training and equipping traditional birth attendants could extend the impact of the available resources.
The project demonstrates SHED's ability to execute community-health programs that depend on trust and repeated local contact. Maternal-health behavior cannot be changed through a single outside visit; it requires people who know the communities, can return regularly and can adjust implementation based on what women and local health workers are actually experiencing.