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Community Health Worker Incentives and Disincentives: How they affect motivation, retention and sustainability

Published by the Basic Support for Institutionalizing Child Survival Project (BASICS II) for the United States Agency for International Development, this paper examines the experience with using various incentives to motivate and retain community health workers (CHWs) serving primarily as volunteers in child health and nutrition programs in developing countries. It makes recommendations for more systematic use of multiple incentives based on an understanding of the functions of different kinds of incentives and emphasizes the importance of the relationship between a CHW and community. Case studies from Afghanistan, El Salvador, Honduras, and Madagascar illustrate effective use of different incentives to retain CHWs and sustain CHW programs.

Author(s): 
Karabi Bhattacharyya, Peter Winch, Karen LeBan, and Marie Tien
Year of Publication: 
2001
Program themes: 
Resource Type: 
Gray literature
Language: 
English
Section: 
Resource Database