Orphans and Vulnerable Children - CRIN

4 Preparing for Home Visits: Gender Awareness

In this activity, you will:

 Review the topics dealt with so far in the light of gender considerations and discuss

recommendations on how to support girl OVC, in particular

Facilitator’s notes:

In this activity, you will explain to the participants that when they make home visits they need to give
equal attention to both girl and boy OVC. The things they have learned so far in this module – how
to explain basic information about HIV/AIDS, how to assess the types of support that the OVC might
need, how to recognise the signs of abuse and what steps to take, for example – are equally applicable
to girls as they are to boys.

Nevertheless, it is true that girls, in general and on average, are usually more disadvantaged and
vulnerable than boys. Recognising this, participants should think of some ways in which they can
specifically focus their efforts on improving the situation of the girl OVC that they will be visiting.
Part of this activity will be for participants to create a new page for their home visitor’s handbooks,
entitled: Actions to Support Girl OVC during Home Visits. This page will consist of participants’
own ideas, either as individuals or in groups. This page can then serve as a reference guide to
be included in their handbooks.

For this activity you will need:

 Flipchart and markers

 Sheets of blank paper for participants to write on

To facilitate this activity:

1 Start the activity by quickly summarising the topics discussed earlier in this module.
Then explain that, although all OVC are vulnerable, girl OVC, in general and on average, are
usually more disadvantaged and vulnerable than boys. Participants should think of some ways
in which they can specifically focus their efforts on improving the situation of the girl OVC that
they will be visiting. The participants should come up with their own ideas, either as individuals
or in groups. Since it is often male attitudes that endorse gender stereotyping to the disadvantage
of girls, participants should be encouraged to think of ways of engaging men and boys to help
improve the situation of girls in their community.

2 Hand out sheets of paper for participants to write on. You will write up
responses on the flipchart and participants can record these ideas on
paper, under the heading Actions to Support Girl OVC during Home Visits.

3 Tell participants that this page can then serve as a reference guide
to be included in their home visitor’s handbooks.

30 minutes

Activity 4

Guide to Mobilising and Strengthening Community-Led Care for Orphans and Vulnerable Children Unit 2, Module 1^145