Orphans and Vulnerable Children - CRIN

8 Training Home Visitors

An important role of the CCC is to equip home visitors with the skills and knowledge that will enable

them to provide care to OVC effectively. Home visitors should be trained to provide some or all of

the following services:

 Continuous monitoring and recording of the childrens’ well-being (including health, nutrition,

education, safety and psychosocial status).

 Ensuring that OVC have adequate nutrition, shelter, access to health services and schooling,

according to standards established by the CCC. This entails facilitating access to services and

resolving problems according to protocols established by the community. For example, a register

of children needing food aid; advocating for school fee exemptions, if needed; community

assistance with household repairs or enrolling families in community garden projects.

 Assistance with basic household tasks (such as fetching water or tending crops).

 Protection against abuse and neglect (through prevention, negotiation, advocacy and referrals).

 Spiritual and psychosocial support for OVC and their guardians (through counselling and support

groups among OVC, including children’s clubs and peer groups; and among guardians).

 Succession planning (preparing for the loss of a parent or guardian):

• Development of memory books or memory boxes


• Identification of standby guardians


• Advocating for the protection of inheritance rights


• Assisting ill parents to disclose their HIV status to children and other family members,
  where desired and appropriate.
   Providing information on HIV/AIDS prevention and awareness.
   Care for chronically ill adults and children in the household (valuable on its own, and because it
  relieves the psychosocial and labour burdens on the children of chronically ill parents or
  guardians). Healthcare assistance may include:


• Palliative care – simple assistance to reduce physical suffering, including basic medicines
  and/or traditional remedies that are safe, effective and easily available


• Nutrition – providing training on good nutrition practices and the provision of supplements


• Hygiene training – protection from HIV transmission and information on how to avoid the
  spread of common illnesses, such as diarrhoea


• Referrals to healthcare facilities when necessary.
   Training in life-sustaining skills (for example, household management skills, negotiation skills, basic
  agricultural skills or home repair skills).
   Linking vulnerable households to income-generating projects.
   Supervising recreation activities for alllocal children (sports, games, singing, dancing, drawing
  and other activities that promote integration and healthy socialisation; and overcome stigma
  and isolation); promotion of the formation of youth clubs.
   Local-level advocacy for policies, practices and resources to benefit vulnerable children and their
  families.

CCCs will have identified the needs that the vulnerable children in their community have in order to

guide appropriate home visitor training. Unit 2 of this guide provides facilitator’s instructions,

reference materials and handouts developed by World Vision for training home visitors in most of

the competencies listed above.

STAGE 8

(^16) Unit 1, Module 1 Guide to Mobilising and Strengthening Community-Led Care for Orphans and Vulnerable Children