Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC)
Centre for Children in Crisis (CENCHIC) is a non government, non profit organization in Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria. The organization provides a range of protection, support and care for children. These initiatives are aimed at improving the psychosocial wellbeing, education, nutritional status and health of the children especially orphans and vulnerable ones in the community. CENCHIC relies on strong advocacy, community mobilization, material development, capacity building, networking, collaboration and monitoring and evaluation to implement its programs.
Our experience at CENCHIC as it affects Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) is that they are a section of the population deprived of the first line of defense; they are predisposed to higher risk of retarded physical, mental, socio-cultural and economic personal development. They suffer greater deprivation than their peers and as a result are exposed to all kinds of danger which affect them emotionally, physically, spiritually socially and thereby threaten national development.
It is estimated that over 160,000 children out of about 1.3 million children in Plateau state are orphans with various needs. About 40,000 are made orphans by HIV and AIDS while the remaining ones are due to poverty related causes. CENCHIC works with duty bearers; community leaders, caregivers and policy makers, relevant organizations (CBOs) and institutions as key partners in the delivery of services and support to these children.
Based on the outcome of the need assessment and mapping of OVC exercise conducted in October 2006 by Cenchic, limited service is currently being rendered to 174 OVC in five focal local government areas of Plateau State. These include:
- Supporting caregivers and relatives to provide a stable and protective environment to increase children’s capacity to cope with the stress and shock of loosing parents.
- Educating family members, teachers, and other community members on the needs and problems of OVC to create a more supportive and nurturing environment.
- Promoting access to education for all categories of OVC, through provision of school fees and levies, school materials, school attendance monitoring, school related problem-solving, reintegration of dropouts and/or working children back to school.
- Training and supporting community mentors to conduct regular visits to households with OVC for problem-solving about health, nutrition, emotional well-being, and counseling on immunizations, Vitamin A, de-worming, and medications for malaria and infectious diseases
- Acquisition and distribution of insecticide-treated bednets, blankets, water purification products, soap, and emergency food when needed to households with OVC
- Training and supporting care givers on income generating activities, crop planting, animal husbandry, use of improved seedlings, fertilizer applications, food storage and preservation techniques and nutritional advise particularly in the rural areas.
- Organizing, training and community mobilization in support of inheritance rights for widows and orphans, fosterage for orphans with sick parents, mentors and community and opinion leaders.
The Impact of the Initiative in the community
- More than 4,000 OVC and duty bearers in the community have been reached through our programs.
- In the process, Center for Children in Crisis is supporting 178 orphans age 3-17 years with divers needs in various capacity with her limited resources.
- School enrollment and retention has increased from less than 40% to over 78% among OVC presently.
CENCHIC OVC PLAN PROGRAM 2007-2011
CENCHIC will actively collaborate with the authorities of the focal local government areas, the communities, and the relevant stakeholders to utilize local resources and donor support between 2007 and 2011 to meet the basic, educational, health, counseling and testing needs of OVC as well as promote political commitment to the issue of OVC in Plateau State and Nigeria in general.
Meets the Basic needs of OVC
Cenchic has mapped out OVC in the six local government areas it is currently focusing its activities. Training and sensitization of local stakeholders and village leaders to the importance of identifying OVC is the next exercise to be conducted. More than 7,000 orphans and vulnerable children were identified in this mapping exercise that was completed in October, 2006. Cenchic is proposing a strategy to improve the income of families caring for OVC in the community. This will involve identifying and developing new methods of earning money to fund basic needs of the households and OVC in the area of education, books, clothing and medicines. Based on the local resources and potentials, specific income generating activities targeting families caring for OVC will be identified and supported within the local government areas. Caregivers will be encouraged to join cooperative societies to access loan and micro credits. Cenchic is also working out a legal support system for widows and orphaned children that would provide legal support for the retention of inheritances and with other needs.
Education
Education is one key area of support for OVC by CENCHIC in the community. CENCHIC Plans to increase access to education for OVC by improving primary school infrastructure in its five focal local government areas where at least one additional classroom, a kitchen and a vegetable garden will be built in three communities of critical needs by 2010. In this way, more OVC can be accommodated in the school.
In order to meet the educational, vocational and skill acquisition needs for OVC particularly those that could not continue after primary school or with problem with regular school, CENCHIC OVC program will support the building and equipping of Vocational and Life Empowerment schools centrally located for all the six local government areas. The community in which the school will be sited will be required to donate land for the purpose.
Health Care Support
Cenchic will support one primary health facility in each local government area. This will involve structural improvement of the child health units and provision of training to managers and purchasers to improve the stock management and distribution system of essential medications. CENCHIC will help in the purchase or facilitate the donation of medical equipments to enhance the capacity of the facilities to provide appropriate Primary Health care to OVC in the needy communities.
One child focus NGO or CBO in each local government area will be trained in HIV/AIDS education, community mobilization and referral techniques to encourage communities to utilize primary health care services and improve the access to health care facilities.
Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT)
A broad range of medical staff would be trained in carrying out VCT in 5 public and private health care centres in each focal LGA to expand access to VCT services in the community.
Policy Issues
CENCHIC intends to hold a state and a national workshop to address orphan related policy issues in the second and last quarters of 2008.
Monitoring and Evaluation
Guided by the National Guidelines and Standard of Practice on Orphans and Vulnerable Children produced by the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, Cenchic has defined core indicators for monitoring and evaluation of her OVC program.