Orphans and Vulnerable Children - CRIN

Preliminary Institutional Mapping

The first thing the mobiliser needs to do is to learn as much as possible about the ways that HIV/AIDS

has impacted the community, the kinds of responses that a community has undertaken, and who

the key stakeholders are. This analysis of the situation may be formal or informal. If the mobilising

agency is already active in the community, it may involve simply gathering information from field staff.

A more elaborate mapping exercise could involve conducting key informant interviews, focus group

discussions, or participatory learning and action exercises. In any case, this preliminary mapping should

be seen as the first step in building good relationships with community members and leaders.

This institutional mapping is described as ‘preliminary’ because the community members themselves

will carry out further situation analyses.

STAGE 1

In the World Vision Kasangombe Area Development Programme (ADP) in Luwero

district in Uganda, the following steps were taken for institutional mapping:

1. Problem identification
   Through the activities of the Area Development Programmes (since the early 1990s) it was
   realised that the numbers of OVC continued to increase and, while there were creative initiatives
   by the community to respond to the problem, they were limited in scale and fragmented.
   Often OVC would be referred to the ADP for assistance but the ADP could not address all the
   needs of OVC. The ADP conducted village-level exploratory meetings of selected categories of
   individuals such as local councils, religious leaders, opinion leaders, teachers, caregivers and OVC
   themselves. In this way, OVC issues were brought to the attention of stakeholders in the
   community.


2. Training of staff
   Prior to conducting the community mobilisation meetings, the staff had a two-day orientation
   workshop aimed at sharing the community-led OVC care approach with all staff of the ADP.
   The reference materials used for the training were mainly derived from the World Vision ADP
   Toolkit for HIV/AIDS Programming(2003).

Some of the topics covered under this training included:

• The situation of OVC at global, national and district level


• The philosophy of the community-led OVC care approach


• Assessment of current OVC initiatives carried out by communities


• Key players in the community addressing OVC needs


• Gaps and challenges in community OVC care


• A roll-out plan of action to mobilise and strengthen community-led care for OVC.

Case Study

(^6) Unit 1, Module 1 Guide to Mobilising and Strengthening Community-Led Care for Orphans and Vulnerable Children