Rhoda A. Kushi

Rhoda A. Kushi

TCI has made [a] tremendous impact on my capacity to deliver quality family planning service to women and young people.
– Rhoda A. Kushi

For much of her career, Rhoda A. Kushi, a reproductive health coordinator in Central Nigeria, couldn’t confidently train other frontline health workers to offer family planning services. She just didn’t have the knowledge and tools. As a result, all training in her community fell to outside donors who paid for and organized learning sessions.
Enter The Challenge Initiative (TCI)-Nigeria, a project led by the Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs and funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Since TCI began offering coaching to family planning practitioners, Rhoda has not only become a better health care provider, but she has also become a successful coach herself. This unique approach is increasing the pool of skilled heath care workers throughout Nigeria and creating a sustainable approach to health education in Rhoda’s community.
“With my new skills, there is now no need to depend solely on partners to fund training,” Rhoda says.
This work has contributed to an 88 percent increase in the use of long-acting reversible contraception in Rhoda’s community, along with trainings that have reached hundreds of frontline staff.
“TCI has made [a] tremendous impact on my capacity to deliver quality family planning service to women and young people,” she says.
Story developed by Winifred Kwaknat, TCI Service Delivery Technical Support Lead