Placing Children in the Visibility Zone

Placing Children in the
“Visibility” Zone

- A SAfAIDS Approach

Rouzeh Eghtessadi (MPH)
Southern Africa HIV and AIDS Information
Dissemination Service (SAfAIDS)
17 Beveridge Road, Avondale, Harare, Zimbabwe
Tel: +263 4 33 61 93/4
Fax: +263 4 33 61 95
Website: http://www.safaids.net
Email: rouzeh@safaids.org.zw

HIV/AIDS INFORMATION : the power to make a difference
SAfAIDS - P O Box A509,Avondale, Harare, Zimbabwe, Tel: 263 4 336193/4, Fax: 263 4 336195, E-mail: info@safaids.org.zw, Website: www.safaids.org.zw Southern Africa
HIV/AIDS Information
Dissemination Service

“Children’s Rights continue to be
addressed as Second-class within the
development sphere –
particularly in the context of the
HIV and AIDS epidemics.

Placing children meaningfully and
“VISIBLY” on the all response agendas
remains Paramount to effective scale-up
and realisation of Universal Access

Recap - Critical Issues for Children &
HIV Advocacy Considerations

• Escalating school drop-outs
• Child-headed households
• Increased burden of care on children
• Early child marriages
• Increased risk of abuse (domestic violence against children, sexual
abuse, transactional sex, child labour, child trafficking for household
economic gain)
• Labeling (stigma and discrimination)
• Inadequate child-targeted information access, information sharing
and dissemination platforms
…whilst many gains made in the past 5 yrs…

There remain Gaps in Current
• Interventions ( 1)
Policy Domain:
• Children remain an ‘after-thought’ - 1st we develop adult-
geared policies, then suddenly remember the child!!
• Subsequent delay in sound operationalisation, thus:
Time lost – lives lost – suffering sky-rockets – poor
domestication processes
• Voices and concerns of children not adequately
raised or heard (directly) – by law makers, govt & policy
makers, donor community
• Targets (MDGs 2, 4, 6, Universal Access- the Four “Ps”,
CRC) & related Accountability - not being monitored/ ‘policed’


Gaps in Current Interventions (2)
Service and Programme Delivery Systems :
• Limited availability, affordability and accessibility
of paediatric health care support services
• Much attention given to basic needs, such as
education, food and shelter, but not in sustained
manner – heavily reliant on external resources/capacity,
overlooking the “TOTAL HUMAN BEING” package –
psychosocial elements critical
• Scanty comprehensive approaches – “pocket-
interventions” versus “basket-services”, and overall collapse of health care
systems esp. southern Africa (exodus)


Gaps in Current Interventions
(3)
Access (affordability and availability) Issues:
• Poor community mobilisation and preparedness
on children and HIV issues
• Limited child-rights raising platforms for CABA
• “Pocket” support for carers of children living with
HIV
• Child-household heads and child-carers continue
to ‘accepted’ – “a child must be allowed to be a child”,
it is NOT ‘ok’ for children to be adopting adult roles, neither is the
international community ‘powerless’ to reverse this!


Gaps in Current Interventions
(4)
• Elevation and Exercise of Child Rights
Though child rights are documented well …………
• Little attention to alleviating stigma & discrimination
against children infected or affected by HIV & AIDS
(CABA) - or towards raising a rights-based community agenda
• Negation of rights by continued “ignored” practices
born from impact of AIDS e.g. child-headed families, school
drop-outs
• “Child-parading/on show” strategies promote
labelling and stigma


SAfAIDS Role
• SAfAIDS holds a unique niche in southern Africa,
by harnessing information and communication
tools and methodologies to respond to the
prevention, care, support, treatment and
mitigation needs of diverse target audiences
across the region

• SAfAIDS recognises key HIV, AIDS and TB
information needs of vulnerable, marginalised
and high-risk groups – and seeks to strengthen
community capacities in scaling-up children and
HIV advocacy response


SAfAIDS Child-focused
• Policy Domain:
Interventions (1)
– Influencing child-friendly policy and legislative processes, through
Community and National Policy Dialogues (PDs) – Lesotho,
Swaziland, Zambia
– SAfAIDS Policy Desk – “How-to-Cards” and Policy Briefs on PMTCT,
children and ART, TB, children & HIV
– Advocating informed decision-making– VFG policy paper & research
– SADC GAD elevation to protocol status
– Repackage policy documents to reach communities

• Access Issues:
– Scaling-up community preparedness around Children and ART
issues – regional children’s treatment literacy program targeting children
and members of their “circle of care”


SAfAIDS Child-focused
•
Interventions (2)Systems:
Service and Programme Delivery
– Establishment of Children’s HIV Information Corners -
direct information needs of children at the community base through
edu-taining strategies: RC Network
– Capacity Building – information development, sharing and
training for CBOs, children and community groups with knowledge and
skills to address the plight of OVC
– Best Practice documentation and sharing – NAP OVC
project, SADC Zambia BP
– Advocacy and information sharing through discussion
forums

• Elevation and Exercise of Child Rights:
– Promoting Child Rights, at community level - through
engagement of cultural structures, community groups and children
themselves, in community culture dialogues and sensitisation sessions

What key Lessons have been
Learnt? (1)
• Capacity Building
– Complementing national efforts, and aligning responses
with national, regional and international instruments,
commitments and targets is critical – ensures systematic &
collective attainment of universal access

– Scaling-up community preparedness efforts nurtures a
wider pool of community advocates, through the
Cascade Model – ‘fan’ and ‘trickle’ down of knowledge and
skills through systematic community mobilisation activities,
empowering the grassroots


What key Lessons have been
Learnt? (2)
• Advocacy
– Utilisation of policy dialogues to simultaneously
engage: policy makers, civil society, community
members, implementers, media and the donor
community, is effective - proven strategic in catalysing
relevant Children & HIV related policy transitions

– Families, and the family law system, must be
supported to recognise the need to work to strengthen
the capacity of children to be involved - contribute to
finding the solutions, not remaining as “victims” on show


SAfAIDS contribution to Global
directions
• Advocating on behalf of children

• Nurturing ‘child-advocates’ and availing spaces for them to
engage their governments and the donor community remains vital

• Engagement of policy makers, via community, national and
regional policy dialogues and activities of the policy desk, to honor
relevant commitments

• Building capacity in children to understand how to articulate and
express their issues, and participate in forums


SAfAIDS contribution to Global
directions
• Build capacity of caregivers to rear child advocates,
empowered with knowledge and skills relating to their rights, HIV
status, adherence to ART, positive living and resilience in the face of
stigma and discrimination

• Engaging cultural structures and religious platforms to
mobilise communities towards recognition of, and upholding,
child rights and their critical links to HIV Develop a pool of advocacy
leaders amongst children

• Facilitating the establishment of child specific community
based structures - child support groups, child-to-child learning

• Linking with women’s advocacy activities, engaging the
family unit (WTLT & Community preparedness program)

SAfAIDS Child-Centered
Approach
Needs Assessment
Partner Selection
Engagement of Children

Information
& Experience Sharing
- Discussion Forums Best Practice Documentation
- Policy Dialogues Monitoring, Material development
- E-forums
-Children’s Info Corners Evaluation & In-country MATs
CSO and Govt consultations
Reporting Voices of children

Capacity Development
Cascade Model
Trainings and mentoring
Linkages with technical expertise
Child- to child learning


Recommendations (1)
• Donor/Policy Makers - Directing and mobilise ‘in-ratio’
resources (and capacity to meaningfully employ them) towards
children’s direct access, advocacy, capacity, and health care systems
strengthening, remains a crucial call e.g cash grants to carers of
CABA

• Keep strong voices on the agenda - Funding for advocacy
initiatives needs to be scaled-up, as currently shifted to basic needs -
support capacity building of CBOs/NGOs currently employing
advocacy services to employ better ways of packaging and tracking
issues

• Govt (esp of high epidemic countries) - take
responsibility, avoid economic sanctions – adverse
impacts on the population, esp the poor, felt more acutely amongst
children


Recommendations (2)
• Governments must work with CS - support in-country
monitoring systems, including providing data on children
(OVC/CABA) progress issues

• Support urgent honoring of commitments made -
strategies, funding and implementing and accountability
mechanisms, through domestication and influence of
family law – (CRC, Universal Access Targets, CEDAW, UNGASS
special session on children )


Recommendations (3)
• Policing the ‘police” mechanisms (to monitor target
achievement) need to be established – e.g upcoming
Regional Interagency Task Team on Children & HIV (RIATT) high
level regional conference to review progress & evidence for taking
actions to scale for CABA in East and Southern Africa, Sept-Oct
2008

• Establish model (int) for children’s service package
(e.g. like HBC std package)

• Establish national legal frameworks- address child rights
that are ignored, violated or uncertain and retrieve their dignity, that
promote and protect rights of the child, and counters stigma and
discrimination


The Next Generation,
therein lie the Solutions….Let us
grasp the opportunity with
championing
diligence and
urgency!!

Placing Children in the Visibility Zone

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