07-C0808: Metsimotlhabe Community Based Organization.

This activity has USG Team Botswana Internal Reference Number C0808. This activity links to the following: C0602 & C0613 & C0618 & C0805 & T1114 & T1115 & X1406.

The organization was created in 1998 to address the impact of HIV/AIDS on children. The program is based in Metsimotlhabe, which is on the outskirts of Gaborone. The organization was initially funded through fundraising events and member contributions and focused on care of people living with HIV/AIDS and OVC through home-based care services. More recently, the organization has received funding from the GFATM. These funds have been utilized to sustain the original program. The program operates in a village with an estimated population of 4,000, of which about 500 are OVC.

The program will rely on volunteers for the identification, care and support of OVC. Community members are empowered to play a significant role in the program implementation through kgotla meetings and parent teacher associations (PTA) meetings in schools. Care givers are trained in various topics such as identification of OVC using assessment tools, basics in psychosocial support, nutrition, infection control, interpersonal and communication skills, report writing etc. Most of the training utilizes existing manuals developed by the relevant Government Ministries. The program includes an element of community outreach where the volunteers carry out follow-up home visits to ensure continued care and support to OVC. The home visits provide an opportunity for volunteers to continuously assess and monitor the OVC's living home conditions. Furthermore, the home visits also serve as an opportunity to provide support to care givers at the household level.

The organization also manages a day care center for pre-school children. Activities at the day-care center include psychosocial support, feeding and referral to various government institutions, especially to the MOE for enrolment of OVC into primary schools.

In FY07, Metsimotlhabe will continue to scale-up its FY05/06 activities, which include training of volunteers in psychosocial support, training of care givers in basic care needs of OVC, and early childhood development activities at the day care Centre. The program will also continue to identify and register additional OVC in need of care and support. With FY05/06 funding, Metsimotlhabe was able to establish and strengthen the day care center, which cares for 50 OVC under 5 years of age. It was also able to provide OVC psychosocial support services (PSS) to at least 300 OVC and 80 caregivers trained. Twenty volunteers trained in PSS counseling. In the scale-up phase 400 OVC will benefit. In addition, refresher training will be given to the trained volunteers and caregivers.

The program will continue to collaborate with other OVC-serving organizations at the district level and participate in relevant forums to share best practices and lessons learned. Program staff will benefit from the Psychosocial Support trainings carried by the DSS The Centre will also establish referral systems to facilitate access to other services for OVC. One such collaboration and referral will be to the Social and Community Development Office for needy OVC to have access to food baskets. The Centre will also collaborate with MOE's Circles of Support program to ensure that needy children benefit from the program.

Community level based indicators for tracking the program progress will be used. Some of the tracking indicators include: • Number of OVC registered and receiving support • Number of effective OVC referrals to other services • Number of OVC receiving PSS • Number of care givers trained • Number of volunteers trained • Number of people receiving fresher training by type