Background:
Overview
Since
2002, Save the Children has served the immediate and longer-term needs
of some
of South Africa’s
most vulnerable children: those affected by HIV/AIDS. This
donor-supported work,
which takes place in the impoverished district of Thabo Mofutsanyana in
South Africa’s Free State, is
both innovative and replicable. Save the
Children mobilizes adults to
identify and assist orphans and other children in dire circumstances,
nurtures
school-based responses, conducts training to improve home-based health
care,
enhances accessibility of government services for children and their
adult
caregivers, builds the capacity of local organizations and strengthens
national-level coordination of HIV/AIDS responses.
Save
the Children’s commitment reflects the tremendous challenges that
confront
children in the district, especially those for whom HIV/AIDS has
severely
diminished their quality of life and left theirs and their families’
survival
in jeopardy:
While one
in six South African adults is believed to be HIV-positive, in the Free State it
is estimated that 30.3 percent of adults are HIV-positive, one of the
country’s highest rates.
- The number of children in the Free State
reported by their school systems as orphaned by the death of one or
both parents from an AIDS-related illness nearly tripled between 2002
and 2005, from 15,800 to 42,500. In Thabo Mofutsanyana District itself,
schools reported there were some 13,200 orphaned children in 2005, more
than double the number three years earlier. Many other children live in
households where a parent is ill or in households that have taken in
orphaned children.
- Poverty, the out-migration of
able-bodied parents to areas where there is work and substance abuse
also conspire against children. Although
some parents return to Thabo Mofutsanyana regularly or send money home,
others do neither, leaving children in the care of grandparents or
relatives or alone to fend for themselves.
Innovations for Children and Their
Caregivers
Save
the Children’s programs are guided by the overarching goal of
developing,
sustaining and expanding comprehensive and compassionate care for
orphans and
other vulnerable children so that they can live with dignity, with hope
for
their future and with respect for their rights.
Mobilizing
and Supporting Adult Volunteers
Save
the Children partners with the local government in Thabo Mofutsanyana
to develop
local Child Care Forums (CCFs). The adult volunteers in these groups
identify
orphans and other vulnerable
children
and help address their needs and needs of their adult caregivers. They
arrange
for access to government services such as birth registration, housing,
schools
and health clinics; mobilize care and support, including recreation and
visits
to children living alone, children caring for an adult caregiver or
grieving
over the loss of a parent; and monitor children’s well-being. As of January 2007, there were 73 CCFs in
four municipalities and over 40,000 very vulnerable children identified.
Strengthening
School-based Responses
Save
the Children recognizes that volunteer groups cannot provide all the
support
vulnerable children need, and is working to strengthen other community
resources. First among these resources
are schools. Save the Children is working with the Department of
Education to
develop a Caring Schools model to
provide further care to children. Through
Caring Schools, schools address children’s
physical needs of clothing, school uniforms and food; support
children’s social
and emotional well-being; teach life skills; and develop links to
government
services and community programs for children.
Save the Children is working with 25 schools that have youth
facilitators to support teachers and 50 other schools.
Training
Health Providers and Caregivers
Community
health providers are trained to teach persons living with HIV about
personal
health care and disease prevention and encourage voluntary testing for
HIV. Save the Children also is developing
training for home-based caregivers so that they can provide a higher
level of
care and support for children affected by HIV/AIDS, including
addressing non-health
needs of children whose parents are too ill to provide care and
children caring
for ill or frail parents or grandparents.
Ensuring
Children’s Access to Government
and Community Services
At
the municipal level, Save the
Children seeks to ensure that government agencies whose services can
benefit
orphans and vulnerable children are making such services available. As one example, Save the Children works with
the Home Affairs agency to find ways to make sure that children are
able to get
their births registered so that they can qualify for social services,
such as
accepting an affidavit from a social worker if a child does not have
her or his
parent’s IDs.
Capacity-building
for Organizations Supporting Children and Caregivers
To
further the protection and well-being of very vulnerable children, Save
the
Children actively builds the capacity of others whose mission and work
are
similar so that they can improve their efforts and serve more girls and
boys
and their caregivers.
It
supports and provides technical assistance to the Centre for Positive
Care, a
nongovernment organization (NGO) in a very rural province that also
organizes
adult volunteers to mobilize care for HIV/AIDS-affected children. Save
the
Children also has supported the establishment of local-level
coordinating
bodies in the four municipalities where it conducts HIV/AIDS activities
and
helped them register as non-profit organizations to qualify for
government funds.
National
Leadership for Vulnerable Children
Save
the Children is a member of the Steering Committee of South Africa’s
National
Action Committee for Children Affected by HIV and AIDS (NACCA). It is recognized by the national Department
of Social Development as a leader in the implementation of Child Care
Forums and
other community based care for orphans and other vulnerable children.
How Your
Support Can Work for Children
Save
the Children will pool your gift with other resources to help fund
school-based
programs and activities for HIV/AIDS-affected children in Thabo
Mofutsanyana,
and support this work with expert staff and essential program services. Our current priorities for reaching children
through
schools include:
- Piloting
a food program in up to three secondary schools as part of the Caring Schools initiative to help address malnutrition
among older children. A government program
provides food to children in primary school, but once they graduate to
secondary school they lose out on this important supply of food. For many orphaned and vulnerable children,
school is the one place where they receive nutritious food regularly.
- Providing
schools with more sports equipment so that all children have an
opportunity to take part in play and recreational activities.
March 2007
Save the Children is
the leading independent organization creating
lasting change for children in need in the United States
and around the world.
Save the Children USA
is a member of the International Save the Children Alliance, a global network of 28
independent
Save the Children organizations working to ensure the well-being and
protection
of children in more than 110 countries. For more information, visit
savethechildren.org.
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concerning Save the Children
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writing to Save the Children
Federation, Inc., Assistant Corporate Secretary, 54 Wilton Road, Westport,
Connecticut 06880,
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