Nigeria, Children of Hope

Children of Hope, 2008 – 2011

Donors:

USAID

Partners:

Widows Empowerment Organization (WEWE), and ten other indigenous service providers (ISPs)

Goal

To provide care and support for orphans and vulnerable children (OVCs) and their caregivers. To build the livelihoods of members of their households to improve their quality of life.

What We Do

Children of Hope (CH) provided livelihood improvement opportunities to caregivers of Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC). OVC affected by HIV/AIDS in Nigeria are an underserved segment of the population. In addition to being at higher risk for HIV/AIDS, OVC and vulnerable women caregivers are at an increased risk of suffering psychological distress, economic hardship, school drop-out, malnutrition and food insecurity, loss of inheritance, fear, isolation, stigma, abuse, neglect, exploitation and trafficking. There is a critical need to address these issues with appropriate strategies. CH provided three core services: income generation, food and nutrition, and training. 4,000 of the caregivers received livelihood support reaching 12,000 HIV affected or infected OVC. CH introduced partnerships with private sector companies, public agencies and local governments as its key strategy. Another key strategy was to work in partnership with local indigenous service providers (ISPs).

Accomplishments

During the first year, EUCORD conducted an Organizational Capacity Assessment/Technical Organizational Capacity Assessment (OCA/TOCA) as well as system strengthening activities for nine ISPs. Training and orientations on food and nutrition, OVC care and support, income-generating activities, USAID compliance, prevention intervention, peer educator modules as well as monitoring and evaluation were provided for ISP staff and volunteers. The trained staff, volunteers and peer educators, under the support of EUCORD, were able to provide 4,819 OVCs (2,577 males, 2,242 females) aged 0-17 with minimum of one care service which is 96 % of FY10 target of 5,000; 2,681 (1,169 males, 1,512 females) of the OVCs reached with prevention intervention which represents 54% of the FY10 target of 5,000; and 2,848 OVC caregivers (284 males, 2,564 females) enrolled in the program.

Evaluation: The three success stories of Children of Hope Project