The Mentor Mother Programme
The key idea of the Mentor Mother Programme is to engage capable women in the task of improving the lives of families in their own communities, prioritising mothers and children and people with noncommunicable diseases. In this way the programme takes maternal and child health, including the rehabilitation of malnourished children, and care for people with chronic diseases, beyond clinics and institutions into the community making it home based.
With teams in both Western Cape and Eastern Cape, the Mentor Mother programme focuses on bringing a supportive and informative primary healthcare intervention into the homes of families. Mentor Mothers guide mothers through the rehabilitation of their underweight children, support pregnant mothers to improve birth outcomes, decrease the number of children born with a low birth weight, assist in the prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission and improve the quality of life of people with chronic illnesses.
The Philani Mentor Mother Model takes a holistic approach to primary health care with the belief that healthy, well-informed parents are able to care for and bring up a healthy family.
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Philani’s Mentor Mother Model
The Mentor Mother Programme draws inspiration from two international child health models – the ‘Positive Deviant Model’ implemented in Vietnam by J. Sternin, and the ‘Nurse Home Visiting Program’ from the United States, which has been extensively documented and evaluated by David Olds.
The Positive Deviant Model focuses on creating independence and finding solutions within communities. It is built on the philosophy that even in very poor communities some women develop coping mechanisms that enable them to raise healthy children. The idea of using mentors who are based within the community is therefore fundamental to the model.
The Mentor Mother Programme now operates in the Western Cape and in the Eastern Cape’s OR Tambo District. Since 2012, the Mentor Mother Programme has been shared and integrated into various initiatives globally, inspiring and shaping programmes run by other organisations.
The programme rests on five key pillars. These are:
Recruitment: Philani operates in communities only by invitation, with local structures assisting in identifying ‘positive deviants.’ Candidates undergo a thorough internal interview process before being invited to training.
Training: Philani’s training unit conducts a six-week course for Mentor Mother candidates, blending theory and practice based on adult learning principles. Ongoing field training is provided by coordinators, with additional training during monthly team meetings.
Home-based, action-orientated health intervention: The programme helps the Mentor Mother to share her coping skills and knowledge with others. A Mentor Mother’s task is not to take on and solve the problems of a family she visits, but rather to help the family find their own solutions by sharing her knowledge and skills.
Support and supervision: Each Mentor Mother has the regular support of coordinators in the field. Time is set aside for debriefing on problem cases and feedback on performance.
Monitoring and performance feedback: Coordinators and Mentor Mothers monitor outcomes such as rehabilitation rates, exclusive breastfeeding, antenatal attendance, facility deliveries, HIV testing, treatment adherence, grant uptake, and PMTCT participation to assess the intervention’s effectiveness.
Satellite Offices
As Mentor Mothers continued to serve the needs of their community, it has become increasingly important for them to maintain a physical presence within their communities. This ensures that clients have access to support even on days when visits are not scheduled. To meet this need, Philani staff identified safe community spaces to serve as working stations.
Today, 12 satellite offices have been established. These offices serve as team hubs where Mentor Mothers meet each morning, securely store patient files, conduct group training sessions, and stay up-to-date with administrative tasks.
Wellness hubs
With the establishment of satellite offices, community health workers gained better access to their communities, enabling more comprehensive services. This progress led Philani to introduce wellness hubs in all satellite offices, extending preventative health services directly into the community. Acting as extensions of Department of Health facilities, these hubs reduce long clinic queues and travel distances, improving healthcare access, chronic medication adherence, and timely treatment of undiagnosed conditions.
Operating weekly from Monday to Friday, the wellness hubs serve communities in Luzuko, Crossroads, Marikana, Better Life, Lower Crossroads, A-Section, B-Section, C-Section, D-Section, and Driftsands.
The services offered include (but are not limited to): screening for TB, HIV, diabetes, hypertension, and mental health conditions, family planning, pregnancy testing, nutrition interventions, growth monitoring, vitamin A and deworming administration, and general health education.
ARV Clubs
Philani has stationed 17 Mentor Mothers as ARV club facilitators and counsellors in government clinics affiliated with the organization. Together, they manage nearly 400 ARV clubs, supporting close to 10,000 HIV-positive clients annually. These clubs provide a safe and convenient way for clients to access their medication, bypassing long queues and wait times at clinics and hospitals. This approach has significantly improved treatment adherence among participants.
Targeted Universal testing for Tuberculosis (TUTT) project
Our Mentor Mothers conduct TB screening and sputum collections in clients’ homes as part of the TUTT project, which aims to improve TB outcomes across South Africa. Sputum samples collected from close contacts of TB patients are transported to health laboratories for testing. Clients who test positive are then started on treatment while those who test negative receive prophylaxis (TB Preventative Treatment).
Download a PDF of the Philani Mentor Mother Booklet here.