Local Links for Orphaned and Vulnerable Children (OVC) support
Local Links
for Orphaned and Vulnerable Children (OVC) support
Since 2004, Care International in Kenya
has implemented a project dubbed Local Links in Kibera, which is the largest
informal settlement in the Africa. The project is supported by USAID through
the President
Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief [PEPFAR] mechanisms. The
project works with a variety of local implementing partners in Kibera to
provide for the needs and rights of Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC). The
local partners engaged in the course of implementation include 20 Community
Based Organizations, 45 Faith Based Organizations, 20 community
primary/secondary schools and 15 community youth groups. The project also works
with other government structures such as the children's department and local
administration personnel.
The
goal is to mitigate the impact of HIV and AIDS through
strengthening collective community capacity to care for Orphans and Vulnerable
Children.
Key Achievements
The
project has made significant achievements in realizing its overall goal:
Over 7,000 OVC caregivers have been trained on the group savings and
loans, and are already operating savings and loans associations in the
community for the benefit of OVC under their care.
67,004 (32,347 Male, 34,657
Female) OVCs served. Of these, 30,318 were served with at least 3 or more
services and 36,686 were served with atleast one or two services
5,979 OVCs receiving food and
nutritional supplementation through OVC services
Over 1,000 staff members drawn from community
based organizations have been trained on issues related to the provision of
care to Orphans and Vulnerable Children. They have been provided with a variety
of skills including child protection, HIV and AIDS, Lobby and Advocacy,
Resource Mobilization, Project Development and Management and Strategic
planning .Selected CBOs have also been provided with financial sub grants so as
to ensure service provision to OVC on areas such as education, protection,
nutrition, psychosocial support, economic empowerment and medical care.
A series of stigma
reduction activities have been implemented in collaboration with community
youth groups and Faith Based Organizations (FBOs). The main stigma reduction
activities initiated though this partnership include Participatory Educational
Theatre (PET) performances, sports tournaments, beauty contests, debates on
thematic issues related to stigma and discrimination, sermons for religious
congregations and dissemination of an anti-stigma video documentary developed by
the project earlier in the first year of implementation. These stigma reduction
activities have so far reached a large number of community members with diverse
messages on HIV and AIDS as well as the causes, effects and means of reducing
stigma and discrimination against People Living with HIV and AIDS and their
families. As a result, over 50,000 community members have been
reached with messages on stigma and discrimination related to HIV and
AIDS.
Establishment of four key networks
of CBOs (Kibera OVC Initiative Network), FBOs Network (Kibera Pastors
Development Network), school patrons and youth groups. The networks have
improved the degree of community participation in programming as well as the
coordination of the provision of services to children, women and People Living
With HIV and AIDS.
Comments from project
beneficiaries
A number of women
openly say that as a result of economic empowerment they can now
participate (at the household level) in decision making on issues touching
on their children such as education etc.
Economic empowerment
has substantially reduced the level of stigma that they were experiencing
before - this is because they can independently take care of their basic
needs.
"We have been living in darkness for a long time;
we have used the bible to condemn people living with HIV - all this has
happened because of ignorance. Now that we have the information let us
utilize it to serve God's people and change the society" - A message from one
of the religious leaders in a community stigma reduction forum.
Future Plans:
The project future plan is to strengthen
its collaboration with its partners in order to secure a higher degree of
sustainability of the project
activities beyond the project funding period by enhancing its collaboration and
support to the operations of the Kibera Children's Area Advisory Council (AAC)
so as to be able to effectively advocate for the enforcement of laws and
policies promoting the rights of.
The project will also provide
significant attention to Orphans and Vulnerable Children in the pre-primary
school category in the community. This will be done in collaboration with the
Early Childhood Development Project which is already providing services to children
in this category.
For more information on this project contact Steve Okello: 254-20-2710069
