Hunger

Empowering youth-caregiver households in Eastern Africa (orphans and vulnerable children) affected by HIV/AIDS to manage their own well being and the stability of their families, to participate in the development of their communities, and to live in a shelter of hope.

 

In 2003, CWS conducted a peer exchange with two organizations experienced in working with orphans and vulnerable children (OVC): YWCA Rwanda and the HUYAWA ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania. Out of this exchange emerged the CWS “Giving Hope” program.

The aim of the Giving Hope program is to complement existing orphans and vulnerable children care and support programs with empowerment methodology that focuses on building the capacities of youth (age 12-25) who have become the caregivers of their households (e.g. living with HIV+ parents, elderly grandparents, or younger siblings).

At the heart of the “Giving Hope” methodology is the belief that a youth can make a valuable contribution to his or her own welfare. With the numbers of OVC on the rise in Eastern Africa, institutional care is not a viable, long term solution. Instead, the “Giving Hope” program seeks to empower youths, training them in areas meant to strengthen the family unit, to increase their social and economic opportunities, and to assist in the development of their communities. Under the Giving Hope empowerment methodology, youths develop confidence in their own ideas and skills, and find spiritual, psychological, and physical strength by joining together with other OVC.

 

Areas of focus for the “Giving Hope” program include:

  • Training youths to create kitchen gardens and seed centers for improved household food security and nutrition
  • Enrolling youths in vocational training programs
  • Supporting financial savings activities at the household level
  • Training youths in small business planning and management to promote income generation
  • Granting “seed funds” to jumpstart small-scale income generating activities
  • Providing educational support to ensure student attendance and retention in school
  • Training peer educators and OVC households on HIV/AIDS & reproductive health
  • Supporting youth-led peer education on HIV education and prevention through “SMART Grants”
  • Facilitating peer exchanges for children and partner staff
Photo by YWCA Rwanda
 

To conduct these efforts, implementing organizations support youths to form working groups consisting of several youth and a group-nominated adult counselor from the community. These groups provide the youths with an important structure for psychosocial support, acting as an extended family. The group members function as a team, conducting periodic meetings during which they help one other in everyday activities such as building projects, farming, or other household needs.

Within their working groups, youth also:

  • Create “household dreams,” encouraging each youth to think positively about his or her future.
  • Devise a group plan of action in order to coordinate the group’s efforts and enable the realization of the household dreams.
  • Participate in training sessions and receive financial inputs relating to identified activities, allowing youths to move beyond a feeling of hopelessness into a feeling of empowerment.
Photo by YWCA Rwanda
 

As of January 2007, the Giving Hope program has expanded from its original two members to now include seven organizations implementing the “Giving Hope” program in four countries: Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda.

To date, twelve additional community-based organizations have been reached through trainings and peer education and are integrating the empowerment methodology into their existing programs.

Currently, the program has reached 7,215 youth-caregiver households, which include 23,977 children and 484 OVC working groups.

 

"The power is in the children. Children can do wonders."

- Mary Obiero, CWSEA Program Coordinator for Socio-Economic Development