Case studies. Zimbabwe: I have the knowledge and skills to help.

In Zimbabwe Hebron Gotora’s workday officially ends at 4:30 p.m. but it is often later than 6:00 p.m. when he navigates his bicycle down the bumpy dirt road to his home in the community of Chihota. His dedication and pride as a community-based distributor (CBD) of contraceptives for the Zimbabwe National Family Planning Council (ZNFPC) is evident. Seemingly everywhere people seek him out for advice. Gotora has been a CBD worker for nearly a decade taking family health services beyond clinic walls to the doorsteps of people in the community. But his job was recently expanded to include the more holistic approach of providing information about HIV/AIDS sexually transmitted infections (STIs) HIV voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) referrals to VCT services access to prevention of mother-to-child transmission services and much more. “With my new role I feel renewed” Gotora 39 and a father of three said in a recent interview with the Advance Africa project supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). “Now I can assist many people.” (excerpt)