SUMMARY:

CARE USA Local Links Project (CARE) provides support to orphans and vulnerable Children (OVC) and

strengthens families affected by HIV and AIDS. CARE works through South African locally-based sub-

partners to stimulate and support the use of local resources (human, economic and knowledge systems) to

promote the wellbeing and protection of OVC. Local Links will expand it technical support for OVC services

to implementing partners working through CARE's LETSEMA project. This will also entail expansion into

Mpumalanga. Emphasis will be on building the capacity of local organizations to strengthen direct service

delivery to OVC and their caregivers and developing networks for linkages and referrals. Targeted

populations are OVC, people living with HIV and AIDS (PLHIV) and religious leaders.

BACKGROUND:

Local Links is part of the CARE USA OVC-focused Track 1 project implemented in South Africa and Kenya.

This is the fourth year of Local Links Project, ending in March 2009 funded through Track One. CARE Local

Links activities are: strengthening economic coping mechanisms of households caring for OVC;

strengthening the capacity of sub-partners to provide a range of innovative services to OVC and their

families; and promotion of advocacy efforts sensitive to the needs and rights of OVC and PLHIV. CARE

implements activities in Motheo and Thabo Mofutsanyane Districts in the Free State province, as well as

Mopane and Sekhukhune in the Limpopo province. CARE works in partnership with eleven sub-partners.

Due to increased funding from the local mission and the redirection of OVC program funding for LETSEMA,

new partners be added to scale up and reach more OVC. Scale-up will be done in consultation with the

provincial Departments of Social Development (DOSD) and Health.

ACTIVITIES AND EXPECTED RESULTS:

ACTIVITY 1: Economic Strengthening - Voluntary Saving and Loans (VSL).

CARE will continue to focus on women's (caregivers) access to income and productive resources through

VSL (VSL is a group savings and internal lending model that creates a base for economic security for

vulnerable families. The loans are circulated among group members based on individual emergency needs,

which are usually medication, transport to health service, school fees and uniforms for children, food, etc.

VSL members use groups as social safety net to help them cope with family stresses including death and

others related stresses) and Income Generating Activities (IGA). In addition CARE will focus on improving

the qualitative aspect of the economic empowerment component. Usually, a VSL group has at least six

members who meet monthly for saving and internal lending. VSL induces demand for IGA training, CARE

will continue to provide training and support to caregivers needing IGA training. Economic security activities

are contributing to improved wellbeing of OVC and caregivers; feedback indicates that VSL members have

increased ability to buy food, pay school fees, pay for health services etc. VSL groups serve as one of the

entry points to reach caregivers and OVC with other services. CARE will strengthen the social support

function of VSL and will facilitate training for grandmothers with a particular focus on communicating and

caring for adolescent OVC. CARE will expand the baseline and impact study two additional villages. In

addition, CARE USA will facilitate an evaluation across Local Links in Kenya and South Africa.

ACTIVITY 2: Capacity Building for Sub-Partners

CARE will continue to strengthen and improve the quality of services offered to OVC and their caregivers by

focusing on in-depth institutional and programmatic support. CARE will continue to support and build the

capacity of sub-partners to provide a range of services; this will include strengthening home-based care

support services offered to OVC and their caregivers and work on the support groups for OVC and

caregivers who are both infected and affected by HIV and AIDS. In order to improve capacity of sub-

partners to provide better services, in FY 2007, CARE appointed a Social Worker to work with sub-partners

across Limpopo Province. CARE will adapt the Hands at Work curriculum for use in training caregivers,

especially grandmother to improve their communication with adolescent OVC. Elderly caregivers

experience great difficulty in raising OVC, particularly adolescent OVC. CARE also attended the

International Child Development Program (ICDP) focusing on caregivers' communication skills with OVC.

The social worker will support partners in improving OVC access to legal documentation, state income

grants, support for staying in school, and volunteer stipends CARE with the help from an intern from CARE

USA has developed a Sexual Health Reproduction manual targeted at caregivers and OVC with one of the

sub-partners in the Free Sate Province (Mosamaria). This manual will be used to enhance the capacity of

caregivers in communicating with OVC about issues of sexual health and reproduction, and issues related

to HIV and AIDS prevention. CARE will also focus on enhancing the capacity of sub-partners to provide

support to caregivers to cope with stresses of home-based care through care of caregivers program that is

based on group debriefing, the model will also be used to strengthen support groups of the infected and

affected. Through the appointment of the Professional Nurse, CARE will strengthen the health component

within sub-partners to work with government departments at district and provincial level to ensure access to

basic health care, ART, training and mentoring of volunteers and staff to improve the clinical component of

home-based care. The nurse will also work with Early Childhood Development and Drop-in-centers in

strengthening teachers and caregivers' capacity to access basic health services, improve on nutrition, and

early identification of positive children and referral for pediatric treatment. CARE will also explore

partnerships with PEPFAR partners who have a strong focus on ECD in order to strengthen the capacity of

ECD teachers to deal with children who infected and affected by HIV and AIDS. A special focus will be on

youth programs within sub-partners to improve HIV prevention messages and peer-led youth education and

counseling using, the Harvard OVC Peer-led Education intervention program. In addition, CARE will explore

Youth Vocational Training to strengthen the livelihood and economic security of the vulnerable and

orphaned youth. In order to do this, CARE will link with partners and private sector that have strong

Vocational Training focus. CARE will use the organizational development (OD) experience and lessons

learned to replicate to sub-partners to strengthen their OD capacity. The OD support is aimed at

organizational sustainability and improved quality of services delivered to OVC and their caregivers

ACTIVITY 3: Advocacy

CARE will continue to use Participatory Educational Theatre (PET) to deal with issues of stigma and

discrimination and other OVC rights-based issues, for preventative messaging and training of youth

Activity Narrative: counselors. Cooperation with DramAidE (PEPFAR partner) will be explored to strengthen this activity.

CARE will continue to work with the mainstream and traditional church leaders to use sermons to address

issues of stigma and discrimination in their congregations and enlisting their support for HIV and AIDS

affected households. Training manual for use by the church leaders has been developed; CARE will

disseminate the manual and lessons learned about this activity to sub-partners for their adoption. In FY

2007 CARE developed an advocacy strategy that will help sub-partners identify advocacy issues as they

relate to OVC, for example, one of the partners in Free State trained caregivers on starting food gardens in

order to improve the nutrition of OVC; lack of water facilities in the area made it difficult for the caregivers to

implement the training. The strategy will help sub-partners undertake appropriate actions in order to

improve OVC services. CARE will continue to participate in the National Plan of Action through the National

Action Committee for Children affected by HIV and AIDS (NACCA) and on the NACCA sub-committee on

food security. This activity will continue through FY 2008. The CARE program is consistent with the

Department of Social Development's Plan of Action for OVC. In addition, CARE will continue liaising with

other relevant Departments in as far as influencing the improvement of OVC services, namely the

Department of Health, Agriculture and Education and participation in the police forum in Tzaneen to ensure

that the police have the appropriate response to issues of child and women abuse.

In Limpopo, CARE will contribute to the development of appropriate policies for OVC within the Provincial

Department of Social Development.

CARE activities will contribute to PEPFAR 2-7-10 goals by improving access to quality care for 10 million

people, including OVC.