Community Health Volunteer's Training Manual - Population Council

Module 2 Community Mobilisation and Tools
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effectiveness of the survey, you should use a combination of methods. What are these
methods for conducting baseline survey?
Interview: This involves face to face interaction between the person asking the question
(interviewer) and the person answering the questions (interviewee).
Questionnaires: This consists of writing down a number of questions for the respondent to
complete him/herself. Alternatively, the interviewer could ask the respondent the questions
and fill the questionnaires.
Focused group discussions: Having discussion with a specific group of people (8-12) on
specific topics. The researcher records the responses from the group members.
Large group discussions: This is where all community members take part in the discussion
concerning the entire community.
Participant observation: This is where the one collecting the information about the
community resides in the community and takes part in all community activities but makes
independent observations.
Role of the Community Health Volunteer when conducting a
baseline survey
During community entry and awareness creation CHVs act as liaison between the
researchers and the community.
CHVs help to identify the boundaries of the target population or community.
CHVs also assist in compiling the profile of the study area.
CHVs assist in listing the household members and numbering the houses. If complete
enumeration is to be done CHVs and VHCs help ensure that everybody is counted.
During dissemination of findings, VHCs help in organising the venues, communicating
messages to stakeholders and participating in the dissemination activities.
VHCs and CHVs make follow-ups on some action points from the presentations and
recommendations.
Unit Summary
In this unit, we discussed some key concepts in data management as well as important
documents that every community should have in order to be able to plan and execute
community projects effectively. These include the community profile and community
demographic register which captures the important features in the community. The
community demographic register is described as the document that contains detailed
information about the various individuals, households and population groups. The
community map illustrates the various resources and health related institutions and
personnel within the community and their locations. We have also looked at what a baseline
is how it is conducted and the role of the volunteer in that exercise.