The Ubaka Ejo program supports OVC, their families, and other vulnerable households to improve their health and social and economic well-being. It is implemented by a Rwandan CSO named AEE, which graduated from one of USAIDs NGO IPs as a sub-recipient and can now implement programs with direct funding. AEE will gradually transfer capacity to CBOs and other groups, as well as households, towards complete ownership. Ubaka Ejo plays a key role in identifying and reaching vulnerable populations, providing services, and strengthening referral systems. Over 3 years, the program will serve 18,100 OVC and their families in 9 districts across 4 provinces through a community-led program of sustainable prevention, care & support.

Since COP 12, Ubaka Ejo was focused on a holistic and need-based approach for HIV prevention, as well as other disease prevention and care & support. Activities also strengthened household resilience through health, social & economic service provision and nutritional & educational support. In addition, community sensitization was conducted on social protection, including family law & succession planning, child rights & protection, GBV prevention & support, and referrals for cases in need. In COP 13, Ubaka Ejo will continue these interventions with a more cost-effective approach, where project staff will work with CBOs and other groups as well as households, and in collaboration with local authorities, to reach a larger number of beneficiaries. These groups include internal saving & lending groups, Farmer Field School, anti-AIDS/GBV clubs, psychosocial & peer support groups. In addition, the program will conduct regular internal M&E activities; results will be measured on a semi-annual and annual basis, as well as over the lifetime of the award.

In COP12 Ubaka Ejo program started implementing community-based health care and support and social and economic strengthening interventions, as well as nutrition support including kitchen gardening and other service provision to OVC and other HIV/AIDS infected and affected populations vulnerable to malnutrition and diseases. In addition, the program is integrating access to safe water and its effective use, as well as promotion of hygiene practices including hand washing, to reach at least 65% of the total number of targeted beneficiaries. In COP 13, USG will continue to support the Ubaka Ejo program to increase its level of effort, through which 18,100 adults and children will be provided with a minimum of care service, including 14,600 OVCs to be served by the project with at least one care service.

A total of 1,200 community volunteer care providers will be trained to support beneficiaries, and 3,100 households will be supported with access to formal and informal financial and agricultural extension services. These services will be provided through CBOs and other community-based groups, such as ISLGs, PD Health. Through these groups, the Ubaka Ejo program will provide health and nutritional support and psychosocial support, including responding to GBV cases and providing referrals to supportive institutions as needed. Specific activities include payment of mutuelles; psychosocial care and support for HIV positive beneficiaries and other persons in need; support for adherence to care and treatment; as well as referrals to health facilities. Regarding nutritional activities, growth monitoring and nutritional status evaluation will be done and referrals for malnourished cases will be provided as needed. Support for access to clean water sources for all OVCs and their families in selected districts will be provided, as well as nutritional education and support including kitchen gardening and small business entrepreneurship. Nutritional education will also be given to OVC, their families and caregivers, who will be strengthened to support and sustain the positive nutritional status of OVC and their families through kitchen gardening and consumption of products. Household strengthening activities will establish income-generating activities to enhance food and nutrition security and will promote economic strengthening through ISLGs and training community volunteers to provide care and other services to OVCs and their families.

The Ubaka Ejo programs objective is to improve quality health services for 14,600 OVC in families affected by HIV/AIDS by increasing the supportive community response to them. Support will ensure that OVC in selected districts have access to educational & vocational training opportunities. The program will also increase access to and usage of formal and/or informal financial and agricultural extension services to child-headed households and other vulnerable families.

The program will continue to support education, with 14,600 students in primary & lower secondary education, advanced secondary, and in accelerated learning catch-up and/or vocational training programs. Out-of-school youth will also be supported to access short-course training, through which a number will undertake apprenticeships in different areas and market-based enterprises. The program will support technical & vocational training, in accordance with priority GOR strategies in this area, to develop market-based employment skills recommended by the Rwandan Workforce Development Authority. To support 12-year basic education at the primary & lower secondary levels, scholastic & personal materials will be provided to enable OVC to attend school. Other fees (for meals, accommodation & other boarding expenses) will be paid for OVC in boarding schools far from their homes. Special consideration will be given to paying the fees of children that pass their O level exams and are posted to schools as a way of motivating them. OVC will be monitored on a bi-term basis, and support given to underachieving students to help them improve. Assessments will be conducted to identify causes of poor performance and appropriate remedies will be implemented.

The Ubaka Ejo program collaborates with local authorities and CBOs to identify & validate lists of OVC, following the OVC guidance approved by the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion. Interventions will build on the existing platform of program models, curricula, tools & other local resources, targeting basic education including primary & secondary education as well as vocational training, and leveraging gains in household revenues through economic strengthening activities to reduce the subsidies being provided towards school fees & materials, thus moving towards sustainability and cost-effectiveness.

The support provided to OVC will also consider child-headed households through the promotion of youth ISLG and other economic services. The program will also strengthen 1,200 community caregivers to hold open sessions with OVCs, with the purpose of developing their life skills, personal values and goal setting.

In addition, other services will be provided to OVC, including health education & home visits (HIV prevention, hygiene, adherence to care & treatment, counseling & testing for HIV, peer education) and referrals as needed. These activities will also include the promotion of hygiene & sanitation and the good use of water sources, as well as other good practices such as drinking clean water, hand washing, use & maintenance of good toilets & rubbish disposal. Counseling sessions & psychosocial support for OVC through support groups & peer education will also be supported as well as social protection activities such as building community awareness to prevent child abuse, exploitation including child labor, gender-based violence and domestic violence. Legal support will be facilitated for cases in need through referrals.

As the Ubaka Ejo program has among its objectives to strengthen the capacities of CBOs, including cooperatives, associations, child care committees, anti-GBV committees, ISLGs, anti AIDS clubs, and other groups, the program will continue to implement these interventions. Targeted activities will include provision of financial and technical support to reach up to 3,500 most vulnerable households and community members in the intervention catchment areas. These CBOs will be able to help their members and households to develop more resilience and program ownership, building sustainable health, social and economic development through existing psychosocial support groups, ISLGs, FFS, and PD Hearth Groups. Interventions are mainly focused on training community caregivers and other capable group members on providing disease prevention messaging; promoting access to and use of safe water source; promoting kitchen gardening; detecting signs of malnutrition and referring those in need; disseminating messaging to fight against HIV, GBV and child abuse; and providing training on social protection, including human rights, with a special emphasis on children. The caregivers will be empowered to provide continuous TA and mentoring to community members towards sustainable social and economic development.

In COP 13, the Ubaka Ejo program will implement prevention interventions on a need-based, age-oriented and gender-sensitive approach, and in collaboration with CBOs in its catchment area, will provide HIV and other disease prevention messages as well as malnutrition prevention to OVCs and their families. The messages will include sensitization on HIV prevention and referral to health facilities for those who need testing, as well as provision of life skills to OVCs including negotiating healthy sexual relationships and education on reproductive health. The ABC message will also be provided through one-on-one talk sessions as well as promotion of abstinence among students through home visits and group talks. Behavior change messaging to prevent HIV, STIs and other diseases as well as unintended pregnancies will also be provided to youths and couples. In addition, health education will be provided to prevent infancy-related diseases among all CBOs in the program catchment area. Prevention activities will also include education for family and social protection, including child rights and protection, and prevention of gender-based violence (GBV). Communication channels for these messages will be different CBOs and other groups including peer support groups, Positive Deviance (PD) Hearth groups, Internal Savings and Lending Groups (ISLG), FFS and households. With the mentorship and support of trained community volunteers, these groups will then spread the prevention messages to other community members.