Ripples International:: Community OVC Support

Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) Program

Who we are:
This is the outreach to orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) aged 3 to 17 years residing in the communities in the care of either aged caregivers. Each case should be related to HIV in one way or the other. It is the backbone of the care and support project. Summarily, we mitigate the impact of HIV and other social concerns by building the capacity of the communities, to provide comprehensive services ensuring that OVC live quality and productive lives within their households.

Services:
We offer care to OVC by providing 6 plus one components of care and support covering.
- Nutritional
- Educational
- Health
- Psychosocial
- Protection
- Shelter Improvement

Apart from the 6 components listed above, we carry out Economic Empowerment to support and empower the households, aiming to improve their capability to support the OVC.

Mission and Vision:
Vision Statement
To improve the welfare and access to nutrition, education, medical care, protection, psychosocial support to children orphaned or made vulnerable by HIV within their community.
Mission

Our mission is to:
- To ensure and promote the physical, social, emotional and spiritual well being of every child
- To build the capacity of the immediate caregivers to offer quality care for children
- To build the capacity of the community to act as a safety net against child abuse and neglect
- To create public awareness on ways in which they can participate in helping children in distress.

Objectives
1. To provide for essential provisions of orphans and vulnerable children enlisted in the support
2. To protect such children against abuse and neglect
3. To ensure that the children are brought up in an environment that secures their rights
4 Provide opportunities for interested people and organizations to participate in providing help such as:
- Provision of essential supplies
- Collaboration for identification of alternative homes for children at risk
- Provision of essential supplies
- Collaboration for identification of alternative homes for children at risk
- To create a system of continuous assessment of the well being of children in support.

Achievements & Challenges:

Achievements
- Launch of project with 20 children in support in 2004 and currently caring for 8095 children
- To ensure and promote the physical, social, emotional and spiritual well being of every child.
- Initiation of secondary and vocational school support in 2007 with 70 children supported in 2007
- To educate the community especially caregivers on care and support of orphaned and vulnerable children.
- Supported the alternative rights of passage for boys who would have faced forced circumcision using the traditional method.

Future Plans:
- Have 15,000 children in support by 2010(education, nutrition, health, protection, and psychosocial).
- Conduct research on the health needs of children in the region
- Create high profile medical consultancy for a referral hospital
- Set-up an endowment to fund operational budgets for services to be