Orphans and Vulnerable Children - CRIN

Introduction and Objectives for Topic 3

HIV is the leading cause of orphans and vulnerable children in many countries in Africa, for example,

in Uganda. The number of orphans in most African countries is expected to remain high over the

next decade and beyond 2010.

Many governments in Africa are concerned about the plight of OVC and they have adopted and

are implementing both national and international legal and policy instruments that concern children.

In this topic, you’ll look at OVC policies at a national level; and how they may support and supplement

CCC efforts to care for vulnerable children at a community level.

Further criteria for vulnerabilty may include children with disabilities, those suffering from extreme

poverty and lack of basic food, care and shelter. In this topic, it may be useful to link national

government policies on OVC together with general policies on child rights, care and protection.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this topic, participants will be able to:

 Discuss government strategies and policy guidelines for the care of OVC in their country.

 Explain what is being done for OVC in their country by various stakeholders.

 Describe ways of strengthening care and support for OVC in their country.

The Activities

For each of the activities that follow, facilitators will need to prepare by reading through the facilitator

notes before doing the activity with participants. These are guidelines to help you plan the activity,

and include an indication of materials required and a timeframe for each activity.

Many examples in this section are from Uganda.

Facilitators conducting training in other countries

should substitute the national and local policies

for OVC in their own country context.

This will require some prior research and

planning.

note on policy

(^114) Unit 2, Module 1 Guide to Mobilising and Strengthening Community-Led Care for Orphans and Vulnerable Children