INTEGRATED ACTIVITY FLAG: This activity is linked to the Fresh Ministries Track 1 AB activity (#7601), also being implemented by the Anglican Church of Southern Africa (ACSA).

SUMMARY: The program aims to support Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) by meeting basic and immediate needs while simultaneously building capacity in families, leaders and communities to develop sustainable solutions to needs identified by children and their caregivers in their communities. The primary emphasis area for this activity is training of caregivers; minor emphasis area will be in the development of network. linkages and referral system. Specific target populations are orphaned and vulnerable children (boys and girls ages 0-18 years), HIV and AIDS affected families, caregivers community and religious leaders, teachers, community and faith-based organizations (CBOs and FBOs) and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

BACKGROUND: The Anglican Church of Southern Africa (ACSA) Care for Orphaned and Vulnerable Children program builds on a successful OVC model piloted under the ACSA Isiseko Sokomeleza (Building a Foundation) Program in partnership with Heartbeat Center for Community Development, the Barnabas Trust and the Mothers Union (MU), in the 4 Eastern Cape Dioceses of Grahamstown, Port Elizabeth, Umzimvubu and Mthatha. All activities are implemented directly by the Anglican Mothers Unions, an important women's group of the Anglican Church. Partner organizations provide mentoring and technical assistance to groups of trained caregivers. This model encourages community participation and traditional community life while strengthening mutual assistance and social responsibility. This ACSA model ensures that communities understand the needs, rights of children and protection from abuse.

The ACSA model will be scaled-up and expanded in the following geographical areas of South Africa: Eastern Cape, Western Cape, Limpopo, KwaZulu-Natal and Northern Cape provinces. A preliminary needs analysis of the 19 Dioceses in South Africa revealed 10 Dioceses that requested and would benefit from coordinated support in implementing programs that care for OVC. The ACSA's approach to caring for children builds on the 6 strategies in the policy framework of National Plan of Action of the South African Government's Department of Social Development (DoSD). The South African constitution guarantees all children the right to comprehensive healthcare and basic health services. In addition, ACSA will give special consideration to HIV-infected OVC to ensure that they are referred to pediatric treatment.

The ACSA program seeks to mitigate the socio-economic and psychosocial impact of HIV and AIDS on boys and girls, families and communities throughout South Africa. To assist girls to understand the risk of early sexual activity, the ACSA program will provide age-appropriate, culturally sensitive educational) interventions (including empowerment skills for comprehensive HIV and AIDS, reproductive and sexual health and life skills at kids clubs, schools and in communities. Gender inequalities affect girls' access to and interaction with health services, including those for HIV prevention and AIDS care. The ACSA program will emphasize keeping girls in schools and promoting girls' access to health services. Teachers are ideally placed to track the well-being and change in children and identify OVC. Age-appropriate sex education including HIV prevention messages and empowerment activities combined with caregiver training will help mitigate this trend and protect young girls.

ACTIVITIES AND EXPECTED RESULTS:

ACTIVITY 1: Building community capacity to care for OVC Volunteers will be trained to provide care and support of OVC. The trained volunteers will in return recruit and train community caregivers to increase the local capacity of their communities. The training will focus on the process of planning and implementing OVC projects in community parishes. Upon completion volunteers will have a better understanding of how to deal with OVC in order to provide comprehensive, integrated and quality responses such as psychosocial support, accessing child support grants, healthcare, nutrition and other life sustaining services.

ACTIVITY 2: Community engagement workshops These workshops will serve to influence norms on acceptable treatment of OVC thus confronting stigma and discrimination. The workshops will provide platforms for ACSA partners to network and share lessons learned on how to best intervene on behalf of OVC, create gender awareness and eliminate stigma and denial. Joint action and initiatives will be implemented, especially the annual mass events: International Children's Day, Child Protection Day, Women's Day, 16 Day of No Violence Against Women and Children, the Special Day of Prayer for Orphans and The School is Cool Campaign with special emphasis on involving young people in the planning and delivery of these events.

ACTIVITY 3: Partnerships Partnerships with organizations that have developed programs and material on abstinence, sexuality, choices, etc. will be continued. The content of these programs will be discussed with coordinators to implement in Parishes and communities. It expected that new partnerships be developed and child care workers will be trained in ABY prevention, reproductive/ sexual health and life skills.

ACTIVITY 4: Care and counseling of caregivers and parents Care and counseling will be provided on the bereavement needs of OVC and facilitating the mourning processes of adults who care for OVC. The bereavement workshops will be held quarterly to assist parents and caregivers. Four retreats will be held semi-annually for caregivers to facilitate debriefing and sharing experiences.

ACTIVITY 5: Linkages with FBOs and CBOs This activity will develop effective linkages with FBOs and CBOs to share resources, information on best practices and increase capacity of FBOs and CBOs to support OVC in their communities. ACSA will provide advice and training to other faith leaders, traditional leaders and NGOs and community leaders to collaborate to respond to OVC needs.

ACTIVITY 6: Capacity building This activity will focus on building caregiver capacity (within ACSA and externally) to advocate on behalf of OVC. This will be done by establishing linkages with government departments, municipalities and other service providers to facilitate the provision of wrap-around services and support such as accessing child support grants, health, registration of birth certificates, legal aid, advice and support to establish food gardens, etc.

The sustainability of the project will be ensured by empowering local communities with the knowledge and experience of working with OVC, partner organizations and the Anglican Church. Continued support from the church and expanded linkages will ensure the long-term viability of the project. ACSA will focus on expanding partnerships with governmental agencies, FBOs, and the private sector to increase its funding base. Indigenous partnerships will be expanded to other faith- and community-based organizations and NGOs in an effort to expand the network of care and resources. The development of relationships with corporate and private partners who can contribute funding and in-kind resources to the project will be initiated.

The ACSA OVC activities will contribute to PEPFAR's 2-7-10 goals by improving access to quality care to 10 million people, including OVC.