Vaccine Implementation — Ilala
An advocacy-led HCD implementation that mobilized district leaders and community health workers to close the zero-dose immunization gap in Ilala.
The Challenge
Ilala district in Dar es Salaam faced persistently low child vaccination coverage. An earlier HCD diagnosis had surfaced 2,550 zero-dose children and 1,753 defaulters on record, driven not by a shortage of vaccines but by weak trust between health facilities and communities, and no structured way to mobilize households at scale.
Our Approach
Following a prioritization workshop with UDSM, UNICEF Tanzania, and Ilala's Ministry of Health team, we planned and implemented a phased "Ilala Model" of advocacy: engaging the District Commissioner as a champion, testing the prototype directly with the DC and DMO to refine it into a two-stage advocacy flow, and running a house-to-house mobilization campaign led by CHWs paired with health care workers across the Ukonga and Segerea divisions.
The Outcome
The 18-day campaign reached 67,145 households — 104% of target — and vaccinated 10,286 children, 239% of the original goal, while revealing that defaulters were significantly undercounted in existing records due to Ilala's high population mobility. The District Commissioner endorsed the community-designed model as the official "Ilala Model" for replication in other districts.
Project Snapshot
Sector: Health
An advocacy-led HCD implementation that mobilized district leaders and community health workers to close the zero-dose immunization gap in Ilala.