Orphans and Vulnerable Children - CRIN

Community Action to Ensure OVC Access to Education

In this activity, you will:

 Brainstorm with the group ways that the community can help OVC access education

Facilitator’s notes:

For this activity you will need:

 Flipchart and markers

To facilitate this activity:

1 Start this activity by reminding participants of WV’s definitions for orphans and vulnerable children.
Then remind the group of the barriers to education for vulnerable children that they prioritised in
the previous activity. If there were disagreements about which barriers to children’s education
were the most strong in their community, include all of the barriers that were mentioned as
important.

2 Divide the participants into small groups, giving each group one barrier to discuss.
Groups should discuss ways that the barrier they have been assigned could be overcome
in their community. Encourage them to think of solutions that would be feasible without too
many additional resources.

3 Come together in plenary and ask each group to present its ideas. Compile a list of all the
suggested interventions on flipchart paper, to be referred to by the community in future planning.
You may add ideas from your facilitator’s notes, if the participants think they are relevant.
Allow time for questions and discussion.

Activity 3

Possible community-based initiatives to help children access education:

• Community members can visit parents or guardians who are keeping their children
  out of school and try to support them to send their children to school.


• Community members can share some of the children’s household tasks so that they
  can go to school.


• Community members can work with schools to make the curriculum more relevant
  to the children’s needs; for example, by adding life skills, business training, agricultural
  training or training in home-based care for ill parents.


• The community can provide children with school and uniform fees.


• The community can negotiate with schools to waive or subsidise children’s school fees.


• The community can start a community school.


• The community can raise awareness about HIV/AIDS and disabilities in order to stop
  stigma and discrimination that often prevents children from attending school.


• Community members can act as tutors to children who are out of school.

45 minutes

Guide to Mobilising and Strengthening Community-Led Care for Orphans and Vulnerable Children Unit 2, Module 4^257