The Copperbelt Health Education Project (CHEP), is a non-governmental organisation with company limited by guarantee status. The project was founded by Dr. Chandra Mouli in 1988 as health project within the Rotary Club of Kitwe. It's primary mandate was to contribute to national efforts and strategies aimed at reducing the rapid spread of HIV/AIDS and mitigating its effect in Zambia, in general, and the Copperbelt Province.
During the early stage of CHEP it's main activities was public awareness and community mobilization. The community was fully segmented into target groups to adequately address the impact of HIV/AIDS on the communities.Peer Education became a pivotal methodology and later became a “stepping stones” that proved to be one of the better methods that CHEP had employed over the years.In 1991 Sr. Lynn Walker took over from Dr. Chandra Mouli, it was during this period that CHEP embarked on trainings that included; Peer Education, Home Based Care, Counseling Training, Stepping Stones Methodologies. These trainings benefited Community Based organisations. CHEP then started conducting training workshops in the regional countries and still continues do so. Sr. Lynn Walker served as CHEP’s Executive Director from 1991 to 2000. She handed over the directorship to Alick Nyrienda who is the current Executive Director. It is during the leadership of Sr. Lynn Walker that in 1998 CHEP's registration status of the project changed to a Company Limited by Guarantee with a Non-Governmental and not for profit status. Today it is one of the leading NGOs in the fight against HIV/AIDS on the Copperbelt Province of Zambia in particular and the nation in general. It is dedicated to ensuring that community responses to HIV/AIDS are accelerated through the provision of technical support to initiatives by community people themselves. Over the years CHEPs activities have evolved in response to health challenges faced by communities. CHEP has passed through three phases in its programme strategies. These phases can be outlined as follows:

• Public sensitisation (1988-90) – CHEP’s initial approach focused on sensitising the general public to the danger of HIV and AIDS through an Information, Education, and Communication (IEC) approach. The general thrust was to convey stark messages aimed at inducing fear about HIV and AIDS. By 1990, however, CHEP had concluded that a fear-based approach had severe limitations. Moreover, there was evidence that it had the unintended effect of strengthening AIDS-related stigma and denial.
• Community mobilisation (1990-92) – At this phase, CHEP adopted a new approach – ‘We spread knowledge, not fear’ – and promoted positive values and attitudes, including non judgmental support for people living with HIV. The strategy was to identify, inform, and mobilise all sections of society, from traditional healers, religious leaders, teachers, and health workers to employers, trade union leaders, members of the armed forces, journalists, and so on. It was during this period that CHEP ran its first training workshop for out of- school youth. At the same time, CHEP produced new IEC materials, including the first booklet aimed at people living with HIV, entitled ‘Living with HIV: a guide to positive living’.

• Behaviour change and behaviour formation (1993-2003) – During this ten-year period CHEP broadened its programme strategies and activities. This was combined with rapid organizational growth. It was no coincidence that during this period the School Without Walls (SWW) network under Southern African AIDS Training Programme (SAT) was established and CHEP was able to utilize the opportunities that this created. At the same time, CHEP’s involvement in the SWW helped to enrich the approach and strengthen the network within Zambia and the southern African region

• Technical support and IEC (2003-2006). In 2003, following an external evaluation in the previous year, CHEP decided to restrict its core activities to technical support and IEC. The ongoing transition from being a multi-service provider to a specialist CBO/NGO support provider is not without its challenges. However, by specialising in areas where it has demonstrated expertise, CHEP aims to achieve a better use of human and material resources, more clearly focused activities, and an expansion of the community response to the HIV epidemic. The Training and Research Centre (TRC) that CHEP officially opened in 2006 has not only strengthened its training capacity but has also given the organization strength in own resource mobilization strategies. In this phase, CHEP’s goal has been “to contribute to the prevention of the further spread of HIV/AIDS and to the mitigation of its impact on individuals and communities on the Copperbelt Province of Zambia and Create opportunities for shared learning at national and regional level”.

CHEP’s approach has been to collaborate with all sectors of the community to help develop knowledge, values and life skills that enable creativity, responsibility and healthy Life-Styles. CHEP believes in a sustainable livelihood approach to development where communities own the programmes and ensure their success. CHEP therefore considers itself as a catalytic agent that enhances, accelerates, and strengthens community’s own responses to situations as they occur based on values and lifestyles that communities find fit to cherish and have reason to value.In order to achieve this goal CHEP had two objectives which related to programming at community level and to institutional strengthening respectively;

1. To facilitate an expanded community response to HIV/AIDS and poverty alleviation through the provision of IEC strategies and Technical Support.
2. To strengthen Copperbelt Health Education Project’s management and quality service delivery to partners.

Our Vision

Our vision is a “healthy society in which everyone is economically and socially empowered and has the opportunity to make life choices”.

Our Mission

Our Mission is “to help communities in Zambia develop knowledge, values, and life skills that enable creativity, responsibility and healthy life styles through sub-granting and capacity building of local partners”

Dr. Chandra Mouli
Coordinator
1988 -1991)