In July 2007 Starfish decided to enhance the programmatic capacity of two of its sub-partners (Hands At Work and Heartbeat) by reprogramming $1,500,000 of its FY07 OVC budget. Each sub-partner will receive $750,000 and will inherit 30% of the Starfish OVC targets. Both Hands At Work and Heartbeat will be moved to the new FHI Umbrella Grant Management partner as of October 1, 2007.

SUMMARY: In FY 2007 Starfish will use PEPFAR funds to provide a holistic package of basic services to OVC, including increased access to educational support and social services through community-based programs in eight provinces. Specific target populations include OVC, their families and caregivers, SA-based volunteers and community-based organizations. Major emphasis areas for the program are local organization capacity development, community mobilization and training.

BACKGROUND: Starfish Greathearts Foundation (Starfish), a South Africa NGO, uses a multi-tiered capacity building model that focuses on partnerships, the ability to replicate or scale-up programs and sustainability to ensure necessary care and support services reach as many OVC as possible. Starfish acknowledges the invaluable role that community-based organizations and caregivers play in caring for OVC, and supports and capacitates NGOs and small CBOs through training and mentorship to provide direct OVC services to the OVC in their care. The Starfish program aligns with the South African National Plan of Action for Orphans and Other Children made vulnerable by HIV and AIDS and the Department of Social Development's (DoSD) Policy Framework.

Starfish partners with the following local NGOs: Hands At Work in Africa (HAW) which equips volunteers and communities to support themselves through the provision of quality care for OVC and terminally and chronically ill patients; provides care to OVC; and provides school dropouts and OVC that have completed high school the opportunity to learn vocational skills. Heartbeat (HB) aims to alleviate the suffering of OVC by facilitating change in communities through volunteerism, advocacy, community support, emergency relief and children's empowerment. Their model is based on 4 principles: children's rights, community-based care, holistic service delivery, and partnerships. Ikagang Itireleng Aids Ministry (Ikageng) focuses on providing OVC with comprehensive care (physical, emotional, social, economic and spiritual) in Soweto with a specific focus on children heading households.

To date, PEPFAR funding has enabled Starfish along with HAW, HB and Ikageng to deliver care and support services to 9,829 OVC and over 2,200 caregivers. With FY 2007 funding Starfish will continue to support these three NGOs, capacitate care workers/givers, and provide care and support services for OVCs.

ACTIVITIES AND EXPECTED RESULTS: ACTIVITY 1: Local Organization Capacity Development Central to Starfish's scale-up strategy is a sustainable CBO training and mentoring program. Partner CBOs are trained and mentored for an 18-month period in OVC care and support and developing and improving organizational capacity. As the number of CBOs that are capacitated increases nationally, more OVCs can be reached more cost effectively and brought into a safety net of care in a sustainable manner. CBOs are provided with the skills to access and implement services provided by the Departments of Education, Home Affairs and Social Development. For example; how to secure school fee exemption, rather than trying to raise funds for fees; how to apply for and access legal documents and secure social grants; rather than directly paying monthly household expenses for OVC etc. Starfish also assists CBOs with the development and use of data collection tools, methods and monitoring of implementation plans. Starfish, through participatory workshops with CBOs, will develop tools and methods to collect good quality OVC data that will add value to the CBO's work. This will build the capacity of CBOs and attract other funding sources. ACTIVITY 2: Human Capacity Development Starfish will train and mentor care workers in organizational functions, e.g. bookkeeping, proposal and report writing, conflict mediation, forming linkages and partnerships, and establishing relationships with local government departments and local service providers (including ART treatment sites). OVC care and support topics that will be covered in the

CBO training include basic child care, the role of the childcare worker, establishing OVC selection criteria and community care forums, minimizing discrimination and stigma, HIV and AIDS education, and promoting gender equality and child protection. Caregivers will be trained to identify OVC who are vulnerable, abused, ill, HIV-infected and will be given mechanisms for referral. Basic parenting skills, nutrition and food gardening, health and hygiene all form part of the curriculum. Children heading households will also receive training in stress management, bereavement and grief counseling, and sexuality and HIV prevention messages. Granny support groups will create a network of caregivers who will support each other, mitigating their individual burden of care and providing a forum for sharing information. Support groups are led by trained caregivers. ACTIVITY 3: Psychosocial Support (PSS) HAW and HB have networks of care workers who regularly visit OVC at their homes. The care workers serve as points of contact for OVC and ensure that linkages and referrals are made to provide OVC with the necessary services. Age-appropriate PSS programs that will be provided include puppet shows, youth camps and youth support groups. These focus on core themes such as life skills, gender stereotypes held particularly by boys with the view of establishing gender equality, child protection with the view of reducing violence and sexual coercion, sexual and reproductive health especially for adolescent OVC. The youth development plan, Survive Your Life, targets high school OVC and focuses on abstinence and faithfulness messages. Starfish will monitor these interventions and ensure each OVC will receive at least 3 services per the South Africa PEPFAR guidance. ACTIVITY 4: Educational Support School uniforms and stationery are funded by Starfish and supplied to HAW, HB and Ikageng as part of Starfish's larger educational program. This intervention reduces stigma and discrimination and encourages school attendance. Using PEPFAR funds, Starfish will support homework tutoring and extra classes at HAW and HB which will be facilitated by qualified teachers and volunteers. HB runs regular child participation workshops where OVC are encouraged to raise issues of concern. Feedback from these workshops informs program design and response. ACTIVITY 5: Legal Assistance and Economic Support Starfish will support a birth certificate and identity document drive. HAW, HB and Ikageng will employ social workers to apply for government social security grants for OVC who qualify. This will assist the DoSD to fulfill their mandate as stipulated in the DoSD's Strategic Framework. ACTIVITY 6: Nutritional Support Survival food gardens at HAW and HB provide fresh produce to supplement monthly food parcels from companies and faith-based groups. These fresh vegetables also contribute to meals at soup kitchens that HAW, HB and Ikageng operate to provide daily meals to pre- and school-going OVCs at care centers. Starfish has brokered and maintains relationships with private companies who provide fish and maize donations for monthly food parcels. HAW distributes soya porridge to severely malnourished OVCs as part of an emergency feeding scheme. Nutritional education training given to OVC heading households and caregivers, many of whom are grannies heading households, will assist to improve OVC nutritional status by covering topics such as healthy food choices, food preparation and storage.