Orphans and vulnerable children
- Country Project South Africa

South Africa Country Project 'Making a Choice for Children in South Africa'


The aim of the project is to strengthen the response of South African counterpart organisations to the needs of OVC.

The participating organisations are:

The project aims to realise its objective by:

  • scaling up existing projects;
  • cooperation and exchange between partners;
  • joint investment in the development of innovative strategies.


1. Scaling up
All participating organisations have specific funds to scale up their programmes.

2. Marketplace
A virtual marketplace provides the participating organisations with a platform to promote their products and services and to purchase others.

3. Joint Learning Project
Structured learning and collaboration can improve each partner’s interventions, and enhance the combined effect of the organisations on the well-being of children affected by the AIDS pandemic. The joint learning project will strengthen the programmes of the individual partner organisations by the exchange of information and services. Together they will develop innovative strategies which they will then implement within their own organisations.

The partnership has identified four learning tracks. An Action Learning Coordinator, working at the Catholic Institute of Education (CIE), will coordinate learning and implementation. Please click here for more details on the partnership structure.

Learning tracks:

  • 4Life Skills – Each participating organisation works in a different way to strengthen the life skills of children and young people both in and outside school. The aim of this learning track is to strengthen these ‘4Life Skills’ through learning from each other. This will take place in group meetings on specific topics related to the Intervention Mapping Model (as outlined in the ‘Evidence-Based Tool for planning of SRHR and HIV prevention programmes for young people’) and guided implementation of the learnings.
  • 4Life Facilitators – All participating organisations work with staff and volunteers who implement the programmes with children and young people: 4Life Facilitators. The organisations have different training and support structures for their facilitators. The aim of this learning track is to strengthen the support for children and young people through the development, training and accreditation of “4-life Facilitators” within the STOP AIDS NOW! partnership. An audit will be carried out to assess the various training and support structures, plus the accreditation needs and options. The outcomes of the audit will be discussed in a workshop. At this workshop a plan will be drawn up for exchanging and combining training courses and developing the accreditation level of training and/or trainers. The learning track is expected to achieve several results. Obviously more effective trainers and 4-Life Facilitators, as well as accredited training organisations and materials. But at the same time it will create a network of organisations for broader support.
  • Meaningful Participation – All the STOP AIDS NOW! South Africa partners involve young people and children in their projects, but the models used to do so differ. In this learning track we want to learn from the different models used. From their successes and difficulties and the perception of young people and children of their involvement/participation in projects that aim to improve their own situation.
  • Networks of Care – Children and young people need support from their community in the context of the AIDS pandemic. ‘Networks of care’ forms links between schools, community structures and leaders (informal and formal) to look at the situation of children in the community and develop strategies to improve their well-being. The aim of the learning track is to strengthen the capacity of participating partners to support the setting up and running of networks of care and to learn lessons that can be transferred beyond the intervention. Each participating partner will build and strengthen the partnership in one community. The Children’s Institute’s draft ‘Handbook for Champions’ will provide guidelines.


Planned results of the Joint Learning Project:

  • joint learning project documentation will describe how each participating organisation has strengthened their work with OVC through one or more of the learning tracks with input from target populations;
  • joint learning process documentation will describe the joint learning within each learning track, the links established between the tracks and use of the outcomes in the wider setting of South Africa.

Malawi pilot project - ‘Strengthening support mechanisms in communities to cope with the growing number of OVC in times of HIV/AIDS’

With this project, STOP AIDS NOW! aims to support Malawi organisations in linking and learning and to develop innovative strategies to improve the well-being of Orphans & Vulnerable Children. To do so we have joined forces with Dutch child-centred organisations.

On 11 and 12 April 2007, STOP AIDS NOW! organised an introductory workshop as the start of the project.
The following was discussed:

  • the current OVC situation in Malawi;
  • existing networks and linking and learning programmes in Malawi;
  • how we can work together to develop innovative strategies.






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