Supporting children orphaned and made vulnerable by HIVAIDS:

1
Supporting children orphaned and made vulnerable
by HIV/AIDS

• By Moses Dombo
• Sen. Tech. Officer OVC/CAA
• Family Health International
• 2101 Wilson Blvd Arlington VA 22201
• Tel [phone]

2
Key challenges for the Children

• Go through Grieving process and rites
• Children moving/adjusting to new locations
• Identifying new survival outlets and learning new
  skills
• Psychological and socioeconomic coping
  mechanisms-----working children
• Acceptance and new lifestyles

3
Phases of response

• Pre-death (First signs, disclosure, Illness and
  Preparation)
• Death, Grieving and funeral rites (Shock stage)
• Short-term (Coping with rapid changes)
• Long-term or fully adjusted/reality stage
• Qualitative and Quantitative interventions
• Formal and informal

4
Diagrammatic image for providing comprehensive to
OVC
5
Levels of intervention
Extended family, clans, friends
Wider community Government, church
Children
Family/Household
Community, schools
6
Developing a multisectoral and integrated response
Household
Children
Resources
Skills
Community
Traditional Authority/IPs
National, Province,District
HBC
Capacity building
Coordination
Other services
Social Economic
PSS
Objective 1
Objective 2
Objective 3
7
Strengthening the Households to protect and care
for children

• Preparation for imminent death if household
  head( Home Based Care Will making, inheritance,
  Faith linkages, Memory boxes, family lineage)
• Holding the family unit together.
• Managing pressure from extended family, clans,
  and subtle forms of exploitation

8
Strengthening households to protect and care for
their children

• Capacity and capability development (Training,
  equipping, strengthening economic livelihoods,
  food security, health accessing etc.)
• Social associations, clubs Integration
• Spiritual nurture and Social guidance
• Resource mobilization

9
Household focused HBC/OVC Program
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Mobilizing and strengthening Community Responses

• Training local technical people e.g. counselors
  and care givers to provide love, compassion,
  empathy and emotional stability
• Creating alternate sources of Socio-cultural
  guidance and connectivity identity and providing
  the sense of family
• Strengthening the FBOs to provide spiritual
  nurture

11
Mobilizing and strengthening Community Responses

• Mobilization and organization (CBOs, Child care
  centers, Village orphan committees etc)
• Contribution to infrastructure Too few
  households can contribute to common good projects
• Music and drama, Sports, Farming and other
  competitions,
• Advocacy and providing Information

12
Mobilizing and strengthening Community Responses

• Challenging harmful cultural practices
• Equipping Establishing Vocational and life
  skills training programs like apprenticeships,
  etc.
• Introducing time saving devices that release
  girls time for school and skills development
• Medical and Education cost waivers

13
Strengthening the capacity of young people to
meet their own needs

• Reverse Loss of consistence in development
  opportunities for education especially for girls
  Stop child marriages
• Counter abandonment with fostering
• Improved access to adequate nutrition, housing,
  basic health care and clothing--------No choices!

14
Strengthening the capacity of young people to
meet their own needs

• Preventing loss of property and advocating for
  Inheritance rights
• Forced early marriages of Female children
  especially orphans
• Higher child mortality

15
Governments developing facilitative environments

• Sub-regional and National workshops
• National Task forces
• National Action Plans and Policies
• Situational Analyses
• Funding mechanisms

16
Awareness within societies

• Dissemination of research findings
• Advocacy initiatives
• Mainstreaming OVC issues
• Focal point persons for OVC

17
Lessons, challenges and general observations

• Magnitude of the problem, its complexity and
  contextual variations call for Flexibility.
• Sustainability needs steady injection of external
  resources
• Need for ensuring greater resource injection at
  the household level.
• Broadly trained development facilitators essential

18
Lessons, challenges and general observations

• Communities have the will and commitment and
  should be assisted before they lose these.
• Greater awareness needed of available resources
  at the grassroots level Resource mapping
• External support should be introduced while
  parents live Give parents longer life. There can
  never be a substitute for parents.