2007.01.20: January 20, 2007: Headlines: COS - Malawi: NGO's: Service: Orphans: Orphan Support Africa: Malawi RPCVs Garry Prime, Michael Hill, and Kevin Denny founded "Orphan Support" to foster effective and sustainable programs in Africa that improve the protection and well-being of orphans and vulnerable children
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2007.01.20: January 20, 2007: Headlines: COS - Malawi: NGO's: Service: Orphans: Orphan Support Africa: Malawi RPCVs Garry Prime, Michael Hill, and Kevin Denny founded "Orphan Support" to foster effective and sustainable programs in Africa that improve the protection and well-being of orphans and vulnerable children
Malawi RPCVs Garry Prime, Michael Hill, and Kevin Denny founded "Orphan Support" to foster effective and sustainable programs in Africa that improve the protection and well-being of orphans and vulnerable children
The Mission of Orphan Support Africa is to support communities in Africa through WORKING WITH effective and sustainable programs, which improve the well being of orphans and vulnerable children and nurture these children to become self-reliant adults. By 2010 there will be 20 million OVC in Africa, while today only 10% are receiving any kind of service. In Malawi alone, the 4th poorest country in the world, with a population of under 12 million, There are nearly 1 million orphans. Orphan Support Africa is making a difference. It developed from two successful OVC systems of care. The Malawi Children’s (MCV) began delivering comprehensive services ten years ago in a structure that was replicated by The Mango Tree Orphan Support Programme (TMT) in southern Tanzania three years ago. Currently these two organizations serve almost 8,000 OVC in 66 villages. Each delivers services at roughly $30 per orphan per year. Each has a staff made up mostly of volunteers.
Malawi RPCVs Garry Prime, Michael Hill, and Kevin Denny founded "Orphan Support" to foster effective and sustainable programs in Africa that improve the protection and well-being of orphans and vulnerable children
The Mission of Orphan Support Africa is to support communities in Africa through WORKING WITH effective and sustainable programs, which improve the well being of orphans and vulnerable children and nurture these children to become self-reliant adults.
By 2010 there will be 20 million OVC in Africa, while today only 10% are receiving any kind of service.
In Malawi alone, the 4th poorest country in the world, with a population of under 12 million, There are nearly 1 million orphans.
In 2004 Malawi’s Ministry of Gender conducted an in depth assessment of the state of OVC in order to design a new national, intervention plan. The assessment states as the priority, “..to strengthen the capacity of the community to respond to the situation of OVC by building the capacity…and providing resources to communities so they can run programs on their own”.
The communities are the front line handlers of the worsening OVC dilemma, This is evidenced by the growing number of community based organizations (CBOs) emerging to address the increasing volume of children growing up without guidance, caretaking, safety or sufficient nurturing.
Orphan Support Africa’s vision is to partner with these CBOs and assist them, in the fashion they see fit, do the work to which they- and not external models or distanced, governing bodies - are best suited, and innately committed.
Orphan Support Africa, whose goal is the rapid delivery of community driven comprehensive systems of orphan care to the most vulnerable population victimized by HIV/AIDS, looks for CBOs whose collective volunteer base represents an active and involved community, whose work is addressing a pronounced need in a given community, whose strategic operations reflect a comprehensive care model for OVC, who have the capacity to develop IGA’s and whose scalability potential is intrinsic.
Countless external care models have been applied to the problem of Orphaned and Vulnerable Children (OVC) in East Africa, and none- after $45 billion in funding since 2001- are yet making the needed to curb the epidemic and its consequences.
Orphan Support Africa is making a difference. It developed from two successful OVC systems of care. The Malawi Children’s (MCV) began delivering comprehensive services ten years ago in a structure that was replicated by The Mango Tree Orphan Support Programme (TMT) in southern Tanzania three years ago. Currently these two organizations serve almost 8,000 OVC in 66 villages. Each delivers services at roughly $30 per orphan per year. Each has a staff made up mostly of volunteers.
So successful were these low cost, volunteer-run, and locally supported community based organizations (CBOs), founders of the two groups determined to create a fund that would allow for the replication of their approach for the purpose broader- and better- impact. Orphan Support Africa was born.
After two years of working with CBOs in Malawi, Orphan Support Africa was recently (November, 2006) awarded a grant of $2.2 million from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The grant has significantly broadened the scope of the organization’s work which continues to focus on existing and effective ‘hands on’ organizations throughout Malawi and Tanzania.
The award is notable in its being given to so small an organization and is evidence of Orphan Support Africa's unique approach, and its potential for creating change in the devastation that is occurring in Malawi. Winning the grant allows OSA three years to expand its model throughout Malawi, as well as enter Tanzania and Zambia, and possibly Mozambique.
Orphan Support Africa is poised to represent a major shift in humanitarian aid, specifically in the field of OVC care for HIV/AIDS victims. Its philosophy is based in knowing, honoring and following the traditions and systems that are endemic to the areas in which it works. This basic premise of respect puts the power in the hands of those most able, most invested, and most eager to bring change where and how it is most needed and effective. This gives OSA the possibility of being a true agent of great change for those who deserve better.
Our Philosphy
Orphan Support Africa is a new organization with deep roots. It's five founders have a combined history of over one hundred and fifty years of commitment to sub-Saharan Africa and have already established community based orphan care programs in Malawi and Tanzania which have become recognized as best practice models.
The lessons that have accompanied this experience are many, but can be boiled down to a simple unifying principal: Orphan Support Africa is in the business of saying goodbye. Each time Orphan Support Africa commits to help a community, it does so with the firm understanding that our role is nurture, not to direct. We present community leaders the opportunity for three years of support and resources that will allow them to develop to the point of self-sufficiency. At the end of that period it is mutually understood that communities will have evolved the leadership skills and commitment that will allow them to continue on their own.
In keeping with this goal, communities themselves set their own priorities and allocate resources to innovations they feel will best lead to the improvement of the lives of their children. As we have learned from our prior experience with the Malawi Children's Village and the Mango Tree project in southern Tanzania, that local challenges require local solutions; what works in one community may not work in another. Likewise, not every solution selected will have equal success, thus risk taking must be made safe. The result is that each CBO is unique, working from its own set of ideas to meet its own dreams. From this diversity will come the rich opportunity for grassroots leaders to share their ideas and their risks with other leaders striving to care for the vulnerable children of their communities.
Our combined experience gives us the humility to know that we do not have the answers. Africa is littered with the skeletons of projects that began with good intentions. Orphan Support Africa knows that the hope for Africa lies in its people and that our role is to assist communities to achieve their own solutions. With this accomplished, it is then time for us to proudly move on.
The most important lesson we have learned is that we are in the business of saying goodbye.
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Headlines: January, 2007; Peace Corps Malawi; Directory of Malawi RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Malawi RPCVs; NGO's; Service; Orphans
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Story Source: Orphan Support Africa
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Malawi; NGO's; Service; Orphans
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