Changemaker

As part of its commitment to building youth-centered, community-driven health interventions, the Changemaker project convened an implementation workshop on June 05, 2025, at the Africa Academy for Public Health (AAPH) Headquarters in Dar es Salaam. This collaborative session brought together a diverse group of stakeholders, including parents, adolescent representatives, teachers from Mivumoni Secondary School, an agriculture extension officer, and the ward education officer from Wazo Ward, to advance discussions on sustainable approaches to adolescent health promotion.

In addition, the workshop was joined by country partners from Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS), whose participation enriched the technical depth of the conversations and reinforced the importance of academic and community collaboration in the implementation process.

Building on insights from previous co-design workshops with different groups of stakeholders, this session marked a critical phase aimed at refining and contextualizing interventions that combine urban farming with school-based health education to prevent adolescent obesity and other non-communicable diseases (NCDs).

Through open dialogue and facilitated planning exercises, participants collectively explored the logistics of implementing fruit and vegetable gardens and tailored school health modules.

This workshop underscored the project’s holistic, participatory approach to adolescent health, ensuring that solutions are realistic, relevant, and owned by the very communities they aim to serve. The participants’ contributions will directly shape the design, rollout, and long-term sustainability of these interventions.