CHF/Higa Ubeho will continue to support stability and resiliency for up to 72,000 HIV/AIDS affected and other vulnerable Rwandan households in 20 districts. Strategic objectives include: increasing vulnerable household access to quality health and social services; improving household resilience through economic, nutritional and educational investments; and strengthening civil society capacity for health and social service provision. The program is supportive of both USG and GHI strategic objectives. In COP12, Higa Ubeho will continue to support household resilience (economic strengthening, food security, nutrition, and health and social services), care and support and HIV prevention to OVCs and their families. In COP12, Higa Ubeho will begin to implement transition and handover strategies to its Rwandan civil society partners, GOR, and households themselves, ensuring that household revenues will be leveraged towards more household responsibility for school fees, school material, and health insurance payments. The program will also begin transitioning from international to local partners. Proposed budget levels may require a review of planned targets and partnerships for COP12.

A total of three vehicles will be purchased throughout this mechanism (one in COP10 is already purchased, and two are planned for COP11 time period).

In COP12, Higa Ubeho will continue its approach to economic strengthening by increasing revenues of targeted households through integration into profitable markets and value chains; increasing employment opportunities for 1,500 child-headed households (CHH) and other vulnerable youth (18-22 years old) through marketable vocational training and apprenticeships; and increasing household savings through greater participation in the more than 2,000 already established Internal Savings and Lending Groups (ISLG). The program will also provide targeted food security assistance to vulnerable households through promotion of more than 300 Farmer Field Schools, in addition to improved household nutrition through an estimated 300 PD Hearth groups and media-based behavior change outreach efforts . Higa Ubeho will continue to work with well-organized and established cooperatives which serve as models for more nascent business groups. The program will not establish new ISLGs; rather it will continue to consolidate the existing ones by strengthening them and supporting their evolution towards functional business organizations where relevant and feasible. ISLG members will be encouraged to save money for their households health and education expenses, with the program linking them to formal banking institutions such as Umurenge, SACCOs (Saving and Credit Cooperatives) and Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs) as means of accessing credit.

In COP12 Higa Ubeho will continue to provide financial and technical support to at least 10 Rwandan Partner Organizations (RPOs) supporting activities in 20 districts, reaching up to 50,000 OVC with a menu of services including education support, health insurance, psychosocial support, HIV prevention, and SGBV prevention activities. The program will continue support at the primary and secondary school level, with a focus on transition to increased program implementation by RPOs, including leveraging gains in household revenues through economic strengthening activities to reduce the subsidies being provided towards school fees and materials, both for sustainability measures and greater cost effectiveness within this reduced budgetary environment. No new students in S1 and S4 (first year and fourth year high school, respectively) outside of the 9YBE education system will be supported in COP12. Continued emphasis will be placed on technical and vocational training, in support of priority GOR strategies in this area, and towards marketable employment skills recommended by the Rwandan Workforce Development Authority. Higa Ubeho will also continue to support under 5 OVC through play groups coordinated at the sector level and nutrition support (PD Hearth groups). Special attention will be given to child-headed households through the support of youth ISLG. The program will also continue to support national OVC strategies and priorities through close collaboration with the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion (MIGEPROF); however, resources will no longer be allocated for seconded staff to the ministry.

In COP12, Higa Ubeho will continue to provide financial and technical support to at least 10 Rwandan Partner Organizations (RPOs) to reach up to 50,000 OVC and up to 72,000 most vulnerable households in the intervention catchment areas. In addition, these RPOs will deliver Live a Productive Life messages to program beneficiaries through existing community intermediaries (CI), existing Internal Savings and Lending Groups (ISLGs), Famer Field School (FFS), and Positive Deviance Hearth Groups. Higa Ubeho will continue to build the institutional capacity of RPOs and mobilize community intermediaries to improve and expand vulnerable groups access to essential health and social services, and to build more resilient families through economic and social coping mechanisms. Higa Ubeho will continue to work with these local organizations to build their capacity to manage programs, finances, and human resources with the goal of directly receiving donor funding in the future. Following the annual capacity assessment of each RPO, the program will agree on a capacity building and implementation plan tailored to each organizations particular needs. Formal trainings will be very limited and RPO capacity building will focus more on TA and one-on-one mentoring and coaching towards transitioning more program ownership to these organizations.

In COP12, Higa Ubeho will target vulnerable OVC and PLHIV households with organized communication activities to influence preventative community and social norms. Other Prevention messages will be delivered through a variety of approaches including interpersonal communication, radio and community events. Higa Ubehos weekly radio program will continue to mobilize program beneficiaries and other community members and promote behavior change. These messages will give voice to PLHIV and their families, as well as service providers, providing practical, immediate actions that they can take to improve their quality of life. Messages will focus on the full package of community-based health, social and economic development services provided by Higa Ubeho, as well as other wrap-around programs such as malaria prevention and sexual and gender based violence prevention. The program will also continue to look towards leveraging Internal Savings and Lending Groups (ISLG), Famer Field School (FFS), and Positive Deviance (PD) Hearth groups as channels through which communication can be delivered.