There is a temptation in the NGO world to measure impact in project cycles — a three-year grant, a two-year intervention, a six-month pilot. Wild4Life has always believed that meaningful change in community health cannot be rushed. You have to stay. You have to build trust. You have to be there when things go wrong, not just when they go well.
This year marks five years of Wild4Life's presence in Lupane District. Here is what that consistency has made possible.
Year One: Learning and Listening
When Wild4Life first arrived in Lupane in 2021, the team did not arrive with a programme. They arrived with questions. Who are the Village Health Workers? What do they feel supported in doing, and where do they feel stuck? What are the biggest barriers to care for families in this district? What has been tried before, and why did it or didn't it work?
The first year was almost entirely about listening, relationship-building, and mapping. No programmes. No deliverables. Just presence and respect.
Year Two and Three: Building the Foundation
With that foundation in place, Wild4Life began its clinical mentorship programme at six facilities in Lupane, pairing experienced nurses with the facility-based staff who most needed support. Community dialogues began in the wards with the lowest antenatal care and immunisation rates. The VHW mentorship model was introduced, initially with 18 VHWs across three wards.
By the end of year three, the numbers were already telling a story. Antenatal care first-visit attendance in the programme wards had increased by 22%. VHW retention — historically a challenge — was at 94%. Viral load testing uptake had increased by 31% at mentored facilities.
Years Four and Five: Scaling What Works
The last two years have been about deepening and expanding. The number of VHWs in the mentorship programme grew to 64. Two additional health facilities joined the clinical mentorship cohort. A teen club was established at the district hospital. And for the first time, community dialogue graduates began facilitating their own dialogues — communities becoming their own engines of change.
What Five Years Looks Like
It looks like a nurse in Lupane who tells you, without prompting, that she no longer fears difficult patients because she knows exactly who to call and what to do. It looks like a VHW who has been with the programme since day one and has no intention of leaving. It looks like a community that took a conversation about maternal health and turned it into a locally funded transport fund that is still running two years later.
It looks like slow, ordinary, extraordinary change.
Wild4Life is committed to continuing this work — in Lupane and beyond. If you believe in what sustained community health investment can achieve, we would love your support.