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3. Community level orphans and vulnerable children responses
   Last updated: 29.06.02
3.1 Characteristics of community-based responses
CBOs and NGOs play an important role in meeting the needs of vulnerable children in East and Southern Africa. There is growing understanding of good practice in OVC work for such organisations. However, the bulk of support to extended families caring for OVC is not provided by CBOs or NGOs, but rather through the informal, day-to-day activities of community members. These 'organic' activities are often barely visible to outsiders, yet are vital for the community to cope. Relatively little is known about the nature, needs and proliferation of these 'community initiatives'.

Characteristics of informal community initiatives

  • Lack of formal management structures and systems.


  • Make use of local resources.


  • Focus on responding to immediate, local needs.


  • Community-owned.


  • Often catalysed by charismatic local leaders, such as priests.


  • Voluntary activities and do not involve paid staff.


  • Day-to-day activities are often decided by consensus.


  • Often linked to kinship and family ties or neighbour-to-neighbour support.



Community OVC initiatives often arise from the spontaneous, informal responses of community members to evidence of need. They may also result from one community seeing and adapting the OVC activities of other communities or community mobilisation efforts by individuals, organisations or government agencies from outside the community.

"When the Department of Social Welfare talked about the need to do something about the growing number of orphans, we said, 'Why should the whole community look after orphans who have their own relatives?'. But after discussing the issue, we realised that the orphan problem was not just the responsibility of individual households or relatives but of the whole community. At the rate people are dying, we realised that tomorrow any one of us could die leaving orphans who would have to be looked after by the community."

Traditional Chief, Manicaland Province, Zimbabwe

Community OVC initiatives tend to be voluntary, with participants motivated by community spirit, religious faith and desire to care for children. Most volunteers are women, often widows and mothers, who see their involvement as a 'labour of love'.

Many community OVC initiatives in East and Southern Africa are undertaken by faith-based groups or organisations. Activities carried out are different depending on the preferences and motivations of the leaders and volunteers of the initiative, as well as local needs, local resources and the location (e.g. urban, peri-urban or rural).

Activities of community initiatives

  • Support to carers, including extended families looking after orphaned children.


  • Home visits to OVC households.


  • Youth-to-youth counselling and support.


  • OVC support integrated into home-based care for the sick.


  • Gardening, for nutrition and social integration of OVC.


  • Material support provided by neighbours and other community members.


  • Spiritual support and counselling.


  • Income-generating projects.


  • Provision of school fees, uniforms and school supplies.


  • Establishment of community schools.


  • Life skills education, including HIV/AIDS/STI information and awareness.


  • Referral services to public sector agencies - such as social welfare and health.


  • Advocating on behalf of children - such as on issues of school fees, rent, legal issues, sexual and physical exploitation, involvement of the police.


  • Assistance with 'succession planning' - such as memory books, wills and inheritances.



Sustainability is important for community OVC initiatives. Informal initiatives of community members continue and develop as a result of a shared sense of ownership and leadership, recognition and encouragement from other community members, and success in mobilising resources.

Support from local stakeholders - such as churches, business people, traditional and political leaders, health workers and agricultural development staff - is also important for sustainability. This support may be mobilised and strengthened through effective advocacy work at local and national levels. (The 'enabling environment' for scale-up of community OVC initiatives is discussed in Section 5.)

Some community initiatives also receive support from a variety of sources outside the community. This may include technical assistance and advice on programmatic needs, as well as financial support.

3.2 Community case studies from Zimbabwe
Community initiative: St. Joseph's, Mutare (urban)

Volunteers associated with an NGO (Catholic Development Commission) provided home care and support to people living with HIV/AIDS. The volunteers, mainly women, started their own income-generating activities to supplement the little funding they had for home care work. Once they found that other people had the same idea, they formed a Home-Based Care Fundraising Committee, which they ran as a 'social club'. This group grew to about 50 people, who were mainly married couples from the church.

The committee soon became aware of the problems being faced by orphans. Through an enumeration exercise they established that there were about 300 orphans in their area, of whom 50 were too poor to pay school fees. Individual members of the group began paying for 20 orphans to attend school.

The group continued to contribute their own funds, as well as collecting clothes and other materials from the community. The number of orphans identified in their community grew to about 3,000. The committee, being aware of the children's psychological as well as material needs, held a Christmas party for 700 children. They hope to have a 'gala day' for 2,900 orphans, with opportunities for children to receive counselling and take part in sports.

Lessons learned

  • The committee decided from the beginning that they would look within their own community for solutions to the problems.


  • They felt that it would be better to ask people for material support, such as clothes, rather than start by asking for money.


  • The committee is made up of people who are friends, who enjoy the meetings, and who support each other emotionally and socially. This has kept committee members motivated and involved in the work.


"We always look elsewhere and say, 'Who is going to help us?', but we should say, 'What are we going to do about it?'."

Jairos, Chair of St. Joseph's Home-Based Care Fundraising Committee, Zimbabwe

CBO, associated with FACT: Chirovakamwe (rural)

A pastor and members of his church received training in HIV/AIDS information by FACT. The church started to provide home-based care and counselling for people living with HIV/AIDS. The church also ran a drama group, raising awareness about HIV/AIDS in the community.

In 1993, FACT staff held a participatory community workshop on the situation of OVC with members of the local community. This led to the establishment of a Community OVC Committee, consisting of the traditional leadership, local counsellors and community members, led by the local pastor. The committee was trained in enumeration, participatory needs assessment and capacity building. They formed a register of orphans in the area, with a 'priority list' of children who had a terminally ill parent, child-headed households, or households with no source of income. Volunteers started visiting OVC households.

The group raised funds by growing mushrooms and making bricks for sale. The committee recognised children's needs for psychosocial support. Home-based care volunteers received training in counselling.

Lessons learned

  • The committee learned that children's participation is important. Children are involved in sports, and are encouraged to take an active role in the programme; for example, children led the planning of the Christmas party. Children's ability to organise their own programmes and activities has surprised many of the community's leaders.


  • It is important to be aware of other activities in the locality, to make use of community resources and to avoid duplicating work.


  • The committee recognised that physical and sexual child abuse was taking place and found that it was useful to work with existing government structures to protect children and identify and prosecute offenders. They linked with local social welfare officers and the police.


"When I see the children suffering, I take them as if they are mine." Pastor John Chiwarara, Chairman of Chirovakamwe programme, Zimbabwe

CBO, associated with FACT: Marange FOCUS programme (rural)

A pastor was interested in helping orphans in his area. He was invited to visit Chirovakamwe and, with help from FACT, went back to his area to start an orphan support programme. Women volunteers were visiting and supporting orphans in their neighbourhood. They generated income by raising chickens for local sale and gave the profits to the children. Three local village headmen organised the group, helping to identify the orphans and making a register of all the children needing support. FACT helped to train volunteers and then visited them each month for several years. FACT provided the group with uniforms, school fees, and bus allowances for monthly meetings, exchange visits and help in assisting income-generating projects.

The group set up its own bank account, and contacted outside agencies for assistance; for example, training in mushroom growing. FACT provided some bicycles for visiting families living far away.

The village headmen provided community gardens for growing vegetables for sale, and maize, which is given directly to the poorest households. Gardening has taken over from poultry-rearing as the main source of income.

They now use the register of orphans to monitor who needs most support, with a two-tier system of 'registered' and 'active registered' orphans, those on the 'active' list needing the most support.

Recently, following a workshop with FACT, the group integrated their orphan support work with their existing home-based care programme.

Lessons learned

  • It is important to consider more than simply material needs.


  • To provide for psychosocial needs, sports are organised to enable all the children in the community to meet and play together.


  • The local pastor provides counselling to children when appropriate.


"We cannot learn by ourselves, unless we go elsewhere and see what's happening, to see what others are talking about."

Mr Matongo, Chairman of Marange FOCUS Programme, Zimbabawe

3.3 Scale-up of community OVC responses
Scale-up should not be imposed upon community responses. However, the increasing number and unprecedented needs of OVC mean that an increase in the quantity and quality of activity at community level is essential. How can this growth be encouraged and supported?

Successful scale-up of OVC activity at community level requires that a variety of stakeholders act in appropriate and mutually supportive ways. In simple terms, what should each stakeholder do (or do more) and what should they not do (or do less)? Participants identified key issues or principles (also see the table, below):

  • Community groups should focus on meeting the needs of children by building on existing community activities and relationships, and mobilising local resources. They should maintain strong local ownership and seek the wide involvement of the community.


  • Community initiatives to support children can be integrated with community-led home-based care programmes, and with work in the community to address stigma and discrimination.


  • Neither CBO/NGO support providers, government, international NGOs (INGOs) or donors should attempt to take over or 'own' community initiatives.


"Communities are not only concerned about the plight of orphans and vulnerable children but, in many cases, are also prepared to take leadership, demonstrate ownership, and devise ways of sustaining the activities they initiate."

Gail Snettro, Regional Health Advisor, Save the Children USA, South Africa

  • The key role for CBO/NGO support providers is to provide appropriate technical and financial support to community groups, if requested and needed by them. It is important for capacity building activities to support scale-up of OVC work only if that is a shared vision and within the capacity of the community group.


  • The central role for government is to create an enabling environment that supports multiple partners to scale up OVC work. This should include developing national strategic plans. A useful contribution is to ensure that public sector workers - especially teachers, health care staff, social workers and development workers - are aware of the need to support community initiatives that respond to the needs of OVC.


  • International NGOs should focus on supporting and working with local intermediaries, not directly at community level. In crisis and post-conflict situations, however, direct involvement may be appropriate and necessary in the short to medium term to start responding to the needs of OVC and begin to re-build the community's capacity to cope.


  • Donors can do much to assist the scale-up of community OVC initiatives, through funding local, national and international agencies that support these efforts. It is particularly supportive when donors adopt a long-term perspective and are able to commit funds for longer-term relationships - such as three or five years, rather than one-year contracts. In providing much needed financial resources, it is essential that donors do not impose their own scale-up agenda on unprepared or unwilling partners.


"We supported one orphaned girl to go to secondary school. She went on to become a teacher. This is a positive role model that we share with community members - seeing the change in one child can encourage others to start a community initiative."

Choice Makufa, Deputy Director, FACT, Zimbabwe

In analysing ways of expanding community level responses, participants at the workshop analysed the responsibilities of the five groups. A summary of their analysis can be found in the table belowf.

Table: Expanding community level OVC responses:
Community groups and NGOs should...

  • Be aware of children's needs and involve children in the solution.


  • Assess community needs and capacity before scaling up.


  • Build on existing community activities, relationships and resources.


  • Be willing to try new ideas and approaches.


  • Be aware of the especial vulnerability of girls.


  • Actively maintain local ownership.


  • Be accountable to stakeholders.


  • Develop management systems and structures appropriate to their own capacity.


  • Monitor activities, using methods appropriate to their own capacity.


  • Only scale up if they want to (resist external demands).


  • Avoid becoming over dependent on external resources.


  • Be sure not to overstretch the community's capacity to cope.


CBO/ NGO support organisations should...

  • Be a catalyst for community responses.


  • Be sensitive to the needs of communities and CBOs, and avoid imposing programme expansion on others.


  • Provide appropriate technical and financial support to community groups.


  • Help to link community initiatives with other support services.


  • Work with community groups to document good practice.


  • Develop joint proposals with local NGOs/ CBOs for OVC work, without exaggerating the needs of community groups to donors.


  • Help to identify gaps in skills.


  • Be aware of the influence of gender roles and work with communities to explore and challenge inequality.


  • Advocate on behalf of community groups.


  • Facilitate participatory monitoring and evaluation.


  • Ensure ownership of community initiatives rests primarily with the community.


Government should...

  • Seek to protect and provide welfare services for the most vulnerable children.


  • Sensitise public service workers to support community responses.


  • Avoid taking control of, or politicising, community initiatives.


  • Avoid competing with, or undermining, local initiatives.


International NGOs should...

  • Encourage governments to support civil society OVC responses.


  • Facilitate exchange of experiences and information.


  • Work with local intermediaries, rather than directly with local communities.


  • Mobilise resources for community use.


  • Build the capacity of CBO/ NGO support organisations, without imposing scaling- up or their own agenda.


  • Enable operational research.


Donors should...

  • Adopt a long- term perspective and long- term funding cycles.


  • Understand community dynamics and existing community responses/ strengths.


  • Work through local intermediaries, rather than directly with local communities.


  • Provide resources, but not impose scale- up or their own agenda.


  • Hold recipients of funding accountable.


Source: Expanding Community-Based Support for Orphans and Vulnerable Children
This is an extract from Expanding Community-Based Support for Orphans and Vulnerable Children , published by the International HIV/AIDS
Alliance with the Family AIDS Caring Trust, Zimbabwe, in 2002.

To view the whole report follow this link.

To download, complete with graphics, in pdf format (which requires Adobe Acrobat software to read it) follow this link (file size: 523 Kbytes).