Project Concern International's (PCI) Botswana OVC and Gender Project, funded by PEPFAR through USAID, will improve the quality of life of OVC and their parents/caregivers and improve gender-based responses and programming in HIV/AIDS activities in Botswana. PCI/Botswana will achieve this in close partnership with implementing organizations Catholic Relief Services (CRS), Hope World Wide Botswana (HWWB), Humana People to People (HPP), Marang Child Care Network Trust (MCCNT); the Government of Botswana (GOB); and a diverse array of community and private sector organizations. The project will operate in Central, Kweneng, Southern, Southeast, Chobe, Francistown, Northwest, Ghanzi, and Kgalagadi Districts while helping to catalyze enhancements in other districts through national initiatives. The program is designed to achieve the following four objectives: livelihoods of households for vulnerable adolescents, especially girls and vulnerable women, improved; developmental interventions for vulnerable children and adolescents improved; risk of neglect, exploitation and abuse of vulnerable children, adolescents and women reduced; development, implementation and coordination of national frameworks and policies that address the needs of children and women improved. These objectives and related results will be achieved through the following key methodologies: community mobilization; gender analysis and mainstreaming; comprehensive family care (CFC); The GROW Model of community development and household economic strengthening and integrated early childhood development (IECD).

In partnership with the Department of Social Services (DSS) and eight (8) local implementing partners PCI will continue to strengthen services provided to orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) and their families. PCI will support District Child Protection Committees (DCPC) in project districts to mobilize communities using the Journey of Life (JOL) and Community Conversations models that identify and assist vulnerable families and children and create a supportive environment. Using the Comprehensive Family Care model, partners' skills will be strengthened to assess and register families for services and monitor action plans developed at the community level. To further strengthen the community mobilization component, PCI will work with NACA and other stakeholders to roll out the National Community Mobilization Strategy.

PCI partners will provide financial literacy and small business management skills to older OVCs both boys and girls. Partners will identify and link young people with small business grants provided by the Government of Botswana (GOB) through the Citizen Entrepreneurship Development Agency (CEDA) and the Ministry of Youth Sports and Culture (MYSC). In partnership with Local Enterprise Authority (LEA), those who receive grants will be supported with skills to monitor the small businesses. Partnerships will be established with local financial and other businesses to assist with job readiness skills development activities including training, mentoring, and financial support. Based on the value chain assessment of entry level employment carried out in the past year, PCI will work with the Botswana Confederation of Commerce, Industry and Manpower (BOCCIM), the Ministry of Labor and Home Affairs (MLHA), the MYSC, and Botswana National Youth Council to pilot test activities that will strengthen the link between training provided by vocational institutions and companies needs. Business professionals will be mobilized to provide pro bono services through their corporate social responsibility programs to assist in skills development among young people. Towards building skills of young people in information communication technology (ICT), PCI will pilot ICT café schemes in partnership with PING, a local IT NGO, and BOTHO College in some project districts.

In partnership with the Ministry of Education (MOE), DSS and Marang, PCI will mentor and coach partners to develop and implement integrated early childhood development (IECD) action plans. By working hand in hand with District Child Protection Committees (DCPC), PCI will build local capacity and ensure that community level IECD services are managed according to GOB guidelines and are sustained after the project ends. PCI will provide in-service training to staff and volunteers from local community organizations on developing, implementing and monitoring IECD activities and will provide support in monitoring the work of parents-teacher associations on IECD. IECD master trainers from PCI implementing partner organizations will assist community organizations to develop community-based low cost IECD services and ensure proper case management of the children registered for services. Mentoring and technical support will ensure that the most vulnerable children have access to services including life skills training for young people and support for special groups such as HIV+ teens.

PCI will provide technical assistance and local cost support to WAD and DSS to implement OVC and gender policies and laws including the National Gender and Development Policy, the Childrens Act of 2009, and the Domestic Violence Act. PCI will work very closely with a local partner Marang to do this work. Gender sensitization and mainstreaming activities will be organized and carried out by District Multi-Sector AIDS Committees (DMSAC), District Child Protection Committees (DCPC), District Health Management Teams (DHMT), District Youth Councils (DYC), gender-based violence service providers, and other community organizations. PCI will provide technical assistance to WAD District Gender Officers to coordinate and plan gender interventions at district level through the DCPCs, traditional leaders and other districts structures; develop gender interventions to address gender based violence; and promote collection of data for gender disaggregated reporting at DMSAC level.

PCI will support WAD to strengthen the National Gender Commission/Council once it is formed and ensure linkages with the National Childrens Council. DSS will be provided with technical support to strengthen the National Childrens Council and ensure linkages with DCPCs. PCI will work with the Ministry of Education Preschool Division in the dissemination of the revised National Policy on Integrated Early Childhood Development through different national and district forums. Technical support will be provided to WAD and DSS to submit scheduled international and regional reporting commitments on gender equality and childrens rights.

PCI will collaborate with FHI360 to provide technical guidance to NACA, DSS, WAD and the Ministry of Local Government in the use of data for planning. Through this team PCI in collaboration with FHI360 will provide technical support in the use of tools for data collection to ensure that they are appropriately applied in collecting gender-disaggregated data and used for gender analysis.

In partnership with WAD, DSS, Marang and DCPCs, PCI will support the development and implementation of regional childrens forums in accordance with the Childrens Act to increase participation of children in policy planning and implementation. PCI will also work with WAD and DSS to review their systems, structures and skills to determine the capacity support areas needed to enable them to effectively lead gender and OVC programming in Botswana. PCI will support DSS and WAD to carryout national campaigns including Sixteen Days of Activism against Violence on Women, Family Day, and the Day of the African Child as platforms highlighting key messages on the rights of children and women and gender issues.

PCI will provide technical support and sub-grants to implementing partners to roll out gender interventions and lead in facilitating coordination with other stakeholders in the program districts. The approach has three core elements: promotion of gender equality; engagement of men/boys and women/girls; and, fostering of resiliency in the face of gender-related threats to health and well-being of both sexes. PCI and implementing partners will conduct activities to promote gender equity and will work with Womens Affairs Department (WAD) in the implementation of policies that promote and protect women and childrens rights. Activities will include: strengthening WAD systems for enforcement of policies and laws; engaging young people, including boys and young men to develop innovative projects to address gender among youth; providing technical support to WAD in collaboration with National AIDS Coordinating Agency (NACA) to conduct a gender audit of the national response on HIV/AIDS.

Community mobilization approaches such as Journey of Life (JOL) and Community Capacity Enhancement for Community Conversations (CCE-CC) will be used as tools to facilitate dialogue amongst communities on gender-related attitudes and practices and to promote positive attitudes and behaviors for men/boys and women/girls that will address the gender-related drivers of the AIDS epidemic in Botswana.

PCI activities to address gender-based violence (GBV) will be implemented with Kagisano Womens Shelter Project and other stakeholders such as Childline. These activities will include: identification of safe havens for survivors of abuse; dissemination of simple user-friendly guides on the major laws affecting women and children; use of sports to motivate men to be role models and initiation of man make a difference" support groups to change male norms on gender; support to strengthen established GBV referral systems; and, community awareness raising on inheritance and property rights of women and children. PCI will work with WAD and other stakeholders to identify, document and disseminate promising gender-related practices. Additionally, PCI will implement a youth project with PING, a local IT NGO, around youth behavior change, gender and sexual reproductive health using Information Communication Technology (ICT) through Young Africa Live activities that include health discussions using cell phones and internet; interactive amplification platform to generate public peer group dialogue; and, linking with referral points for services. PCI will use this platform to raise awareness on GBV and factors that facilitate it among youth in order to identify and implement interventions that will reduce GBV and HIV transmission.

PCI activities to address economic strengthening and livelihoods will be based on the Grassroots Building our Own Wealth (GROW) model for savings and loans to partners following the initial training and adaptation of the model. Groups of women in project districts will be trained and mentored on GROW savings and loans. Specifically Kgetsi Ya Tsie will be supported with technical assistance and grants to manage GROW savings and loans and other livelihoods initiatives including Food for Life and Honey for Life that will empower women and contribute to the reduction in HIV transmission.