Child Aid in South Africa – working with communities

Humana People to People in South Africa believes that Child Aid is good model to address some of the challenges South African communities are faced with.

In creating the Child Aid concept The Federation Humana People to People wanted to address the challenges of children in the world today. Humana People to People at present runs 52 Child Aid projects in 15 countries reaching 290,000 families.

The first such initiative in South Africa, the Child Aid project in Doornkop, was started by Humana People to People in South Africa in 1998 in collaboration with the Gauteng Department of Social Development. Today, Child Aid Doornkop is a vibrant community development project reaching 12,000 families. As a result of the lessons learnt in Child Aid Doornkop, in 2006 Humana People to People started two new Child Aid projects in Limpopo: Child Aid Tubatse and Child Aid Bakenberg.

A typical Child Aid project targets 3,000 families. The children, the families and the communities are mobilized and empowered to take action within 10 lines of activities to improve their lives. Unemployment, teenage pregnancy, child abuse, health including HIV and AIDS, food security, pre-school education and youth out of school are just some of the challenges the projects seek to address.

The success of Child Aid has always been based on its capability of mobilizing communities to take control of their own lives by being at the forefront of all the project activities. Community members are trained as Activists and Mentors and are organized in Committees. In 2008, the Child Aid programme in South Africa reached out to 24,000 families in Gauteng and Limpopo.

Here follows a description of some of the activities:

Skills training and income generation

Community members are participating in skills training courses, which enable them to start their own small businesses and income generating projects. In Child Aid Doornkop, the project has established a partnership with the Department of Social Development where women from the community has formed a sewing group that produces school uniforms to benefit children in the community and at the same creates some income for the group members.

Child Aid Tubatse has initiated a micro loan programme, which combined with training in business management has helped many small business owners to enhance their businesses. Community members form a Loan Committee to monitor the loan recipients and make sure that the money is reimbursed to benefit new recipients.

Health Education

The Child Aid project also addresses the issue of HIV and AIDS by carrying out awareness campaigns in the community and mobilizing people for testing. The result is that many people become more open about HIV and AIDS, get to know their status, and those who are diagnosed positive are getting support to live healthy lives and receive ARVT. Also other health issues will be taken up by the heath Activists, such as e.g. cholera, diarrhoea and diabetes and campaigners also participate in immunization campaigns carried out by Department of Health.

Child Aid carries out campaigns in schools and supports the Life Orientation teachers in their work to educate the youths about teenage pregnancy, abuse, HIV and AIDS and general Life Orientation.

Children and Youth Clubs

The children and youths are enrolled in Club activities. The clubs are led by community volunteers, who have a special heart for the welfare and children. The activities depend on interest. The most popular clubs are sports, arts and dancing. During club activities, the members receive lessons in life skills and HIV and AIDS.  At the same time, club leaders keep an eye on children and youths with a special need and refer those with a special need to the Child Aid staff, who then can take action by involving schools or social services.

Children and youths also have camps two times during the year, where they spend a weekend together under the guidance of their Club leaders. These camps offer the children and youths possibilities of getting out of their traditional environment and get new experiences.

Child Care Committees

Child Aid assists the communities to form Child Care Committees. These committees consist of community members with a special heart for children. Committee members are often elders in the community. They receive training from the Child Aid staff in child development, psycho-social support, government services and mentoring skills. They meet on a regular basis to plan their work and discuss their challenges. Child Aid staff participates in these meetings, give advice and can bring the discussions back to the Project Council, who can decide how to deal with special challenges.

Food Security

In order to tackle food security the projects train community members to start vegetable gardens and poultry initiatives.

In Child Aid Doornkop, the project has established a green house based on the techniques of hydroponics. This project has shown very successful. 8 community members find employment and are trained to run the garden, and in the period from May 2007 to June 2008 the garden has produced 1,500 kg of vegetables which has brought the project an extra income and benefitted street vendors, Child Care Committee members, School children, Children & Youth and Community members.

In Child Aid Tubatse, the project has established a borehole, which supplies the community around with fresh water for their households and backyard vegetable gardens. The project has also started its own vegetable garden, which will be used to distribute vegetables to needy families and children.

More Child Aid in South Africa

Humana People to People in South Africa believes that Child Aid is good model to address some of the challenges, which communities in South Africa face. We would like to build on the experiences from the existing projects to reach out to many more communities, where the necessary funds can be provided.