This activity is a continuation from FY 07 and has not been updated.

AVSI's strategic approach is as follows: a) to focus on the child as a unique and unrepeatable human being,

endowed with dignity and potential; b) to follow a bottom-up approach in the identification of beneficiaries

and the choice and delivery of support ; c) to ensure that every child supported be cared for by an adult,

either in the family or by someone in the community or of a CBO; and d) to rely on and to enhance the

operational capacity of the CBOs through close and continuous working relations between AVSI personnel

and every single partner through an operational and stable network. The Objectives of AVSI's OVC

Program are as follows: To strengthen the coping capacities of OVC and their families (natural or foster)

and communities affected by HIV/AIDS; To support education and skill training for OVC: To improve health

status and care for OVC; To address the psychosocial needs of OVC; To support community-based relief

for OVC; To enhance the capacity of AVSI's current and prospective local partners; To integrate and

harmonize the OVC focused intervention with other HIV/AIDS and poverty reduction initiatives on the

ground. AVSI provides support to OVCs in the following core program areas: food/nutrition, protection,

health care, psychosocial support, education and economic strengthening.

AVSI considers education an important tool to help overcome vulnerability. For this reason therefore AVSI

will put more emphasis on supporting children in school, moreover not forgetting related activities like

provision of health care, psychosocial support, nutritional support, remedial classes, recreational activities,

emotional support as well as other requirements needed to attend school. For our project, we consider

every child supported to have access to health care, which means all the 6011 children to be supported this

financial year will be entitled to this service whenever they need it. AVSI will support 5726 children with

school fees for Nursery, primary and Secondary education and 260 in vocational institutes. For these

children to go to school, they will need certain requirements like; uniforms, books, pens, school bags etc

which will be provided to 4,724 most needy children during the year. In addition to that, AVSI partners have

realized that there are some children that need extra support in class, and for this reason, they have

decided to organize remedial classes for 573 children. Among the children that AVSI supports, some have

got serious nutritional needs, because some are on ARVs while others are malnourished. Therefore AVSI

has planned to provide the identified 539 children with nutritional support following medical practitioners'

prescriptions. AVSI's experience in working with children has provided an important lesson of the need for

recreational activities like organized trips, get-together parties; drama etc. therefore this financial year, AVSI

plans to have 3,383 children benefiting from this activity. Moreover emotional support in terms of home

visits to get to know the families of the OVC and to share experiences with the guardians and children have

been arranged. The number of home visits by AVSI and partners' social workers will amount to 8,480 this

financial year. There will also be 9,365 school visits to have an interaction with the teachers and head

teachers of the schools where the OVCs attend. Moreover AVSI partners have planned to have 16,350

visits from children and their guardians to their offices. Besides direct support to OVCs, AVSI intends to

support capacity building for care givers and partner organizations. The year under planning, AVSI will hold

23 workshops and trainings on a variety of topics related to education, financial management and care

giving for OVCS for a total number of 645 beneficiaries. In addition to this, AVSI plans to strengthen the

organizational and financial management capacities for 39 partner organizations, through regular follow up

visits and tailor made trainings where necessary. AVSI recognizes that OVCs do not live in a vacuum. For

this reason, several indirect activities for families and communities within which these children live, have

been planned for. The activities planned for this financial year are; community sensitization mainly but not

limited to HIV/AIDS, business trainings for guardians and some other people in the communities that have

shown interest and need, as well as income generating activities to boost the livelihoods of the families of

the OVCs and moreover begin a step for arranging the sustainability of care and support for the OVC.

Among the beneficiaries of supplemental direct support, AVSI plans to support a number of needy children

who will benefit from requirements for school, remedial classes, and recreational activities and enjoy the

rehabilitation and equipment provided to the schools they attend. Lastly AVSI will support community

projects to increase care and support for OVC, like: adult literacy, renovation of houses for widows, water

and sanitation in slums, house rent, food and non food items est. The exact targets of the indirect activities

are given in the ‘indirect targets' table' below. AVSI has developed a data base to collect all information

about OVCs served and activities supported to each of them, having a specific code. This can avoid

duplication and double - counting. The database also helps to track that each OVC served receives a

comprehensive package as per AVSI's plan of implementation, moreover the services are offered according

to the assessed vulnerabilities of each child, & an individualized plan is made to guide the support of the

child, considering age & family background. AVSI OVC program is leveraging resources and partnerships

with other agencies, like the Memory Project, a US organization, whose goal is to exchange among

students in US and Africa through sharing of books and experiences, and international donors such as WFP

(food support for PHA and EU (TOT for social workers and teachers to prevent HIV/AIDS among

adolescents) so to give supplementary services for OVCs when necessary. Collaboration and coordination

with national and district OVC fora will be ensured by regular participation of AVSI staff and local partners'

staff to all coordination meetings held at national and district level. In FY 2008, AVSI will concentrate on

designing an exit as well as sustainability strategy for the children being supported presently by the

Increased access to care and support to orphans and other vulnerable children. During FY 2007, AVSI

finalized a memorandum of understanding with Ministry of Gender Labor and Social Development which

spells out that AVSI is to work in collaboration with this ministry and local authorities & organizations in

implementing the project. AVSI has been leveraging food supplies from World Food Program and intends to

continue even in FY2008. AVSI does not offer palliative care but has been linking her beneficiaries to

organizations and institutions that offer the service as well as offer ARVs to the sick beneficiaries.