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We close the loop between health information and health action.

Health Literacy Academy-Kenya (HLA) is a Nairobi-based social enterprise working in health systems — a limited company that operates on social-enterprise principles and reinvests its profits into the communities it serves. We help people find, understand and use health information — and we equip the providers, build the platforms, and design the learning that make it happen.

2021Established
NairobiHeadquartered
5Practice areas
12+Partner orgs
Who we are

A social enterprise, built to do all three.

Most partners do one part well. HLA is built to do all three — Learn, Build and Reach — so health information doesn't stall between the system that produces it and the people who need it. We build with communities, providers and ministries — not for them.

We earn so we can serve. We put communities — not shareholders — at the centre, and reinvest our profits into health literacy, learning, and the systems that put better health within reach for more Kenyans.

Aligned to national priorities

Our work supports Kenya's digital health agenda — the Digital Health Act 2023, the Social Health Authority (SHA), KHIS and eCHIS — and the global health-literacy standards set by Healthy People 2030 and the CDC's health-literate organization framework.

Mission

We make it easier for communities to find, understand, and use health information and services — and we equip the providers, build the platforms, and design the learning that make it happen.

Vision

A Kenya where no one is left behind by health information they cannot find, cannot understand, or cannot act on.

Our model

Our work generates revenue — and that revenue doesn't leave the system. It flows back into the communities we serve, so every engagement makes the next one possible. See how the cycle works →

What guides us

Six values, one standard.

If a community can't find it, understand it, or act on it, the work isn't finished.

01
Clarity

Plain language, accessible design. If a community can't understand it, it isn't finished.

02
Context

Kenya-grounded. Solutions fit local realities, languages, infrastructure and policy.

03
Co-creation

We design with communities, providers and counties at the table.

04
Evidence

Every programme is measured. Data decides what we scale.

05
Local ownership

We hand over systems and skills so impact outlives the engagement.

06
Equity

We design for the hardest-to-reach first.

Practice · Three pillars, five areas

Three pillars, delivered through five practice areas.

Our work runs on three pillars — Learn, Build and Reach — kept honest by a cross-cutting commitment to Evidence. On the ground, we deliver them through five interlocking practice areas. Engagements typically draw on two or three at once.

Learn

Capacity & instructional design

Strengthening the workforce and designing the learning that gets them there.

Build

Digital health platforms

The software that runs health systems and learning — HMIS, LMS, Connect.

Reach

Community & health literacy

Making health information something every community can find, understand and use.

Evidence

Research & MEL (cross-cutting)

Research, monitoring and evaluation that keeps every pillar honest.

Not a menu. The components listed under each practice area are typical scopes, not a fixed catalogue. Actual engagements are scoped to what the brief needs.
01
Pillar · Learn

Workforce Training & Capacity Development

Competency-based training programmes for health workers, institutions, and programme teams across community health, public health, and clinical support systems.

A

Curriculum development

Structured, competency-anchored curricula built from policy or programme objectives — competency mapping, session design, learner workbooks, facilitator guides, and assessment frameworks.

B

Training manuals & ToT packages

Production-ready manuals (print and digital), facilitator condensed guides, and Training-of-Trainer rollout packs designed to protect content fidelity through cascade.

C

Professional development programmes

Structured progression for practising health workers and programme staff — designed for institutional ownership rather than one-off delivery.

D

Institutional training rollouts

End-to-end design and support for institutional cascades: pre-rollout readiness, master trainer development, sub-national delivery, and post-training quality assurance.

Engaged when — a ministry, county, training institution, or implementing partner is launching, refreshing, or scaling workforce training and needs the curriculum, the cascade architecture, and the quality assurance designed together.
02
Pillar · Build

Digital Learning & Health IT Enablement

Digital learning platforms and the training-related health information systems that surround them.

A

Course digitisation

Conversion of paper-based curricula and facilitator-led training into structured digital courses with assessment logic, branching where useful, and progress data conformant to SCORM or xAPI.

B

LMS deployment & management

End-to-end Moodle and equivalent deployments — configuration, theming, gamification, certificate workflows, analytics, authentication, and email integration.

C

eLearning ecosystem design

Design of the full learner pathway: enrolment, sequencing, assessment, badging, supervision touchpoints, refresher cycles, and reporting.

D

Integrated learning workflows

Connecting training to delivery — including eCHIS-aligned workflows so competency data informs supervision, and supervision data informs the next training cycle.

Engaged when — there is curriculum but no platform, a platform but no learning design, or a need to connect training data to the systems where care is delivered.
03
Pillar · Reach

Community Health Systems Strengthening

Support for the community health workforce and the systems that connect households to facilities — and the health literacy that makes information usable at every point of contact.

A

CHP programme design

Community Health Promoter capacity-building frameworks and community engagement strategies aligned to national community health policy.

B

Referral and linkage systems

Strengthening the pathways between community, primary care, and referral facilities so people reach the services they need.

C

Health literacy & clear communication

Health-literate organization assessment, teach-back and plain-language redesign so providers and patients understand one another at every point of contact.

D

PHC & UHC implementation support

Implementation support across primary health care and universal health coverage priorities — RMNCAH, WASH, surveillance, and prevention.

Engaged when — a county, hospital or partner is building, training, or supervising the community health workforce, or wants to become a health-literate organization that communities can navigate and trust.
04
Pillar · Evidence

Research, Programme Design & MEL

Evidence to inform programme design, and the monitoring, evaluation and learning that keeps every pillar honest.

A

Programme design & theory of change

Needs assessments, stakeholder consultations, and theory-of-change work that turns an ambition into a designed, measurable programme.

B

MEL framework development

Monitoring, evaluation, and learning frameworks with indicators, data flows, and the dashboards to read them.

C

Mixed-methods research

Quantitative and qualitative inquiry — focus group discussions, surveys, and quasi-experimental designs in real-world settings.

D

Implementation science

Implementation research and scale-up strategy support that translates what worked into what spreads.

Engaged when — a programme needs to be designed from evidence, measured as it runs, or evaluated to decide what to scale.
05
Pillar · Reach

Convening & Knowledge Exchange

Scientific conferences and technical convenings designed as instruments of evidence-to-practice translation.

A

Conference & programme design

Conference concept and scientific programme architecture — including HLA's own CHPCON annual scientific conference on community health practice.

B

Programme committee management

Scientific committee coordination, abstract management, peer review, and the running of the scientific programme.

C

Sponsorship architecture

Tiered sponsorship frameworks and prospectus development that make a convening financially sustainable.

D

Convene platform deployment

Registration, abstracts and delegate management delivered on HLA Connect — recurring convening built to last.

Engaged when — a society, ministry, or partner wants a convening that does more than meet: one designed to move evidence into practice.
The team

Public health, instructional design, and clinical expertise.

A multidisciplinary team bringing together health systems, digital learning, and clinical practice.

BA

Dr. Butto Amarch, Ph.D.

Director

Health Risk Communication and Community Engagement Consultant; Instructional Designer.

CK

Clara Kamachu, BSc., MPH, Ph.D.(c)

Digital Learning Advisor

eLearning Developer; instructional design and digital health systems.

MM

Dr. Molly Muiga, Ph.D.

Mental Health Consultant

Mental health and psychosocial expertise across programmes and curricula.

PM

Dr. Peninah Muthoni, MMed

Paediatric Neurologist

Clinical advisory across child health and specialist care.

Work with us

Have a programme to design or evaluate?

Tell us what you're trying to achieve. We'll come back with how HLA can help — and how we'd measure it.

Begin a conversation