MAMA NA MTOTO
MAMA na mTOTO
Primary info of the project
Projects goal: To contribute to the reduction of maternal and infant mortality and preventable deaths for children under 3 years of age in Junju, Bomani, Mto Mkuu sub location in Kilifi south, Kilifi, Kenya
The program was initiated in the year 2018
Under Mama na Mtoto we have 2 programmes which are as follows:
- In & about pregnancy programme
- Young families programme
our main goals
AIMS/ OBJECTIVES OF MAMA NA MTOTO PROJECT INCLUDES;
- To stop women from dying in or around the time of childbirth and decrease the neonatal death rate.
- To use a holistic approach which considers all aspects of a woman’s health.
- Increase the knowledge and skills of local women employed to deliver the service.
- Increase the knowledge and CMSW’s via our training course.
- Integrate the service into existing local services /agencies.
- To assist Labouring women to attend health facilities for their birth.
- To offer antenatal HIV screening to women in a manner that is acceptable to women and diminishes victimisation and prejudice. To support them to comply with their medication and adhere to safe breastfeeding practices.
- Detect and refer ill women and babies to health services who would not normally attend.
- Increase awareness within the local communities about the importance of good health in pregnancy, attendance at a health facility for labour and birth and care of new born infants and mothers in the postnatal period.
Milestones
- Promoted safe delivery practices among pregnant women and mothers
- Promoted timely vaccination, prevention, and treatment of common illnesses among newborns and children
- Contributed to the strengthening of the referral system
- Increased availability of health care services in underserved areas through the health information points approach
- Supported pregnant mothers with transport during the emergency to access care
- Trained healthcare workers and volunteers on maternal, newborn, and child health
- Promoted regular antenatal checkups and screening
- Promoted postnatal care to address the identification, prevention, and treatment of complications for mothers and newborns
- Enhance behavior change and communication among mothers and family members to foster improvement in nutrition, breastfeeding, and newborn care
- Sensitized the community on maternal and child health initiatives
- Enhanced community participation in healthcare initiatives and decision-making
Targeted group
Direct Beneficiaries
- Women of child bearing age including pregnant women, mothers and caregivers
- New born and children Under 3 years
- Youth
Indirect beneficiaries
- NCMTC students
- Community members (men & women)
- Health care providers
Collaborators: Governing bodies – Ministry of health MOH – Professionals working in Reproductive health-Public Health Leads-Networking and liaison with other professionals-Voluntary agencies. Partnerships – NCMTC
KITCHEN GARDEN PROJECT
Kitchen gardener harvesting and selling the vegetables to the COBES Manager.
The photo above show the COBES Manager Jane Mabuka purchasing the vegetables from one of the Bomani kitchen garden beneficiaries. The kitchen garden is a space set apart in the landscape for growing vegetables for everyday use inside the kitchen to prevent malnutrition among young children and good nutrition among post natal mothers. The kitchen garden beneficiaries also sell the produce too to enable them meet their day to day expenses. One requirement of proper nutrition is to ensure that over half of your dinner plate contains vegetables. In rural areas, it is easy to access a variety of vegetables and fruits. However, in urban areas where land is scarce, the only option is to buy. Buying comes with its own set of challenges that you and I have to contend with daily. Fortunately, you can grow your own vegetables regardless of where you live.
In and About Pregnancy learning session
CHPF- In and about pregnancy mothers learning session. The impact of the session is to educate pregnant mothers on the importance of exercise while pregnant.
The exercise is executed by the CHPF- community nurse to ANC Mothers at Mirima Minne HIP.
Using the birthing ball improves the posture and balances and exercises your tummy muscles.
A birth ball can also help to distribute weight more evenly. This can relieve spinal pressure and back pain, and provide support for your knees and ankles.
The video above shows the pregnant mothers undergoing the pelvic exercises under the control of our CHPF community nurse. This exercise aims at reducing pelvic tension during the pregnancy period and during delivery.
Young Families Training
Education for the mothers is the supper approach to the key challenges facing the society today. Therefore CHPF through Mama na Mtoto project has been on the fore front in addressing the issues.
A number of women have undergone training on nutrition and good child upbringing mechanisms. an affirmative action that has yielded good results in the community.
Mzazi na mtoto departmental meeting
With the MNM.UK leadership under ANITA JONES a health discussion was conducted under the programs managers’ madam ADDAH ALELA’S moderation.
The meeting was held to have a review of the existing memorandum of understanding by the involved parties. The need for expansion of the catchment area was one of the areas of intervention.
Having been established 5years ago progress was unfolded and the gaps to be addressed were also highlighted to make execution of future arrangements smooth.
present were; CHPF programs manager Addah Alela , Anita Jones, chair of trustees (Mama na Mtoto UK), Angela MNM.UK board member, Rebecca Kailu project manager, Jane Mabuka COBES and Bonface wamalwa Communication and PR department.
Role of Mama Na Mtoto in UHC Agenda
In light to see the community acquiring healthcare services in their respective areas, Mama Na Mtoto program under CHPF has plaid a critical role. Speaking during the Community Health Promotion Fund annual Stakeholder Consultative Meeting, Anita Jones highlighted what they have been doing in Kilifi south sub-county on midwifery, and child health care.
The programme involves antenatal care (ANC)and postnatal care (PNC). The programme involves taking care of mothers welfare and the child from birth up to 3years. Other interventions include, offering education to the families on health matters e.g. nutrition, common disease control, counselling and family life i.e family planning and other matters when need arise.
This contribute to the reduction of maternal and infant mortality and preventable deaths for children under 3 years of age in Junju, Bomani, Mto Mkuu sub location in Kilifi south, Kilifi, Kenya
Good Anita
CHPF-Mama Na Mtoto phone award to CHVs
Community health volunteers’ plays a critical role when it comes to health mothers . Following high demand for communication assistive, community health promotion took an initiative to buy them phones.
The initiative intent to ease communication for them when disseminating their core mandate. Communication is key and therefore they were empowered to make it easy to link up with the clients, Ministry Of Health (MOH), Community Health Promotion Fund and North Coast Medical Training College to help the community.
The initiative also help in boosting the morale of the CHVs since they feel valued by the community.
Introduction to gardening and permaculture
Brief Description of the activity: –
The following was what was captured on day 1 during the training:
Definition of permaculture: This word was originally derived from a combination of permanent and agriculture and later ‘permanent culture’, it means the development of agricultural ecosystems intended to be sustainable and self-sufficient.
Permaculture integrates land, resources, people and the environment through mutually beneficial synergies. It has 3 principles / ethics which are as follows:
- Care for the earth: Protecting and enhancing the natural environment by avoiding plastics, burning
- Care for the people: meeting human needs in a sustainable way, this is by using organic products to promote good health.
- Share the surplus /fair share: distributing surplus and resources to other people that do not have or that have less.
3 sister planting
This is an ancient method that involves planting 3 complimentary crops (maize, beans & squash) together in a way that benefits all three plants through mutual support and resource sharing. Corn acts as a natural trail for beans to climb, Beans fix nitrogen in the soil through its roots and squash spreads out at the ground, shading the soil to retain moisture and suppress weeds with its large leaves.
Benefits of 3 sister planting
- Increased crop yields: Intercropping can help produce more crops on a given piece of land.
- Improved soil: Intercropping can improve soil nutrient content, cover, and microbial diversity.
- Reduced competition: Intercropping can reduce competition for soil nutrients.
- Weed control: Intercropping can help control weeds.
- Weather protection: Intercropping can protect crops from severe weather conditions like droughts, frosts, and winds.
Companion planting
This is a broad gardening and agricultural technique where different plant species are grown together to benefit each other through pest control, nutrient exchange, shade or support.
Benefits of companion planting:
- Pests control: some plants repel pests because of their smell like: ginger, chillies, spring onion, garlic, rosemary, mint
- Improved growth: certain plants enhance the growth of others by improving soil nutrients, these are the nitrogen fixers (legumes)
- Suppresses weed, like the ground covering crop
- Pollination support e.g sunflower
- Efficient space use
Garden Design
Raised rows/ beds are good since water does not sit, the water follows the trend of slow, sink and spread.
Making a garden design
- Loosen the soil on the ground
- Make a bed of 1 metre horizontal
- Pile up the soil to be a raised bed
- Dig to the sides of the bed to create room for rain water to drain, slow, sink and spread to the plants
- Put the compost manure on the raised bed and ensure it is levelled
- Put the mulches on top of the compost manure.
- Lastly put your seedlings on the raised bed (Companion planting e.g beans, onion and sukuma wiki
N/B: If the ground is dry, water it at stage 3.
Sheath Mulching
This is a gardening and landscaping technique where organic or synthetic materials are laid in layers on the soil surface to suppress weeds, retain moisture, regulate soil temperature and enhance the health of the soil. It is eco-friendly since it reduces the need for chemical herbicides/ fertilizers as it improves soil structure and fertility over time.
Benefits of sheath mulching
- Weed suppression; the base layer blocks sunlight, preventing weed growth
- Moisture retention: reduces water evaporation, keeping the soil moist for longer
- Soil fertility: organic materials decompose, enriching the soil with nutrients
- Erosion control: protects soil from wind and water erosion
- Waste reduction: re uses materials like cardboard, news papers and organic waste
- N/B: It is suitable for vegetable garden only
Green house Net/ Shade net
This is a type of protective material used in green house structures to control environmental factors such as temperature, light intensity and humidity.
Features of greenhouse nets
- Material: made from UV –stabilized HDPE, which ensures durability and resistance to harsh weather
- Colour variations: green- commonly used for general shading and cooling, white – reflects light and maintains brightness, suitable for light sensitive plants, black – provides maximum shading and is often used for non-plant purposes, like privacy or storage areas.
- Mesh design: the netting structure allows air circulation while reducing excess sunlight and also protects against pests, birds and other external threats (Suitable for coast region)
Mary Kalenga's kitchen garden story
This video gives a highlight of the CHPF – kitchen garden program under the Mzazi na Mtoto program. The video was taken in one of our catchment areas; that is Mirima Minne.
The beneficiary Mary Kalenga expresses her gratitude to Mama na Mtoto for empowering her with the knowledge , skill and equipment for use on kitchen garden. The project has helped her to be able pay school fees for the kids through sales from the produce. Apart from that the project has enabled her undergo economic transformation since the project is her source of income.
The kitchen garden is a plus/success for her because it has been able to help her accomplish her errands. GOOD WORK CHPF!!!!!
Gifting of the PNC Mothers
CHPF team under Mzazi na Mtoto issuing gifts to post natal mothers at their homes in Chidongo village. The ANC Mothers attended 6 ANC clinic visits without fail at Bomani dispensary. The post natal mothers are motivated with the gifts whenever they attend over 6 ANC visits at the dispensary and also health education sessions at the level 1 – Health Information Point (HIP).
Use of incentives and the gifts is a motivational tool to the mothers. By doing this we have been able to upscale the numbers of mothers seeking medical attentions and attending to the clinics fully.
Unlike in the past today mothers can present themselves and highlight the challenges they go through while pregnant and after pregnancy.
Community health promotion fund together with Mzazi Na Mtoto continues to play a vital role in the community mainly to promote Primary Health Care role in the community of Bomani, Kilifi south sub-county Kilifi County.
During Ante Natal Care mothers are taken through the following: Danger sins during pregnancy, Birth preparation and Nutrition in pregnancy.
During post natal care : they a are taken through the following; EBF ( exclusive Breast Feeding), Danger signs of a baby and mother after birth, Nutrition of a mother after birth and finally immunization.
CHPF Mzazi na Mtoto community empowerment program
Community development is crucial for building stronger, more vibrant, and sustainable communities. It improves the overall quality of life by fostering collaboration, empowerment, and access to opportunities for all citizens.
By addressing environmental, economic, social, and health issues through a multi-sector approach, community development creates a sense of belonging, strengthens social networks, and empowers individuals to create positive change within their communities.
In fulfilment of this Community Health promotion fund through Mzazi na Mtoto project funded by Mama Na Mtoto UK- 1163465 delivered the passion fruits and Pawpaw seedlings to various households within Kireme catchment area. this is a fulfillment of promise made during the entrepreneurship training held at North Coast Medical Training College. We are targeting to do the same across our catchment areas. The program was spearheaded by the project officer Mr. Brian Wafula.
Combining passion fruit and pawpaw offers a synergy of nutrients and potential health benefits. Pawpaw, rich in digestive enzymes like papain, can aid in breaking down food and improving digestion, while passion fruit provides antioxidants, fiber, and various vitamins. Together, they can enhance overall digestive health, boost immunity, and offer antioxidant protection.
Growing Health, One Kitchen Garden at a Time!
At the heart of our mission lies a simple yet powerful idea: that lasting health begins right at home. Community Health Promotion Fund (CHPF), through the Mzazi na Mtoto Project, is bringing this vision to life with the Kitchen Garden Program — an initiative transforming households, one garden at a time.
Across communities like within the catchment area, families are turning small plots of land into vibrant sources of nutrition. These home gardens are more than just spaces for growing vegetables — they are symbols of hope, empowerment, and resilience.
Fighting Malnutrition at the Root 
Malnutrition remains a pressing issue in many of our communities, especially among pregnant women and young children. The Kitchen Garden Program addresses this by promoting sustainable, homegrown nutrition. With training and support from CHPF, beneficiaries learn how to cultivate nutrient-rich vegetables such as Amaranthus, spinach, kale, tomatoes, and local staples that improve their families’ health.
By equipping families with the tools and knowledge to grow their own food, we’re not only increasing access to nutritious meals but also reducing dependence on external food sources. This strengthens food security and builds long-term health resilience within households.
Empowering Through Action 
One of the most rewarding aspects of the program is witnessing the pride and joy of those who have taken charge of their health journey. In the photo above, a proud beneficiary from Mirima Minne stands beside her thriving kitchen garden — a living testament to what community-driven health initiatives can achieve. Her smile reflects more than just success; it reflects empowerment.
These gardens aren’t just feeding bodies — they’re uplifting spirits, creating purpose, and nurturing self-reliance. For many, it’s the first step toward breaking the cycle of poverty and poor health.
A Community Effort
None of this would be possible without the incredible collaboration between CHPF, our partners, and the community members who continue to show dedication and commitment to the program. It is through this spirit of shared responsibility and action that true change is cultivated.
As we look ahead, we remain committed to expanding the Kitchen Garden Program to reach even more families in need. Because when one garden grows, so does the health of an entire community.
Together, we are growing health — one garden, one family, one harvest at a time.