South Africa: Exciting new programme to help Aids- affected families in South Africa.

WHAT IS ISIBINDI ?

The overall goal of Isibindi is the creation of safe and caring communities for children at risk, with specific attention to families made fragile and vulnerable by the impact of HIV/Aids, especially child-headed households. Building caring relationships is the heart of Isibindi. The word itself means “Courage! “  The Isibindi model is considered the Best Practice Model for Africa.

HOW DOES IT WORK ?

Suitable local women are identified, trained and paid to provide effective and accountable child and youth care services in the community. Trained workers are attached to clusters of families, determined by nearness to the carer, number of children needing help and the nature of the help required.The trained carers are supervised and mentored by an identified child care professional, qualified to offer supervision. These small groups work as teams and all the teams in a designated area are co-ordinated by a project co-ordinator.

WHO WILL BENEFIT MOST?

Children and youth made vulnerable through the illness or death of one or both parents, possibly having resulted in their becoming part of child-headed households, are the focus of the scheme. The intervention of child and youth care workers is expected to enable children and youth to acquire skills that will increase their competency in their living environment. The intervention will also aim to provide emotional support to children and youth as they are faced with adjusting to the fact that “normal” living increasingly means the absence of one or both parents.

WHAT WILL CARERS DO?

Carers will offer whatever support is needed in each household, e.g. arriving early enough to help children get washed and ready for school; teaching older children how to cook and wash;  ensuring homework is done; helping grandmothers to acquire birth certs and other documents and to access child support and fostering grants; reporting to the supervisor situations where young people are at risk. Daily reports of duties performed are given to the supervisor. The essence of the carer’s role is to promote in the families under her care the experience of belonging, mastery, independence, and generosity as a means to healthy development.

WHAT IS THE LINK WITH LORETO?

The Isibindi Model, which has already been rolled out very successfully (by the department of Social Development) in five provinces of South Africa, is about to be implemented in Kwaguqa township, using the home-based-care organization of which Marian Moriarty and Gabrielle Murphy are members, as one of the implementing “on the ground” partners. They will liaise with the funding and other partners to source people for training and later to identify families to be helped by the scheme. Marian and Gabrielle feel this model will be an invaluable help to the many child-headed households they encounter every day and they look forward to giving you an update at a later stage!