Community Impact Programme: The Fourth Group
The fourth CIP group took place between September and December 2025. The programme welcomed a diverse group of 18 participants, representing a wide range of regions, experiences, and expertise. Participants included grassroots advocates and organizational leaders, all united by a shared commitment to hepatitis elimination.
The Accelerator Programme proved to be a highly valuable learning experience, equipping participants with diverse skills and practical knowledge to strengthen their advocacy efforts, and was strongly endorsed, with 100% of participants stating they would definitely recommend the programme to others.
“The training had a significant personal and professional impact on me by deepening my understanding of viral hepatitis as a public health, human rights, and development issue rather than only a medical condition.”
“I liked the fact that I could learn more about the situation with hepatitis in different countries represented by the training participants, exchange experiences, and understand the commonality of issues.”
“Meeting the facilitator, engaging with participants, and sharing experiences was the big takeaway.”
Impact in action
Case study 1: Shailesh
Dr Shailesh Wagle is the Assistant Vice President at United Way Mumbai. Harnessing his expertise in public health to lead transformative community initiatives, his work to date has centred on crafting and implementing programmes that resonate with United Way Mumbai’s mission to mobilise the caring power of communities to advance the common good.
In September 2025, Shailesh joined the fourth group of the Community Impact Accelerator Programme. Shailesh felt that joining the accelerator programme would help him gain, “a wider perspective on how I can lead my team to get better at programme delivery. Public health challenges like hepatitis need innovative ideas, and learning with the rest of the world will open those doors. At the same time, I can assist others by sharing my learnings from India which will help them understand certain strategies. “
The programme lasted 12 weeks, from September 2025 to December 2025, and was delivered through interactive virtual sessions and structured peer engagement. Shailesh reported that his favourite topic covered on the programme was storytelling in advocacy. “I always believed that real life stories can mobilise resources, change behaviours and move governments to make better decisions. For hepatitis advocacy, we always faced challenges with commercial sex workers as they often do not want to expose themselves to the outside world. They are scared of medical interventions, outsiders interacting with them and gathering information, as in the past such information has been used against them for legal and social hardships. We faced the same challenge when it came to engage with them for testing and vaccination. This is where personal stories worked.”
Since completing the programme, Shailesh has been able to put the learnings of the programme into practical application. “We spoke to a commercial sex worker who had been previously similarly scared to get tested and vaccinated for hepatitis B but once we informed her more about hepatitis, her perspective changed completely. She also introduced us to her kids and ensured they get the vaccines as well. This woman became our voice among the commercial sex workers introducing the team, helping set up camps, mobilising women all through her personal experience and sharing how vulnerable they are to hepatitis. This was a perfect alliance between us and a local advocate, using her personal story and ensuring others like her get the service they need. “
Shailesh concluded by stating, “I would recommend the CIP programme as most of what I knew before CIP focused on data, numbers and quantitative mechanisms. CIP talks about the more qualitative and long impacting factors such as alliances, stakeholder management and storytelling. All managers should learn this and understand that success is not merely achieving numbers and while doing that, create a path to sustenance for communities.”
Impact in action
Case study 2: Duke Sangara
Duke Sangara is a public health expert working at LVCT Health in Kenya as the Sexual and Reproductive Health Lead. He has over 10 years of experience designing and implementing interventions and research on health, including HIV, Viral Hepatitis, Tuberculosis, SRMNCAH, gender-based violence, and mental health.
In September 2025, Duke joined the fourth group of the Community Impact Accelerator Programme as he was deeply committed to advancing the fight against viral hepatitis through community-driven solutions. “Joining this programme presents an opportunity to strengthen my capacity as a community leader, learn from global best practices, and gain the tools and networks necessary to create a greater impact at the grassroots level.”
The programme lasted 12 weeks, from September 2025 to December 2025, and was delivered through interactive virtual sessions with a dedicated facilitator. Upon completing the programme, Duke was able to put some of the learnings into real world practice. “I applied the skills and knowledge that emanated from my participation in the CIP programme during the implementation of a 7-month advocacy project to fast-track the introduction of a universal hepatitis B birth dose vaccination. Before CIP, my case for the hepatitis B birth dose was built almost entirely on health grounds. The programme taught me to frame the ask differently, tying it to cost savings and health system efficiency, which is the language policymakers actually respond to. I have carried that into engagements. Since then, I have noticed more willingness from decision makers to sit down and talk about timelines, not just acknowledge the issue and move on. We succeeded in having the hepatitis B birth dose vaccination included in the Kenya Integrated Guidelines on HIV, STIs and Viral hepatitis 2026.”
As well as learning new skills, Duke was also able to overcome existing barriers to progress, “Hepatitis often loses out to vaccines that already have donor funding secured through Gavi-UNICEF financing. CIP pushed me to get more disciplined about stakeholder mapping, working out who actually holds influence and who shapes them. Instead of engaging everyone, we prioritized engagement with policy makers at MOH level, professional associations like Kenya Pediatric Association (KPA) and Midwives Association of Kenya (MAK), CSOs in the hepatitis space and targeted talks to pregnant women as consumers. That let me focus my time on the people who could move things, like technical working groups and professional networks, rather than spreading myself thin. Webinars proved cost efficient in reaching larger audiences compared to physical meetups.”
When asked if he would recommend CIP to a friend, Duke stated “Absolutely yes, any day-any time! The CIP programme provides an opportunity for peer-peer learning, support from experts around hepatitis and advocacy and resourceful content. That mix of structure and practice is what made it stick for me, and I think it would do the same for any advocate serious about moving hepatitis policy within their communities.”
