ACTIVITY HAS BEEN MODIFIED IN THE FOLLOWING WAYS:

SUMMARY:

CARE South Africa's Deepening and Expanding Local Links Project (DELL) is a follow-on activity to CARE's

Local Links Project funded through Track 1. The two projects will be implemented concurrently in FY 2009

with funding separately managed. In FY 2010 Local Links programming will be integrated into DELL, thus

the implementation and funding will operate as one project, through DELL. In Limpopo, DELL will be

implemented in Mopani and Sekhukuneland districts and expand to Vhembe district. In the Free State,

implementation in Motheo district will be discontinued, and scaled up in Thabo Mofutsyane District. The

proposed expansion into Ehlanzeni Region of Mpumalanga will not be affected. DELL will also work in

tandem with CARE's LETSEMA program funded through the Centers of Disease Control. DELL's goal is for

OVC and their caregivers to access and use a wide range of high-quality, comprehensive services from

government and civil society institutions.

BACKGROUND:

DELL will be implemented through 9 new sub-partners and 4 district or local municipalities. Two sub-

categories of implementing partners will be contracted. Technical Partners (totaling 5) - who are able to

scale up their reach directly and /or mentor smaller community-based organizations (CBO) will be supported

to recruit professionally qualified nurses and a social worker to ensure sustainable access to skilled staff.

The technical partners will also provide services to OVC in their operational areas. 4 New CBOs (referred to

as Implementing Partners) will be contracted to only provide services to OVC and their caregivers.

Proposed technical partners are: CHOICE Health Care Trust, Bethlehem Child Welfare; Civil Society

Development Initiative and Dihlabeng Development Initiative; a fifth technical partner is yet to be identified.

OVC focal posts will be funded and supported to develop 4 district or local municipalities' capacity to

coordinate services, ensure OVC needs are integrated into local plans and budgets, provide further support

and access to training and funding opportunities to CSO and improve the coordination function of relevant

government -civil society structures.

ACTIVITIES AND EXPECTED RESULTS:

ACTIVTY 1: Package of Services

Community-based organizations provide access to a core package of services to meet the needs and rights

of OVC. Three outputs are envisaged:

a) a minimum package of core services will be agreed upon with sub-grantees which will be developed

through building their own capacity or building linkages to ensure effective referrals. CBOs will develop

these plans and the monitoring tools collaboratively within a municipality or district;

b) CBOs deliver high quality services through ensuring OVC access comprehensive coordinated services

through placing critical technical capacity like social workers, nurses in the Technical Partners to provide

skilled and consistent outreach to Implementing Partners; and

c) Referral Systems are established and tracked. A local municipal and district-based multi- sectoral

mapping of services will be undertaken with Government Departments and CSOs. Implementing partners

will develop reliable referral protocols with at least one local service provider to extend the range and

effectiveness of services to OVC.

CARE's economic work with the OVC caregivers is well established, its adaptation to reach adolescents and

youth will be strengthened through ensuring that the head office-based Economic Support Coordinator is

experienced in working with youth and in establishing linkages with government and the private sector to

ensure work opportunities. Older OVC access to HIV/AIDS related services will be strengthened through

placing 3 youth counselors in strategic clinics (to be funded through Track 1).

ACTIVITY 2: Economic Security of OVC

Households with OVC will have more diversified and sustainable livelihoods through

a) using their income grants productively through engaging in the CARE's savings and lending model (VSL),

and supported to develop income generating activities (IGA);

b) developing the regulatory mechanism to ensure compliance with the South African Financial Service Act

and provide beneficiaries with other means to grow their savings;

c) the social support function of the VSL groups is strengthened by CBO and other stakeholders through

making technical input into the groups in areas of health care, parenting skills, sexuality and reproductive

health care for adolescents and youth; and

d) the adaptation of VSL and IGA for older OVC. 400 Caregivers will be trained and supported to save; 100

youth will engage in viable income security activities.

ACTIVITY 3: Policy

Local government policy and implementation environment is enhanced to further benefit of OVC and their

caregivers. CARE will place 4 OVC Focal persons in 4 District or Local Municipalities to develop

government's capacity to respond to OVC needs and develop policy and program decision that support

OVC and their caregivers. The OVC Focal persons will coordinate OVC services and data, participate in

and strengthen Child Care Forums and AIDS council to build effective referral and support networks;

provide hands on support to CBOs and develop district database to inform Integrated Development Plans

and Budgets; and address bottlenecks in government service delivery. CARE will document at least one

promising practice.

ACTIVITY 4: Organizational Capacity

Organizational capacity of Implementing partners is strengthened, to ensure long term sustainability, self

Activity Narrative: reliance and maximize project impact. CARE will contract 9 new partners (5 large and 4 smaller NGOs).

DELL will focus on institutional strengthening of implementing partners to ensure a) enhanced strategic

leadership; b) improved institutional planning and monitoring thereof ;c) stronger governance and human

resource management capacity; and d) increased resource mobilization and financial management

capacities. The overall organizational framework for ensuring the long term sustainability of implementing

partners recognizes the value of small CBO to reach marginalized farming communities. These groups will

be supported to provide peer learning and coordinated into a network. The network functions like financial

management, fund raising, monitoring etc will be undertaken by the established CBOs. These established

CBO's are usually larger or medium sized non-governmental organizations that will be supported to improve

their own internal functioning and to better serve the institutional and service delivery needs of CBOs in the

network.

Partners will participate in a national Project Steering Committee and capacity development initiatives as

required. The Project Steering Committee of 9-12 people will be drawn from a mix of Implementing and

Technical Partners, government officials and other related stakeholders to increasingly take strategic

oversight of the project.

ACTIVITY 5: Cross Cutting Issues

CARE will undertake a baseline study of OVC needs and service satisfaction. CARE will migrate to using an

electronic data base system. To reduce CARE and partner staff and volunteer caregiver turnover, CARE will

build in incentives for staff development like access to accredited training, provide protective clothing and

build in a systematic approach to care for the caregiver and access to services for themselves and their

family members. CARE recognizes that the volunteer caregivers, predominantly women, are themselves

infected or at risk for HIV /AIDS infection because of their economic vulnerability.

-------------------------

SUMMARY:

This follow-on activity will provide support to orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) and strengthen families

affected by HIV and AIDS. The follow-on activity will work 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. The emphasis is on building the capacity of local organizations to

strengthen direct service delivery to OVC and their caregivers. The targeted populations are OVC and

people living with HIV and AIDS (PLHIV).

BACKGROUND:

This activity was supported by CARE USA in FY 2006 and FY 2007. The CARE Track One activities will be

recompeted in FY 2007 and it is anticipated that the same partner will continue these activities in FY 2008.

The follow-on activities will include: 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.

ACTIVITIES AND EXPECTED RESULTS:

ACTIVITY 1: Economic Strengthening

The follow-on will continue to focus on women's (caregivers) access to income and productive resources

through Voluntary Savings and Loan (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 the saving group as a social safety net to help them cope

with family stresses including death and other related stresses, and to set up Income Generating Activities

(IGA). The follow-on will focus on improving the qualitative aspect of the economic empowerment

component of the female caregivers. VSL activities seem to induce a demand by the caregivers for IGA

training. The follow-on activity will enhance the capacity of sub-partners to scale-up IGA training and

support, tracking the qualitative relationship between the economic activities and the well being of OVC and

their households and documenting the VSL model and lessons learned.

Small qualitative studies will be done to assess the impact of the economic component in improving the

wellbeing of Caregivers and OVC. These studies will be done in different in areas in order to compare the

impacts of the VSL and IGA activities on OVC and their households.

The follow-on activity will scale up the usage of VSL groups as one of the entry points to reach caregivers

and OVC with other services such as psychosocial support, education and assistance in accessing birth

certificates. Lessons learned will be documented that link VSL with the provision of other services to

caregivers and OVC. The lessons will be replicated and used as models on how to use economic activities

to enhance care and support of OVC.

ACTIVITY 2: Local Capacity Building

The follow-on activity will strengthen and improve the quality of services offered to OVC and their caregivers

by focusing on institutional capacity building and program support to strengthen the partnership model. The

follow-on 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. Activities

with the support groups for OVC and caregivers who are both infected and affected by HIV and AIDS will

continue. Activities will focus on reaching the most vulnerable children especially the under-five age group,

the disabled and young girls.

In order to improve capacity of sub-partners to provide better services, the follow-on activity will appoint

Activity Narrative: Social Workers to work closely with sub-partners to use the training modules adapted from Hands at Work

to train caregivers, especially grandmothers who are having difficulties of raising OVC, particularly

adolescent OVC. Training will also focus on caregivers' communication skills with OVC will be integrated

within sub-partners programs. The social worker will train, support and disseminate information on how sub-

partners could improve OVC access to legal documentation, state social grants, and educational support to

ensure that OVC stay in school and to assist in finding ways for volunteers to get regular stipends.

Sub-partners will be trained using the Sexual Health Reproduction manual to enhance the capacity of

caregivers to communicate with OVC about issues of sexual health and reproduction.

The follow-on will focus on enhancing the capacity of sub-partners to provide support to caregivers to build

coping mechanisms to deal with stresses raising OVC through a caregiver program that is based on group

debriefing and sharing. This model will also be used to educate infected and affected people to form support

groups.

The follow-on will develop an organizational development (OD) process with sub-partners. The OD

processes will focus on enhancing the programmatic capacity of sub-partners to ensure organizational

sustainability and to improve the quality of services delivered to OVC and their caregivers.

ACTIVITY 3: Advocacy

The follow-on sub-partners will be trained and supported to identify advocacy issues using the advocacy

strategy developed in years three and four. This activity will strengthen sub-partners ability to advocate on

and behalf of OVC and to enhance their ability to provide better quality services to OVC and their caregivers

with improved to access government services and the creation of linkages with the private sector for

economic support activities. Participatory Educational Theatre (PET) will continue to be used to deal with

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

of youth counselors. Cooperation with other PEFAR partners will be explored to strengthen and broaden

this theatre activity to include storytelling. The CARE follow-on will work with sub-partners to introduce

trained youth counselors to increase the reach of young people with services targeted at the youth.

The follow-on will continue to participate in the Government's National Plan of Action through the National

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

food security. This program is consistent with the Department of Social Development (DOSD) Plan of Action

for OVC. In addition, other relevant Departments will be supported to influence the improvement of OVC

services, especially the Departments of Health, Agriculture and Education and participation in the police

forum to assist the police with appropriate responses to issues of child and women abuse.

The CARE follow-on activities will contribute to PEPFAR 2-7-10 goals by improving access to quality care

for 10 million people, including OVC.

New/Continuing Activity: Continuing Activity

Continuing Activity: 21638

Continued Associated Activity Information

Activity Activity ID USG Agency Prime Partner Mechanism Mechanism ID Mechanism Planned Funds

System ID System ID

21638 21638.08 U.S. Agency for CARE South 9372 9372.08 $0

International Africa

Development

Emphasis Areas

Gender

* Increasing women's access to income and productive resources

Human Capacity Development

Estimated amount of funding that is planned for Human Capacity Development $216,000

Public Health Evaluation

Food and Nutrition: Policy, Tools, and Service Delivery

Food and Nutrition: Commodities

Economic Strengthening

Estimated amount of funding that is planned for Economic Strengthening $440,000

Education

Estimated amount of funding that is planned for Education $260,000

Water

Table 3.3.13: