Psychosocial Support Project
The Psychosocial Support Project intended to scale up Psychosocial Support Activities in Malawi through linking and learning. The project brought together and built on the experiences of the four key organisations: NOVOC, YONECO, ECC and Eye of the Child with NOVOC being the lead organisation. The project was integrally linked to and conceived with the same framework as the project focusing on” lobby and advocacy” that was under the leadership of CEYCA. The four organisations (called key partners) in this project have been selected largely on the basis of their comparative strength vis-a-vis a project of this nature coupled with their resolve to work jointly. The project can in summary be said to underpinned by the following four theses:
- That OVC remain one of the most critical challenges facing poverty stricken and HIV/AIDS hard hit country.
- That much of what is happening at the moment is addressing the physical/material needs of OVC.
- That until recently there have been few organisations that are addressing the psychosocial dimension.
- That these few organisation are employing different strategies focusing on different target groups hence accumulating varied experiences in the process.
Project Objectives:
- To increase the understanding of psychosocial support issues, strategies and interventions for OVC service providers through linking and learning in Malawi
- To create a learning environment for the provision of improved psychosocial support services rendered to OVC
- To increase the integration of psychosocial support services in the OVC‐related initiatives undertaken by various organizations in Malawi
- To increase the networking and exchange of experiences and best practices between and among the participating organizations
Project achievements:
- Baseline survey conducted and concluded
- The establishment of a shared understanding of psychosocial support among partners and other organisations working with OVC in Malawi
- The identification of gaps in the provision of psychosocial support in Malawi
- The production of materials to address those gaps, including the psychosocial support leaflet, the Mainstreaming Strategy and the Psychosocial Support Source Book for Vulnerable Children in Malawi
- The building and strengthening of both formal and informal relationships among partner organisations which resulted in greater sharing of information, increased joint implementation of psychosocial support activities and the practice of partners providing support and capacity building to one other
- The integration of psychosocial support into already existing programmes of the partners and also other organisations
- Contributed towards the establishment of a psychosocial support sub-committee by the Technical Working Group on OVC
< Return to webpage Country Project Malawi
