The Soul Beat 210 - Children and HIV/AIDS in Africa
In this issue of The Soul Beat:
- Radio and mentoring PROJECTS for OVC...
- STRATEGIES for integrating gender into OVC programming and for reducing stigma...
- ONLINE RESOURCE: OVC support.net
- GUIDES AND TOOLKITS for helping children living with HIV/AIDS...
In celebration of World AIDS Day on December 1, this issue of The Soul Beat e-newsletter looks at Children and HIV/AIDS in Africa. It features a selection of programme experiences, research reports, and tools and resources from the Soul Beat Africa website that show at how communication is being used to support orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) and care for children living with HIV and AIDS.
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1. Mama Mkubwa Psychosocial Support Programme - Tanzania
Mama Mkubwa (MM) is a community-based initiative led by The Salvation Army (TSA) in Tanzania to care for and support Most Vulnerable Children and Other Vulnerable Children (MVC/OVC). Launched in 2002, Mama Mkubwa focuses on building capacity at the community level, working to empower communities with skills to collectively identify problems faced by children, youth and families, and pooling collective resources for addressing identified problems. The programme also provides psychosocial support through implementation of kids clubs, and on-going support to OVC and their families through home visiting.
2. Tisinthe Interactive Radio Project - Malawi
Launched in September 2010 in Malawi, Tisinthe is an interactive radio magazine programme designed to help primary school teachers, learners, and their parents communicate more openly and honestly about HIV. Tisinthe is led by Theatre for a Change (TfaC), in partnership with the Ministry of Education. The project also established listening clubs for learners, their parents, and their teachers.
3. LubutoMentoring Programme - Zambia
Launched in September 2009 by the Lubuto Library Project (LLP), LubutoMentoring is a programme for orphans and vulnerable children that combines group discussion with storytelling, which LLP says is a traditional way to pass down values and connect children to their roots and society. In partnership with Project Concern International, Zambian sociologist and motivational speaker Dr. Lawrence Mukuka designed this programme of counselling, mentoring, and encouraging traditional values, tailored specifically to the needs of OVC and youth served by Lubuto Libraries in Zambia.
Measure Evaluation is seeking applications for a local implementing partner to implement a pilot test of The Know-Your-Response (KYR) toolkit in Greater Accra, Ghana. Click here for more information.
Deadline for applications is December 12.
STRATEGIES FOR WORKING WITH CHILDREN
4. Integrating Gender in Care and Support of Vulnerable Children: A Guide for Program Designers and Implementers (July 2012)
By Elizabeth Doggett and Tanya Medrano
This guide was developed for organisations that implement care and support programmes for children made vulnerable by HIV and AIDS. According to the publishers, there is a lack of resources and tools for gender integration specifically for programmes designed for vulnerable children, and this guide was produced to fill this gap by serving as a practical tool in design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of care and support programmes.
5. Mobilizing Ethiopian Idirs (2010)
By Adele Clark and Mitiku Telilla
This brief shares the experience of Catholic Relief Services (CRS) to mobilise Idirs, traditional Ethiopian burial societies, to become community change agents to care for and support orphans and vulnerable children (OVC), as well as reach communities with HIV prevention messages. According to the brief, the idirs are helping to dramatically reduce the expense of prevention, palliative care, and OVC programmes.
6. Our Lives Aren't Like the Lives of Other Children: A Documentation of the Approaches, Process, and Best Practices and Lessons Learned in Ethiopia on How to Combat HIV-related Stigma and Discrimination against Children Living with or Affected by HIV and AIDS (July 2012)
By Lotte Ladegaard
This report describes and evaluates the Safe Environment and Non-discrimination in Schools in Ethiopia (SENSE), a 3-year project initiated in 2009 with an overall development objective of "a school environment in Ethiopia free from HIV-related stigma and discrimination".
7. Needs, Challenges & Opportunities: Adolescents and Young People Living with HIV in Zambia (March 2011)
The aims of this qualitative study, carried out in 2010 by the International HIV/AIDS Alliance, were twofold. The first was to explore and document the psychosocial, sexual, and reproductive health (SRH) needs of adolescents (10-19) living with HIV in Zambia. The second aim was to identify gaps between these needs and existing SRH and HIV-related initiatives and services currently available to young people.
8. Protecting Children Affected by HIV Against Abuse, Exploitation, Violence, and Neglect (July 2011)
By Siân Long
Published by AIDSTAR-One, this document intends to explore strategies to protect children around the world who are orphaned or made vulnerable by HIV (OVC) from abuse, exploitation, violence, and neglect. The report draws from lessons learned by OVC programme managers, designers, and policy developers - particularly those associated with the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEFPAR). Specifically, the report: identifies gaps in current child protection strategies employed within PEPFAR OVC programmes; introduces a range of emerging best practices or promising strategies for preventing and responding to child abuse, exploitation, and neglect; suggests contexts in which each strategy might be useful; outlines ways to measure the success of specific strategies; and provides a list of tools and resources available to programme implementers and designers to support implementation of strategies.
9. Eliminating Pediatric HIV/AIDS: What It Will Take and What It Will Bring (2012)
By R.J. Simonds and Laura Guay
Published by AIDSTAR-One, this report starts with the statement that: "In the coming decade, the world can look forward to the virtual elimination of new HIV infections among infants...Early epidemiologic research has been critical to this victory." The report outlines some of the key elements required for achieving that vision.
Click here for more information and resources on Children and HIV go to OVC support.net.
RESOURCES, GUIDES AND TOOLKITS ON CHILDREN AND HIV/AIDS
10. Palliative Care at Home for Young Children in Africa: Training and Support Package
By Alan Stein and Linda Richter
This Home-based Paediatric Palliative Care Training and Support Package is designed to help train community workers who are in a position to support families to care for very sick young children at home. The training guide contains practical guidance, techniques, and tips and uses stories to facilitate the training.
11. No Secrets: Helping Families and Carers Talk to Children About Life-limiting Illness Guide for Healthcare Workers in Malawi (2010)
Edited by Harriet Lowe
Published by The Work Continues, this illustrated booklet is designed to help healthcare workers to encourage families and carers to talk to children about their life-limiting illness. The booklet is based on research carried out by Dr Mary Bunn at Umodzi, a children's palliative care service at the paediatrics department of Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre, Malawi. The publication both summarises the findings of international research and Dr Bunn's research in Malawi, and provides a simple guide for healthcare workers.
12. Good Practice Guide: Family-Centred HIV Programming for Children (2012)
By Ros Kent, Kate Iorpenda, and Alice Fay
This guide is designed to help HIV programmers implement family-centred HIV programming for children. The guide examines six areas of intervention for children and their families: health, economic strengthening, food and nutrition, education and early childhood development (ECD), care and protection, and emotional and psychological support. In each sector, the guide offers ideas about how to implement programmes in a more family-centred way and illustrates these with case studies of programmes that have started using family-centred approaches.
13. Guideline on HIV Disclosure Counselling for Children Up to 12 Years of Age (2011)
The World Health Organization (WHO) has developed this guidance for healthcare workers on how to support children 12 years of age and younger, and their caregivers, on disclosure of HIV status. The guidance is intended as part of a comprehensive approach to the physical, emotional, cognitive, and social well-being of a developing child following the child's own diagnosis of HIV or that of a parent or close caregiver.
14. Say and Play: A Tool for Young Children and Those Who Care for Them (2009)
By Jonathan Brakarsh
Published by Project Concern International in Zambia, this interactive tool is designed for orphans and vulnerable children from three to six years old and those who care for them. It uses pictures, stories and games to help children talk about their lives and, through these activities, it guides adults to identify and support the emotional and social needs of children.
15. Making a Hero Book: A Guide for Facilitators (2007)
By Jonathan Morgan
Published by the Regional Psychosocial Support Initiative (REPSSI), this book offers a series of autobiographical storytelling and art exercises, designed to support children and youth to identify a significant psychosocial obstacle standing in the way of their goals, and to find ways to gain power over this obstacle. According to the guide, by doing this and creating Hero Books, children find solutions to the personal and social challenges they face.
16. Accelerating National-Level Action to End Paediatric HIV/AIDS: An Advocacy Toolkit (2010)
By Georgina Bukenya, Subarna Mathes, Susana Oguntoye
Published by the Children Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF), this advocacy toolkit is a step-by-by step guide to planning advocacy campaigns, based on the experiences of the Campaign to End Paediatric AIDS (CEPA). According to CEPA, successful advocacy campaigns are based on a carefully designed workplan that lays out clear and focused goals, activities, timelines, roles and responsibilities of relevant actors, and steps for monitoring and learning from progress and impact, which in turn set the direction for ongoing advocacy.
17. Toolkit for Positive Change: Providing Family-Focused, Results-Driven and Cost-Effective Programming for Orphans and Vulnerable Children (2009)
By Samson Radeny and Kelley Bunkers
Published by Save the Children, this toolkit shares the key strategies and tools which were used by Ethiopians to address the needs of vulnerable children in their communities during the Positive Change: Children, Communities and Care (PC3) Programme. According to the document, the tools presented are tested, family-based, cost-effective, and child-centred tools that have proven to be effective and have restored hope to half a million Ethiopian children and their families.
SOUL BEAT HIV/AIDS THEMESITE
For additional resources, visit Soul Beat Africa's HIV/AIDS Themesite.
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SOUL BEAT E-NEWSLETTER ARCHIVES
See these previous e-newsletters related to HIV and AIDS:
The Soul Beat 187: HIV/AIDS – Tackling Alcohol and Stigma
The Soul Beat 165: HIV/AIDS and Communication
To view ALL past editions of The Soul Beat e-newsletter, click here.
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