ACTIVITY HAS BEEN MODIFIED IN THE FOLLOWING WAYS:

The Salvation Army has declined future PEPFAR funding for FY 2009. The USG will recuit a new partner to

provide services to ensure that there is continuity in this activity in FY 2009.

In collaboration with the South African Department of Social Development (DOSD), PEPFAR funds will be

used to support the provision of OVC with access to a comprehensive coordinated range of services that

meet their needs. The new partner will implement interventions that provide care and protection services to

OVC and will work to ensure access to a comprehensive coordinated range of services that meet their

needs. Services will include psychosocial support, access to government grants and school fee exemption.

The Partner is expected to facilitate access to food nutrition and educational support (including assistance

with food parcels, uniforms and school materials). An emphasis area will be training and building the

capacity of volunteer caregivers to respond to the needs of OVC.

BACKGROUND:

The Partner that is currently providing services to OVC will no longer be doing so as of September 2009.

This COP represents a follow-on activity to identify another implementing partner to provide services to

OVC and ensure that services are continued.

ACTIVITIES AND EXPECTED RESULTS:

ACTIVITY 1: Training of volunteer caregivers and establishing quality training programs that will provide and

enhance skills of those providing care to OVC

The programs will be designed with appropriate curriculum, qualified trainers and have a mechanism in

which to measure the quality and impact of the training on promoting the well being of OVC. This partner

will ensure that capacity building is integral in providing quality comprehensive services to OVC and their

families. Training of primary and secondary caregivers in child and youth care work, ensuring linkages to

social security and child protection interventions as well as in the establishment of income generating

activities such as vegetable gardens, poultry farming and tailoring will all be part of the activities

implemented by this new partner.

ACTIVITY 2: Comprehensive OVC services

The partner will establish a program to deliver comprehensive and holistic support services to OVC and

provide focused bereavement counseling for OVC, specifically young people heading households who

struggle to cope with their own intense grief as well as the responsibilities of dealing with the grief of their

siblings which often manifests in different ways (bedwetting, depression). A further group that will be

focused on is the grannies heading households who struggle with intense grief related to the multiple losses

of their children, coupled with the stress of the responsibilities of raising many grandchildren of varying ages

in the context of poverty. In addition the care workers themselves may struggle with unresolved personal

grief and often have great difficulty providing good psychosocial support. The new partner will use some

funds to contract specialists in the area of bereavement and grief to strengthen the capacity of carers at all

levels.

ACTIVITY 3: Establishment of a referral process

The partner will establish a referral process for services that employs the "household-centered approach"

that links OVC families with other critical services that include PMTCT, care and support, treatment,

palliative care, etc.

ACTIVITY 4: Gender mainstreaming

The partner will implement gender interventions that address the priority gender issues affecting OVC care

in the target area.

The major components of this program are: a) capacity building in OVC program design and

implementation; b) collaboration and coordination with government and other services/programs for the

provision of quality care and support to OVC; 3) effective monitoring and evaluation and 4) gender

mainstreaming.

These activities are directly aligned to the South Africa Department of Social Development (DOSD) strategic

priorities for OVC in its national plan of action for OVC. Strategy one seeks to strengthen the capacity of

families to provide essential care and support for OVC. Strategy two seeks to mobilize communities to care

for OVC.

Activities will be aligned with the Department of Social Development's Policy Framework on OVC and the

OVC National Plan of Action and the SAG's HIV & AIDS and STI National Strategic Plan (NSP) 2007-2011

and other government responses related to meeting the needs of children affected by HIV and AIDS. The

new partner will also explore co-funding opportunities with DOSD, other donors and the private sector

where possible.

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SUMMARY: The Salvation Army will provide OVC with a comprehensive range of services through the

establishment of OVC Support Centers, which will offer psychosocial support, access to government grants

for eligible OVC, school fee exemption, and referrals to other service providers such as social workers.

Through leveraging community resources, trained community members will also facilitate access to feeding

schemes and educational support (including assistance with uniforms and school materials). The major and

minor emphasis area for this activity is training and building the capacity of the volunteer caregivers to

respond more effectively to the needs of the OVC, community mobilization/participation and the

Activity Narrative: development of networks, linkages and referral systems. Key target populations are OVC, families affected

by HIV and AIDS, caregivers and volunteers.

BACKGROUND:

The Salvation Army is an international Christian denomination with specific community programs to address

all aspects of HIV and AIDS through community-based care and prevention programming including home-

based care, psychosocial support for OVC, individualized pre- and post-test counseling, clinical care for

opportunistic infections, community counseling, and youth mobilization. Salvation Army developed Matsoho

A Thuso, a care and prevention model in November 2004 with PEPFAR funding. This model includes care

and support activities for OVC in accordance with South African Government (SAG) OVC policy. Salvation

Army works to capacitate communities to care for OVC through training volunteers, offering outreach

services and mobilizing community resources. The project currently operates in 70 sites in eight of South

Africa's nine provinces, many of which are in rural and underserved areas. In FY 2007 Salvation Army will

intensify and enhance OVC care and support activities through training new caregivers as well as retraining

existing caregivers on a range of care and support services for OVC and their families.

ACTIVITIES AND EXPECTED RESULTS:

ACTIVITY 1: Training

To respond to the needs of OVC, The Salvation Army has developed a training course for its community

networks to establish and strengthen services for OVC. Volunteers attend a 5-day training course based on

a collection of resources used practically in the field to equip them with skills to employ child-friendly

interactive methodologies to identify and support OVC and to set up OVC Support Centers in their

communities, providing children with a range of support services. The collection of resources that will be

used includes practical exercises which cover the following topics: defining and identifying OVC, practical

skills for care and support, establishing and managing an OVC support center, understanding and

accessing the SAG social support system, and basic monitoring and evaluation. Community volunteers are

identified and profiled from local congregations and return to serve their communities after training

increasing community support for OVC. Community volunteers will be provided with ongoing, on-site

support and mentorship by skilled program staff. In the period ending June 2006, 85 volunteers were trained

as OVC caregivers. In FY 2007 the Salvation Army will train additional caregivers to expand service delivery

and enhance the quality of care provided through intensive supervision.

ACTIVITY 2: Establishment of OVC Support Centers

This activity involves the establishment of OVC Support Centers in communities where The Salvation Army

already has a presence. Through extensive outreach to churches, community leaders and networks,

community volunteers will inform the community of the establishment of the OVC Support Center and its

services. As a result of this outreach, OVC will come to the OVC Support Center where their needs will be

assessed and documented. OVC will then be provided with a comprehensive range of services based on

each child's individual needs that include, but are not limited to, psychosocial support (primarily through

child-friendly participatory approaches), building resilience, life skills and assistance in accessing SAG

social support systems (including HIV prevention advocacy on behalf of OVC and their families). Volunteers

will also negotiate with schools to help OVC obtain school-fee exemptions to ensure OVC have access to

education. In addition, OVC will be linked to existing community resources for the provision of food, school

uniforms and supplies. All outreach activities will be sensitive to gender and will address gender issues that

arise in the equity of access to services through the routine monitoring of service data. Any imbalances

detected will be addressed. In the period ending June 2006, Salvation Army provided services to just over

2000 OVC. FY 2007 funding will be used to intensify and enhance OVC services. Salvation Army will

facilitate the referral system to ensure that the OVC have access to health and treatment services.

ACTIVITY 3: Establishment of referral networks and linkages

When volunteers identify cases they are not equipped to deal with, referrals will be made to relevant service

providers such as child protection services, health care providers and social workers. The Salvation Army

will form linkages and partnerships with existing specialized service providers such as social workers,

police, child protection units and child health systems to improve and/or increase access to such services

as well as to public and private institutions providing pediatric ARV treatment and services for HIV-infected

children. Through utilizing established networks (such as women's groups, study groups, and Sunday

School programs) and private and public sector partnerships, the Salvation Army will be able to access

other community resources to further enhance OVC outreach initiatives. Reports on activities and data will

be routinely forwarded to the local Departments of Social Development to share data and information

contributing to national statistics of the OVC profiles the country and leveraging more support and resources

for the OVC. This will improve the quality of service delivery and the services rendered and ensure that the

program is in line with SAG policy, guidelines and priorities. With the incorporation of Abaqulusi child

survival program and Community youth and OVC response into Matsoho A Thuso, attention will be given to

documenting the best practices from their way of working and try and replicate them in other service hubs.

Wherever feasible, The Salvation Army will retain the knowledge and services of the staff and volunteers

associated with the Abaqulusi Child Survival program Northern KwaZulu-Natal and Western Cape

Community Youth and OVC response program.

New/Continuing Activity: New Activity

Continuing Activity:

Table 3.3.13: