CHW Central is an online community of practice that brings together program managers, experts, practitioners, researchers, and supporters of CHW programs. The website is a virtual meeting place to share resources and experiences and to discuss and develop questions and ideas on CHW programs and policy.
Vision
We envision a world in which everyone in need has access to a trained and supported community health worker.
Mission
CHW Central believes that community health workers are key to achieving universal health coverage and reducing global health inequities. As the preeminent global resource on CHWs and CHW programs, CHW Central increases access to online information to improve the quality of CHW programs and services. We advocate for CHWs to be appropriately integrated into the global health workforce and represented and connected through strong networks and associations.
Our Story
In 2011, staff from Initiatives Inc. struggled to assemble the relevant literature while developing the Community Health Worker Assessment and Improvement Matrix. Given the growing importance of CHW programs it seemed obvious that accessing the literature and forming connections in the community dedicated to CHWs and CHW programs should be easier. As a result of this realization, CHW Central was launched.
In its first few years, CHW Central was supported by the US Agency for International Development through the Health Care Improvement (HCI) Project, which was led by University Research Corporation. After the end of HCI in 2013, Initiatives Inc. took over the site’s management for the next seven years until the establishment of CHW Central as an independent non-profit organization in 2020.
Core Strategies
- To foster CHW workforce development by sourcing and making available the evidence on community health workers, whether publications, gray literature, tools, or media.
- To promote CHW self-determination through engagement and by giving CHWs a voice in stories, features, webinars and other platforms.
- To support the institutionalization and sustainability of the CHW cadre by assisting in the spread of global guidelines, policies and best practices.
- To advocate for improvements in CHW program management and CHW support by providing syntheses of evidence and best practices.
- To engage communities of program managers, implementers and CHWs in discussions about topics essential to the CHW workforce.
- To serve our members and the global community passionate about the role of CHWs in achieving universal health coverage by coordinating with global policy leaders, donors and implementing partners to bring resources together at CHW Central as the go-to source for information and discussion on CHWs.
Components
Meetings and Events: We curate a list of upcoming conferences and events of interest to the CHW community.
Are you planning an event that we should promote? Contact us!
Features: The latest research, best practices, global and U.S. policy discussions, tools and success stories.
Send us your ideas for topics or presenters!
Resources: The CHW Central resource database includes hundreds of case studies, journal articles, training materials, podcasts, and more.
If you have a resource to add, submit it here.
Partners: CHW Central is proud to partner with organizations committed to strengthening CHW programs.
Read about our partner organizations and find links to their websites on the Partners page.
Links: CHW Central’s Links page helps you connect with other organizations implementing and supporting innovative CHW programs, as well as other resource-sharing sites.
To suggest additional links for CHW Central, contact us.
CHW HUB: The CHW Hub is a product of the partnership between CHW Central and the Health Systems Global Thematic Working Group (TWG) on Supporting and Strengthening the Role of Community Health Workers in Health System Development.
Help us to keep CHW Central useful and up to date! Share a resource, offer to write a feature, send us your conference details for promotion, and most of all, recommend the site to your colleagues. Use the Contact Us page to provide your feedback.