The First Mile Approach

we have walked the last mile…

We have worked for organizations with a last mile approach, one that centers a decision-making headquarters literally or figuratively far away from the heart of the community a program is meant to serve. We have walked that last mile and know how hard it is to reach patients especially in isolated areas. We have risked our lives walking for days through the forest, through mining areas with armed groups, waded through crocodile-infested rivers, to reach our patients.

we need to take a different approach…

We have learned from these experiences, from talking with community members, and observing the outcomes of the last mile approach. The last mile mentality centers the perspective of the organization or person who is so far away they travel miles to get to the community they serve. Their last mile is actually the first mile for the mom with her newborn baby she needs to see a doctor for, the first mile for the patient trying to find the nearest hospital that is willing to take care of them. That first mile can be impossible to traverse. We believe the first mile is where the expertise in the problem lies, and where the most sustainable solutions can be designed, along with the collaboration of the international community.

We have seen too many patients, friends, and family members die in their first mile, before they reach health care services, too late to be saved.

The reality of decades of failed interventions calls for a new approach, one that centers the first mile, the perspective of the people who a health program is intended to serve. By this we mean that the community itself will conceive, inform, design, drive, and evaluate any of our projects. Dr. N’Simbo is himself a part of the community in Eastern DRC, as is the majority of the team.