India Country Office
16, Sunder Nagar
New Delhi 110 003, India
Tel: (91 11) 4150 7444/
Fax: (91 11) 2435 8366
http://www.fhi.orgPREFACEThis Life Skills Education (LSE) Toolkit takes a child participatory approach and deals with
the “whole child” - feelings, beliefs, development needs - and equips children with life skills
required to make safe choices and lead healthy lifestyles. This toolkit is unique in aiming to
develop essential life skills to manage and cope with risk situations in HIV/AIDS and to cope
with difficult circumstances related to care and support including loss. The child-friendly
participatory approach uses active learning methods including games, role plays, debates,
brainstorming, drama, story telling, group learning, case studies and poster making.
An extensive consultation process was undertaken across India with participation of children
infected, affected and vulnerable to HIV, parents and guardians, communities, NGOs, NACO,
SACS, counselors, psychologists and psychiatrists, and Departments of Health and Family
Welfare in the central government and six states of Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Maharashtra,
Manipur, Nagaland and Tamil Nadu, and one union territory of Pondicherry.
With funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), under
the IMPACT and YouthNet projects, Family Health International (FHI) has partnered with 37
local NGOs to reach out to 50,000 orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) in India with
HIV/AIDS prevention and care and support activities. All the partners were involved in
different stages of the toolkit development and field-tested the LSE kit before finalization.
The children and NGO partners have provided important insights on inclusion of the most
appropriate activities, the process of making the toolkit more user-friendly, and feedback on
the positive responses seen in children undergoing LSE.
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) through the National AIDS Control
Organization (NACO) and State AIDS Control Societies (SACS) has participated in various
consultation workshops on the LSE toolkit. The participation has facilitated the effort to
follow the national priorities in addressing the HIV/AIDS prevention and care and support
needs of OVC. FHI is thankful to the Ministry and NACO for providing the valuable
direction. The support of the Ministry of Women and Child Development (MoWCD) has
been essential to ensure that the LSE toolkit is line with national policies and we are thankful
to the Ministry for their endorsement and to all members of the National OVC Taskforce
including UNICEF and the India HIV/AIDS Alliance for their review.
FHI appreciates the funding support from USAID for the LSE development process through
to finalization, the support of NACO, SACS and MoWCD, and the tremendous input of
energy, time and commitment from the NGO partners to the development of the LSE toolkit.
Finally and especially, we wish to thank and acknowledge the thousands of children whose
priorities, needs and aspirations are reflected in the LSE Toolkit.
Kathleen Kay
Country Director
Family Health International