SUMMARY:

This project is being initiated by the Department of Education (DOE) in the Free State province, managed

and supported by Health and Development Africa (HDA). The project will support orphans and vulnerable

children (OVC) through a school-based intervention in 90 schools in the Free State province, and the

development of 18 Communities Child Care Forums (CCFs). Community Facilitators will work with

structures at a school and district level to identify OVC and support them. The emphasis areas are human

capacity development and local organizational capacity development. The specific target populations are

OVC, and children and adolescents.

BACKGROUND:

Health Development Africa (HDA) is a South African health consulting company, which has been working in

the field of HIV for the past 7 years. Between 2000 and 2003 HDA staff led and participated in a number of

HIV Impact Studies for Ministries of Education across Southern Africa. As a result, HDA developed the

Circles of Support (COS) model to provide education ministries with a model they could use to develop

ways to support OVC within the education system. This model trains educators and community members to

work together to identify vulnerable children. These children are then assisted with their basic needs and

the project also ensures that children stay in school and complete their education. By using schools, which

are present in all communities, the COS model becomes a sustainable way to support vulnerable children,

and make sure that they do not get trapped in a cycle of poverty, which also makes them more vulnerable to

HIV infection.

This project will build on existing initiatives to support OVC by the DOE that are already underway in the

Free State province. It will also build on the Circles of Support (COS) project developed by HDA, and

implemented in Swaziland, Botswana and Namibia between 2003 and 2005. While the project aims to

target most of the OVC in the project schools, there will be particular focus on the vulnerable girls, and will

aim to ensure that these girls continue with their schooling.

ACTIVITIES AND EXPECTED RESULTS:

ACTIVITY 1: Training and Assessment

The first activity will be to review and adapt the materials that have been used for similar projects in

Botswana, Namibia, Swaziland and the Eastern Cape Province. The DOE will assist HDA decide the most

important content for the facilitation materials including but not limited to: Understanding children's lives,

talking and listening to children, setting up a circle of support group at school, setting up a neighborhood

circle of support group, basic HIV and AIDS knowledge, know the community your school serves, know who

to ask for help and support, find ways to get financial or other material support for children, decide what

action to take to help children, how to use the circles of support diary.

After this, HDA will train at least 6 Circles of Support (COS) facilitators (dedicated project staff) and at least

6 learning support facilitators (DOE staff) on the topics listed above. HDA will recruit the six facilitators in

this period, and conduct training workshops that will allow them to start providing immediate training and

support to the School-based Support Teams and the CCFs.

ACTIVITY 2: Capacity Audit

HDA will also coordinate a capacity audit in a sample of project schools. The capacity assessment

processes will ensure that any significant policy or institutional issues that may impede the implementation

of the project are identified at the beginning and discussed with the DOE and key stakeholders. This will

ensure that the facilitation manuals and awareness materials are sensitive to the school environment and

address key capacity gaps.

ACTIVITY 3: Community Care Forums

The third activity will be the facilitation and development of eighteen community forums. These structures

will be established at the request of the Department of Education in the Free State. They are multi-sectoral

bodies that can overcome some of the common obstacles that OVC face. For example, it is not possible for

OVC to access child support grants without identity documents, but often this requires the Department of

Home Affairs, as well as the police and other stakeholders to assist OVC to get all of the necessary

documents in order.

Each local COS facilitator will be responsible for the development of three CCFs. This will involve

identification of stakeholders, community mapping, introductory workshops, monthly meetings and oversight

of a program of activities. It is expected that the CCFs will be operational within the first six months of

project implementation. These forums will typically be made up of community members, as well as

representatives from the Departments of Education, Health and Social Development (DOSD). HDA will

orient and train the CCF members, using a similar curriculum to that used for the School-based Support

Teams (SBSTs). After this the COS facilitators will ensure that community forums meet at least monthly,

and that any problems within the SBSTs are being raised and solutions discussed.

ACTIVITY 4: Strengthening School-based Support

HDA will partner with 90 schools in the Lejweleputswa district to establish SBSTs. SBSTs will include

teachers, concerned parents and community members who can play an active role in supporting children. In

schools where the Department of Education has established Health Advisory Communities (HACs), the

HAC will serve as the SBST. These SBSTs will be supported by a local COS facilitator and learning support

facilitator/s. The local COS facilitator will lead the process of introducing the COS project to SBSTs and will,

through a program of half day workshops train SBST members on the needs of vulnerable children, how to

identify children, community mapping, networking with government and other resources, action planning

and monitoring and reporting.

Once members of the SBST have been trained they will start to actively identify vulnerable children in the

school. All teachers will be asked to be involved in a process of identifying these children, many of whom

are already known. Although the initial process will prioritize children in school, it is expected to extend to

siblings who are not in school, and also children who have dropped out of school. The children that are

supported at school will not be identified as "AIDS orphans", and the HDA will train the teachers to

approach all vulnerable children in a sensitive manner.

ACTIVITY 5: Care and Support

Activity Narrative: HDA and the Department of Education will ensure that all children who are identified through this project are

provided with a package of services through referrals to ensure that the child's needs are met as

comprehensively as possible. The SBST will meet monthly, and discuss and assess the children who are

being supported.

After a child has been identified, members of the SBST will conduct interviews with the child and caregivers

to determine the child's needs, and to discuss priority interventions. If necessary home visits will be

organized to establish the circumstances under which the child is living. Once the needs assessment is

completed the SBST will provide the child with support to meet their needs. This support is likely to include

the following: provision of school equipment and uniform, assistance to ensure exemption of school fees,

working with local clinics to get access to health care, and assistance with ensuring the child receives a

social grant and nutritional support. This is usually delivered by referring the child to NGOs working in the

community, or through helping the school set up a feeding program. Children will also receive assistance

with home care and homework. Often these children are looking after ill adults and younger children. The

SBST works with neighbors and community organizations to make sure that these children get support in

these tasks, while at the same time get help with their own school work. There may be extreme cases

where children are in severe need, either because they do not have housing, or food, or are being abused

in some way. In this case the SBST will work closely with the DOSD and the South African Police, to ensure

the safety of that child.

If the SBST is unable to find a way to provide for child's needs, they will then consult the COS facilitator and

the Community Forum. The COS facilitator will also help to share experiences between SBSTs, and

highlight solutions that can then be used in other areas. The COS facilitator will also help to monitor the

progress that the SBSTs are making.

The COS Project will ensure the following is monitored in terms of gender: the gender of OVC receiving

direct support, the involvement of women in all COS structures (particularly at the local level where there

can be over representation of women), adequate involvement of men in COS structures. Additional

exercises specifically addressing gender issues will be integrated into set-up training. For example, the

training will focus on the increased vulnerability of girls, and ways to ensure that girls are kept safe, both in

and out of school. Training will also discuss critical child safety and protection issues such as sexual abuse.

SBSTs will be encouraged to introduce child participation activities designed to build self esteem of

vulnerable children, particularly girls where this may be necessary to build resilience.

By the end of FY 2008 all 90 schools will be actively implementing COS support activities. While the main

focus of the SBSTs is to keep OVC in school, other services will be to ensure that OVC get social grants, to

provide psychosocial support, and to provide for material needs where this is a problem for that child. The

schools will get some funds for emergency support for OVC, which may include the purchase of food,

transport of children and caregivers to places of safety, etc.