First Community Stakeholders’ Meeting:
Assessing the OVC SituationThe first stakeholders’ meeting
The purpose of this meeting is to gather all stakeholders in the community to discuss the trends
of HIV/AIDS in that community and how it impacts on children. This assessment of the current
situation of OVC in the community will also help to indicate existing responses in the community.
In a subsequent phase, the stakeholders will decide on the type of response they would like to
undertake, as described in Steps 3 and 4. For this first meeting, though, you should focus the group
on the assessment itself.
Once you have welcomed everyone to the meeting, introduced yourself and explained the purpose
of the meeting, you will take the group through the activities outlined below.
Activity 1: Tracking trends of HIV/AIDS in the community
For this activity, divide the participants into four groups. Give each group a piece of flipchart paper
and one of the following four topics:
Illnesses/deaths
Orphans and other children made vulnerable by HIV/AIDS
Existing community responses
HIV awareness.
(If you have different or additional ideas for relevant topics, you may instruct the groups accordingly.)
Ask the participants to think about the trends in the community over the past five to ten years with
respect to their topic. Some examples of questions are:
- Have illnesses and deaths increased or decreased?
- Have the numbers of orphans increased or decreased?
- What has been the response to HIV/AIDS in the community? Has it increased?
- How do they perceive HIV awareness among community members?
Participants should come up with a trend graph(as illustrated in Mobiliser Reference 2 on page 33).
This will help them to see how the situtaion has changed over time.
Optional Activity: Time line
If it helps the participants, prior to doing the trend graph, they may draw a time lineshowing
significant occurrences in the community in the past five to ten years. This may help them to begin
to think about the history of the community, and the ways in which the community has changed in
recent years. (See the example time line in Mobiliser Reference 2 on page 34.)
When each group has completed their trend graph (and time lines, if included), participants will
present results in plenary, explaining their observations with respect to their respective topics.
You should facilitate a discussion regarding the degree of seriousness of HIV/AIDS in the community
and how it has affected children in the community.
STEP 2
Guide to Mobilising and Strengthening Community-Led Care for Orphans and Vulnerable Children Unit 1, Module 2^29