How we worked with Unjani Clinics to scale access to quality, nurse-owned primary healthcare across South Africa and test new ways to deepen impact.
Scale Strategy, Lean Testing| Health, Women’s Economic Empowerment | Sub-Saharan Africa
Unjani Clinic operates a growing network of primary healthcare settings, owned and led by mainly black women nurses, delivering affordable, high-quality care to underserved communities while generating employment and fostering local leadership.
operating
care settings
consultations
per month
new care settings
added each year
new ideas tested to widen
impact beyond care settings
To help Unjani Clinics scale sustainably and deepen their impact, our support spanned three years and focused on three key areas:
- Learning what works
- Focusing and gaining strategic clarity for scale
- Refining the scale model and embedding what is core to achieve impact at scale
We helped map the operational, financial, and workforce risks that come with Unjani Clinic’s audacious goal of operating at scale with 600 care settings. This resulted in a forward-looking plan to strengthen internal systems, make better use of technology, and engage key government actors to support long-term success.
Facilitated organisation-wide workshops to align Unjani Clinic’s leadership and operations teams around a bold vision for scale. This led to a clear direction and shared language for impact, which now guides decision-making and onboarding across the organisation.
We introduced lean testing methods so Unjani Clinic could trial new ideas—like community screening and referral partnerships, without heavy upfront investment. This enabled rapid feedback and helped the team pivot early, based on what worked.
— Lynda Toussaint, CEO Unjani Clinics NPC
