Orphans and Vulnerable Children - CRIN

Supporting a Standby Guardian

In this activity, you will:

 Discuss ways to support a standby guardian

Facilitator’s notes:

As a caregiver, a standby guardian will need support from both home
visitors and the community. Caregivers need care and support themselves,
in order to give effective care and support to orphans and vulnerable
children. Apart from needing to make sure that their own needs are met,
caregivers and standby guardians may need:

• counselling


• training in OVC care


• psychosocial support


• food security production packs and other material support.

In this activity, you will get the participants to brainstorm ways that standby guardians may need
support; as well as how home vistors can provide the means to that support. This will require
participants to also refer to their Referral Informationlists, where they have kept relevant information
on support structures and their details.

For this activity you will need:

 Flipchart and markers

 Participants will need their Referral Informationlists

 Copies of Handout 4

To facilitate this activity:

1 Remind the group about the section on support for the caregiver in Module 2, Topic 8 of this
guide. Review some of the relevant points raised in this section, especially the information
about the importance of support groups for caregivers. These local support groups meet
regularly in order to share their problems, their experiences, lessons they have learnt and to
offer advice and support to those whose work involves the caring and support of others.

2 Get participants to brainstorm further ways that guardians can be supported by the general
community in their care of OVC. You can list these on the flipchart.

3 Then ask the group to think about practical actions that home visitors can do to help guardians,
using some of the points from your facilitator’s notes above. Refer participants to their
Referral Informationlists when thinking about how guardians can be supported. They should
consider all the needs that guardians may have. For example, they may need material support
in the form of food packages; or they may need psychosocial support to deal with the stresses
of coping with children who are vulnerable and dealing with trauma.

Refer to Module 2 on

page 207 for more

information on

care and support

for caregivers and

guardians of OVC

note !!

40 minutes

Activity 9

Guide to Mobilising and Strengthening Community-Led Care for Orphans and Vulnerable Children Unit 2, Module 4^291