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Afrique Australe >> Actions >> Appropriate Training for Enhancement and Diversification for Community Support to Orphans and Vulnerable Children in Disadvantaged Communities in Harare and Bulawayo, Zimbabwe >> Appropriate Training for Enhancement and Diversification for Community Support to Orphans and Vulnerable Children in Disadvantaged Communities in Harare and Bulawayo, Zimbabwe

15/12/2008

Appropriate Training for Enhancement and Diversification for Community Support to Orphans and Vulnerable Children in Disadvantaged Communities in Harare and Bulawayo, Zimbabwe

WHY?
Southern Africa is facing a HIV pandemic, with in Zimbabwe, 20 to 30% of the population infected. Life expectancy is, at 35 years, the lowest in the world. Over 1.6 million children are left orphans or having to take care of one or two sick parents. Members of the extended families like grandparents used to take care of these children but cannot take on the enormity of these responsibilities, especially with a crumbling economy such as in Zimbabwe.

WHAT?
In the two largest cities, Harare and Bulawayo, eight local partner organisations from Volens are training and supporting community volunteers who are faced with these challenges.
Most of them ensure that the primary needs of OVC are met, through shelter, feeding schemes, clothing, and schooling. Often, additional services for OVC in community centres have been developed such as drop-in facilities and literacy programmes.
But ensuring primary needs is not enough; a child also has to be taken care of in its psychological and emotional well-being and growth, especially since they often have experienced traumatising losses or difficult living circumstances.
This network therefore focuses on the secondary needs such as self esteem, love and caring, through psycho-social support. The sharing and capacity building aims thus to improve and diversify counselling tools and recreational or artistic activities with therapeutic value.
Many interesting ideas and initiatives to this extent have been developed by the partners or in the region but these remain too often small-scaled and isolated. Also more third parties (authorities, health personnel, policemen, directors and teachers of local schools) need to be involved and trained to engage with OVC in ways that enhance their psychological well-being.

HOW?
Volens focuses on capacity building to support partner organizations in their challenges - strengthening them on three levels:

• human: equipping the staff to better support and assist the OVC through different therapeutic tools. Two main ways of enhancing the staff skills are offered:
  • attachments: exchanges of staff members betweenÊ the partners, in order to share expertise
  • scholarships: if the expertise isn’t available amongst the partners, external studying possibilities are explored
• organisational: support to have the organisation function better, more transparently and achieve its goals
• interinstitutional: reinforcing the positioning of the partners in society and networking towards other actors (advocacy, donors, resource mobilisation).

WHO & WHERE?
The community support for OVC network consists of 8 partner organisations, working through home based care or community awareness activities, touching children through educational needs or outreach programmes. These partners are:

• Chiedza Child Care Centre, Harare
• Hope for a Child in Christ (HOCIC), Bulawayo
• Oasis Zimbabwe, Harare
• Matabeleland Aids Council (MAC), Bulawayo
• Mavambo Trust, Harare
• Scripture Union Thuthuka Street Children Project, Bulawayo
• Sibambene Aids Programme, Bulawayo
• Streets Ahead, Harare