This activity is a follow on to the CORE Initiative project implemented by CARE Inc. to support the Ministry

of Gender, Labor and social Development (MGLSD). CORE Initiative has had three main components: 1)

Strengthening the capacity of the MGLSD to lead, manage, coordinate, monitor and evaluate the national

response to Orphans and Other Vulnerable Children; 2) Improving the quality of OVC services provided

through civil society implementing partners; and 3) providing technical support to the Civil Society Fund

(CSF) steering committee.

Achievements of CORE Initiative:

CORE Initiative has worked with the MGLSD to build its capacity to provide strategic direction, coordination

and monitoring to Uganda's response to OVC, from the national to the household level. It undertook a

detailed assessment of MGLSD and of the Community Based Services Departments (where services are

coordinated at district level), developed and are now implementing an extensive plan to build capacity in

seven areas: coordination between sectors and levels, planning, leadership, staffing, communications and

advocacy, granting and monitoring and evaluation. CORE Initiative's original mandate was extended to play

a substantial role in creating and supporting the Civil Society Fund for HIV/AIDS (OVC care and youth HIV

prevention), tuberculosis and malaria, and bringing to it the knowledge and experience in making and

managing grants to local organizations. The CORE Initiative further supported MGLSD's national response

to create a national Quality Standards framework, in which MGLSD's plans, strategy and principles at the

national level are connected logically to interventions on behalf of vulnerable children at the household. The

country now has (a) Quality Standards, and (b) national, district and household Indicators. These practical

tools help all actors in the multisectoral OVC response to understand the environment in which they work,

and the type and quality of work required of them. MGLSD, with support from the CORE Initiative has

undertaken Program Assessments for interventions in two Core Program Areas of Socio-economic Security

and Psychosocial Support. A report from these assessments will be shared to all stakeholders. Among

MGLSD and CORE Initiative's achievements to strengthen districts' ability to plan for and serve the OVC in

their midst, two merit particular mention; All 80 districts carried out a first-ever mapping of OVC service

providers, learning who (whether informal group or formal organisation) was doing what (type of service)

with whom (number and category of children) and where (a single household, numerous villages, and entire

district). The exercise also quantified and localized the enormous service gaps that prevail in the country.

By combining the OVC service mapping results with data from the secondary analysis, all the 80 districts

have created specific plans and strategies to reach OVC via government-civil society partnerships. Lastly

the CORE Initiative provided capacity building and technical support to MGLSD, to districts and to 48 CSOs

so that they can scale up and improve the quality of programs for OVC and youth HIV prevention.

CORE follow on FY 2009 activity details:

In collaboration with the MGLSD, the CORE follow activity will focus on strengthening the capacity of district

local governments, lower local governments (in a decentralized system) and Civil Society Organizations to

ensure Improved Delivery of Quality Social Protection Services for Orphans and Other Vulnerable Children.

To achieve this, this activity will continue working through the MGLSD to support Technical Services

Organizations (TSOs) to a) roll out national level OVC policies, guidelines, quality assurance standards,

tools and data collection systems to Local governments and district level CSOs and b) provide technical

support to districts and municipalities for building capacity to plan, manage, supervise, monitor and evaluate

and strengthen OVC service provision c) develop and strengthen the roll out of national OVC management

information system basing on the national monitoring and Evaluation frame that will be developed by

MGLSD d) provide sub grants to TSOs that will support the roll out of the OVC response through eight

respective zones covering all the districts of Uganda and e) after the successful implementation of the

national OVC situational analysis, participate in national review, and development of the second national

strategic program plan of interventions for OVC for next five years (2009/10 to 2014/15).

Specifically, this follow-on activity is designed to focus on consolidating and strengthening the local

governments in areas of management, strategic planning, quality improvement, and coordination of OVC

response, rolling out OVC MIS, M&E, advocacy and communication through supporting the TSO structure.

TSOs are envisioned as long term technical partners and are a key element of the MGLSD technical

infrastructure and capacity to lead and manage the national response. It is envisioned that current TSO

partners will have their grants renewed through September 2009 and this activity will continue to support

sub grants to the TSO structure under the MGLSD in following years. Through this activity, TSOs will

ensure that the OVC response is supported in the districts by focusing on the following activities;

1. Support sustainable multisectoral coordination mechanisms for an OVC program that is fully functional at

district /municipality and sub county levels by a) operationalizing OVC coordination mechanisms at national

and district and municipality levels, b) disseminating OVC coordination Committees' operational guidelines

and other technical resource materials c) facilitating the coordination of quarterly review and planning

meetings, sharing and lessons learned workshops at district and lower levels, d) Integrating OVC issues

into multisectoral district sector programs, plans, systems, strategies, standards and tools e) Integrating

OVC issues into the agenda for PTC and other relevant forum f) establishing and/or strengthening OVC

related multisectoral district technical working groups and committees for guidance and supervision of

quality service delivery.

2. Strengthen/ build the capacity of districts/municipalities with emphasis on the Community Based Service

Departments (CBSD) and OVC coordination committees; a) Support districts to develop program targets

and systematically cost OVC strategic plans, b) Familiarize districts/municipalities with OVC guidelines for

management skills development of the OVC implementers, c) Organize bi-annual OVC implementers

sharing and learning meetings for district/zonal OVC stakeholders d) Adapt key OVC technical materials for

CPAs for implementation of capacity building plans for districts/CSOs including community mapping guides,

counseling and guidance manuals, PSS training manuals, economic strengthening implementer's guides

and program assessment toolkits, e) Organize annual program reviews and document best practices

3. Strengthen the technical and management capacity of CSOs involved in implementing OVC

interventions; a) Assess technical and management capacity needs for district-level CSOs and develop

capacity development plans for improved program management and quality service delivery, b) Build

Activity Narrative: technical and management capacity of OVC CSOs using multiple strategies, c) Field test and disseminate

program assessment toolkits for assessing, analyzing and sharing best practices/effective interventions.

4. Develop and operationalize the OVC MIS system at district and lower local government levels; a) Support

training of district and subcounty staff, and district level service providers, on the national OVC M&E

framework including indicators, b) Support districts to develop OVC program log frame and targets linked to

national framework, c) Participate with the MGLSD in developing OVC indicators and the MIS at district

level, d) Support districts to develop district specific OVC M&E plans and support routine district data

collection and reporting, e) Support training of district and subcounty staff on the collection and collation of

data for the OVC MIS Local Government Capacity Module, d) Support training of local government staff on

the updating and maintenance of the OVC MIS Local Government Capacity Module, e) Support district and

subcounty staff, and district-level Service Providers in the analysis, interpretation and dissemination of OVC

data from the OVC MIS.

5. Roll out National quality standards (QS), quality of care improvement and quality of care measurement

guidelines to all implementing partners at national, district and community levels, a) Disseminate the OVC

QS framework (with national QS and service level standards harmonized), using standard QS dissemination

guidelines, b) Support implementing agencies to define quality assurance at district and program level, c)

Support Integration of Quality assurance standards Guidelines to all key programs and plans at district

levels, d) Set guidelines for improving quality outcomes at service delivery level, e) Set guidelines for

measuring quality using child status index tools, f) Identify and strengthen quality improvement sites for

OVC service delivery approaches among implementers, g) Facilitate self and peer intervention

assessments/cross partner visits among implementers of OVC interventions, using the guidelines for

assessing best practices and quality improvement, h) Facilitate communities of practice, sharing and

learning experiences for quality service delivery improvement, i) Document OVC best practices and human

interest stories and widely disseminate them.

6. Strengthen the capacity of districts and district based CSOs to advocate for OVC plans and programs: a)

Develop consistent messages and facts and disseminate them to be used to advocate for OVC issues and

concerns, B) Facilitate advocacy meetings at district /municipalities NGO-forums and other child-rights

advocacy organizations for evidenced based information sharing to increase public awareness on OVC.

New/Continuing Activity: Continuing Activity

Continuing Activity: 14185

Continued Associated Activity Information

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

System ID System ID

14185 3197.08 U.S. Agency for CARE 6729 1030.08 The Core $8,237,000

International International Initiative

Development

8408 3197.07 U.S. Agency for CARE 4827 1030.07 The Core $4,480,000

International International Initiative

Development

3197 3197.06 U.S. Agency for CARE 2760 1030.06 The Core $5,531,014

International International Initiative

Development

Emphasis Areas

Gender

* Increasing gender equity in HIV/AIDS programs

Refugees/Internally Displaced Persons

Human Capacity Development

Estimated amount of funding that is planned for Human Capacity Development

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

Education

Water

Table 3.3.13: