Congrats to the Community Scorecard team on their new journal article in BMC Health Services Research! Frontline Health Workers Coalition Blog published a quick review of the results:
“CARE’s theory of change posits that the empowerment of community members and frontline health
workers—where they feel comfortable advocating for their rights—plus the creation of space for power-holders, health workers, and community members to talk and interact in a safe, supportive, and equitable environment, leads to improved health outcomes. To test this, a research team conducted an evaluation in Malawi to analyze the effect of the CSC on a set of governance measures, including trust in health workers, power sharing, mutual responsibility, and collective efficacy.
The team found significant relationships between those who actively used the scorecard and perceptions of equity and quality of their discussions. They also found positive relationships with governance measures of actions resulting from the process, such as joint monitoring and transparency, collective action, and availability of community help.
“Active participation in the CSC ensures a safe, inclusive space to voice concerns and work together to improve health services and outcomes,” explained Sara Gullo, lead author of the article.
CARE Malawi’s Thumbiko Msiska agrees. “CSC enhances engagement of various stakeholders, especially rights-holders, and brings their perspectives into the conversations, clarifying expectations and promoting ownership.”
Read the full post by CARE staffer, April Houston here:
And the published paper here: https://bmchealthservres.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12913-018-3651-3