Working with Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC)

Every child has the right to an education. In accordance with the millennium goals of universal primary education by 2015 and that of education for sustainable development, CFK-Chad has designed a two-pronged program that (1) engages and retains street children into the schools system and (2) enables those unwilling or unable to enter the school system to complete short-term vocational training that leads to employment.

Despite its tumultuous history, the Chadian educational system has shown significant growth over the years in providing school age children with access to education, yet this growth rate would have to be doubled to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for Universal Education by 2015. Retention, of children attending school, is very low, with only 38% of children who start primary level education completing the primary cycle (2005 Pole de Dakar). In 2004, 24% of children repeated a grade which doubles the amount of resources utilized by one child and increases that child's likelihood of dropping out of school altogether (2005 Pole de Dakar). A system of case management needs to be created to detect those children at risk of dropping out or repeating grades and to identify interventions that will enhance their chances of success and enable them to complete their education. No system in Chad has yet been able to effectively engage and retain orphans and vulnerable children in the school system. HIV/AIDS is expected to increase from a 5% prevalence rate in 2003 to 10% in 2015 which means that additional measures will have to be mobilized to ensure the education of those children having lost a parent to the illness (2005 RESEN).

For that purpose, CFK is building the capacity of the Bethesda Center to create a psycho-social rehabilitation program (PRP) that provides on- and off-site services for Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC). PRPs combine the safety of a home within an educational milieu that allows children to develop the skills to become self-sufficient adults while remaining connected to the social fabric of their own community. Engaged in vibrant partnerships with local service agencies, PRPs link youths with local organizations ensuring their safety, supporting and supplementing their education, advocating for their rights, guaranteeing continuity in their care, and helping youths as they transition into the labor market. This holistic approach to care ensures that all aspects of OVCs' welfare, such as poor health, no access to school or risk of dropping outs, conflict, extreme poverty, homelessness, and other forms of victimization, are addressed and prevented. Services are offered on a continuum and may start with temporary shelter, rehabilitation, technical training, community reintegration, and continue with extended after-care and supervision of a child's development within his or her new home. A child may enter the system at any point in the continuum depending on his or her own needs.

CFK Model of Intervention: 

CFK in partnership with orphans and vulnerable children:

• Focuses on the most vulnerable children of the community
• Ensures the protection and care of OVCs Focuses on engaging street children in educational venues that leads to employment
• Ensures the full participation of children in their own rehabilitation through assessments and participatory strategic planning and project development
• Strengthens the ability of youth to take care for their own needs

CFK in partnership with the community:

• Sensitizes the community to the problems of OVCs to reduce stigma and discrimination
• Mobilizes and increases the capacity of community-based organizations implementing OVCs initiatives
• Strengthens home-based care (improved health and hygiene practices, enhanced emotional support, creation of safety-net for emergencies)
• Engages the government in developing appropriate policies to protect OVCs as well as essential services for OVCs' basic needs
• Monitoring and evaluation of OVC initiatives

The PRP serves to coordinate the activities needed to nurture orphans and vulnerable children back to health and is the center for linkage to the external community.

In these uncertain times in Chad's history, it has become crucial to provide this generation of Chadian children with an education that leads to opportunity and employment. Unemployment and disillusionment too often makes idle children vulnerable to forced or even "voluntary" participation in violence and armed conflict. In conflict situations, involuntary separation from both family and community protection greatly increases a child's risk of exposure to malnutrition, illness, physical and psychosocial trauma, and impaired cognitive and emotional development. These children are in need of psychosocial support and individualized care that addresses their particular situation and needs.

For information on CFK's child sponsorship program click here