In October 2007, USAID’s Displaced Children and Orphans Fund, in close collaboration with the Microenterprise Development office, initiated the STRIVE (Supporting Transformation by Reducing Insecurity and Vulnerability with Economic Strengthening) Program. A five-year, $16 million effort, STRIVE uses market-led economic strengthening initiatives to benefit vulnerable children. In doing so, the program aims to fill current knowledge gaps on effective approaches to reducing the vulnerability of children and youth.
Managed by the Academy for Educational Development (AED) in concert with technical advisors from Action for Enterprise, ACDI/VOCA, CARE, MEDA, Save the Children, the IRIS Center and USAID, STRIVE is implementing up to five field projects in Africa and Asia between 2008 and 2012. Each project is pursuing a unique economic strengthening approach, ranging from savings-led finance to workforce development to value chain interventions. STRIVE is tracking and documenting the impacts of these diverse interventions on child-level indicators related to both economic (financial), and non-economic (e.g. health, nutrition, education) vulnerability factors. As a result, STRIVE aims to identify and demonstrate interventions that can sustainably increase incomes and document how such increases improve (or fail to improve) the lives of children.
- Afghanistan: Secure Futures (ASF), AED and MEDA
- Liberia: Agriculture for Children's Empowerment (ACE), ACDI/VOCA
- Mozambique: STRIVE Mozambique, Save the Children US
- Philippines: STRIVE Philippines, Action for Enterprise (AFE)
- STRIVE Monitoring and Evaluation, The IRIS Center
Margie Brand
STRIVE Program Director
AED
Center for Enterprise and Capacity Development
1825 Connecticut Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20009
USA
margie@eco-ventures.org
October 2007 to September 2012
This document discusses the link between youth livelihoods and HIV/AIDS in Southern Africa, focusing on Zambia, Swaziland, Botswana and Lesotho. It is based on a study conducted by the Education Development Center (EDC) in early 2005 that was conducted to identify key experts, studies, and relevant demographic data on urban youth unemployment and HIV/AIDS initiatives in the four focus countries.
This is the third of four case studies examinging social transfers to orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) in Swaziland. Such social transfers began in the early 2000s as a response to rapidly rising numbers of AIDS orphans as well as rising vulnerability in the population at larget due to a combination of adverse trends and factors. The four policies are neighbourhood care points, shcool bursaries, chiefs' fields and farm input support to child-headed households, and while these have seperate origins in Swaziland government and institutional structures, as well as in partnerships with donors, they were brought together in 2006 in a single over-arching strategy called the National Plan of Action for OVC 2006 - 2010 (Swaziland, 2006).
This study evaluated an economic empowerment intervention to reduce HIV risks among orphaned children in Uganda. Children (n=97) were randomly assigned to receive an economic intervention or to a control arm. Data obtained at baseline and 12-month follow-up revealed differences on HIV prevention attitudes, educational plans, and child-caregiver relationship for intervention arm children relative to control children. Findings lend support to use of economic empowerment interventions for HIV risk reduction among orphaned children.
This combined literature review and program review focused on the current and future role of microfinance and sustainable livelihood strategies in reducing adolescent girls' vulnerability to HIV infection in developing countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. Part 1 of the review focuses on youth-centered programs to prevent HIV infection among vulnerable female adolescents—including microfinance and sustainable livelihood programs. Part 2 analyzes the relationship between microfinance and HIV prevention in the general population, with a focus on women and the oldest adolescents in the target group. Adapting the traditional microfinance model to meet the needs of this sub-group could prove to benefit not only these adolescents but also the microfinance industry.
The aim of this facilitation tool is to assist communities, governments, and civil society organizations to examine services for children like Tarasai through the lens of quality assurance and improvement (QAI). Through a standards-based approach to care, the laudable intentions, commitment and effort of these actors can be translated into real improvements in child status and well-being. This tool outlines a process whereby organizations can agree on common guidelines for care for the various core services for vulnerable children.
This report outlines PEPFAR's approach to meeting the challenges of OVCs and provides an overview of guiding principles and core programming areas.
FIELD Report No 2: Economic Strengthening for Vulnerable Children: Principles of Program Design and Technical Recommendations for Effective Field Interventions aims to begin to fill a knowledge gap between specialists in an array of disciplines including child protection, economic strengthening, health and education on how to most effectively work together and implement integrated programming. The resource illustrates best practices in economic strengthening for vulnerable children in a format that can be readily adopted and adapted by donors and practitioners for incorporation in their work.
PRISMA seeks to improve the lives of very poor women and orphaned or vulnerable children in rural East Africa by easing access to financial services for women in East Africa, especially the carers of orphans and vulnerable children. Women are a primary focus because they tend to invest additional income in improving the lives of their children.
Project Goals:
- Increase the number of World Vision’s female loan clients in five East African countries from 50,000 to 210,000.
- Improve the level of net assets among 75 percent of loan clients
- Through lending, create 277,000 jobs for women and sustain 1.3 million jobs for women
- Improve care and support for 150,000 orphans and vulnerable children, and impact 1.8 million children overall
- Offer savings accounts for 150,000 orphans and vulnerable children that can
be used for education or to start up a business
Project Interventions through Microfinance:
The PRISMA project will implement activities with the five microfinance institutions (MFIs) in the project countries that result in the following nine outputs, or tangible services:
- Increased capacity to learn and support integrated HIV/AIDS and microfinance services.
- Improved access to appropriate financial services for rural female clients, including those caring for orphans and vulnerable children.
- Improved responsiveness of credit and savings products to the needs of rural female clients.
- Increased capacity of MFIs to partner with World Vision and other HIV/AIDS agencies.
- Increased capacity of the MFI boards in governance.
- Increased capacity of senior leadership to transform MFIs into large-scale deliverers of financial services in rural areas.
- Increased capacity of MFI managers in rural finance, management, business planning, and staff development.
- Increased efficiency of MFI financial services and systems.
- Transformation into a regulated financial institution.
Project Outputs:
PRISMA project outputs will contribute over the next four years to the following two outcomes, or benefits:
- Sustainable, client-centered, development-integrated microfinance institutions
- Improved household incomes and/or resilience of economically active women, including those caring for orphans and vulnerable children.
The project is also active in Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, and Tanzania
Grace Tiberondwa Sebageni
PRISMA Project Manager
World Vision International
Kampala, Uganda
grace_sebageni@wvi.org
February 2006 to December 2009
PRISMA seeks to improve the lives of very poor women and orphaned or vulnerable children in rural East Africa by easing access to financial services for women in East Africa, especially the carers of orphans and vulnerable children. Women are a primary focus because they tend to invest additional income in improving the lives of their children.
Project Goals:
- Increase the number of World Vision’s female loan clients in five East African countries from 50,000 to 210,000.
- Improve the level of net assets among 75 percent of loan clients
- Through lending, create 277,000 jobs for women and sustain 1.3 million jobs for women
- Improve care and support for 150,000 orphans and vulnerable children, and impact 1.8 million children overall
- Offer savings accounts for 150,000 orphans and vulnerable children that can
be used for education or to start up a business
Project Interventions through Microfinance:
The PRISMA project will implement activities with the five microfinance institutions (MFIs) in the project countries that result in the following nine outputs, or tangible services:
- Increased capacity to learn and support integrated HIV/AIDS and microfinance services.
- Improved access to appropriate financial services for rural female clients, including those caring for orphans and vulnerable children.
- Improved responsiveness of credit and savings products to the needs of rural female clients.
- Increased capacity of MFIs to partner with World Vision and other HIV/AIDS agencies.
- Increased capacity of the MFI boards in governance.
- Increased capacity of senior leadership to transform MFIs into large-scale deliverers of financial services in rural areas.
- Increased capacity of MFI managers in rural finance, management, business planning, and staff development.
- Increased efficiency of MFI financial services and systems.
- Transformation into a regulated financial institution.
Project Outputs:
PRISMA project outputs will contribute over the next four years to the following two outcomes, or benefits:
- Sustainable, client-centered, development-integrated microfinance institutions
- Improved household incomes and/or resilience of economically active women, including those caring for orphans and vulnerable children.
The project is also active in Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda
Grace Tiberondwa Sebageni
PRISMA Project Manager
World Vision International
Kampala, Uganda
grace_sebageni@wvi.org
February 2006 to December 2009
PRISMA seeks to improve the lives of very poor women and orphaned or vulnerable children in rural East Africa by easing access to financial services for women in East Africa, especially the carers of orphans and vulnerable children. Women are a primary focus because they tend to invest additional income in improving the lives of their children.
Project Goals:
- Increase the number of World Vision’s female loan clients in five East African countries from 50,000 to 210,000.
- Improve the level of net assets among 75 percent of loan clients
- Through lending, create 277,000 jobs for women and sustain 1.3 million jobs for women
- Improve care and support for 150,000 orphans and vulnerable children, and impact 1.8 million children overall
- Offer savings accounts for 150,000 orphans and vulnerable children that can
be used for education or to start up a business
Project Interventions through Microfinance:
The PRISMA project will implement activities with the five microfinance institutions (MFIs) in the project countries that result in the following nine outputs, or tangible services:
- Increased capacity to learn and support integrated HIV/AIDS and microfinance services.
- Improved access to appropriate financial services for rural female clients, including those caring for orphans and vulnerable children.
- Improved responsiveness of credit and savings products to the needs of rural female clients.
- Increased capacity of MFIs to partner with World Vision and other HIV/AIDS agencies.
- Increased capacity of the MFI boards in governance.
- Increased capacity of senior leadership to transform MFIs into large-scale deliverers of financial services in rural areas.
- Increased capacity of MFI managers in rural finance, management, business planning, and staff development.
- Increased efficiency of MFI financial services and systems.
- Transformation into a regulated financial institution.
Project Outputs:
PRISMA project outputs will contribute over the next four years to the following two outcomes, or benefits:
- Sustainable, client-centered, development-integrated microfinance institutions
- Improved household incomes and/or resilience of economically active women, including those caring for orphans and vulnerable children.
The project is also active in Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Uganda
Grace Tiberondwa Sebageni
PRISMA Project Manager
World Vision International
Kampala, Uganda
grace_sebageni@wvi.org
February 2006 to December 2009
PRISMA seeks to improve the lives of very poor women and orphaned or vulnerable children in rural East Africa by easing access to financial services for women in East Africa, especially the carers of orphans and vulnerable children. Women are a primary focus because they tend to invest additional income in improving the lives of their children.
Project Goals:
- Increase the number of World Vision’s female loan clients in five East African countries from 50,000 to 210,000.
- Improve the level of net assets among 75 percent of loan clients
- Through lending, create 277,000 jobs for women and sustain 1.3 million jobs for women
- Improve care and support for 150,000 orphans and vulnerable children, and impact 1.8 million children overall
- Offer savings accounts for 150,000 orphans and vulnerable children that can
be used for education or to start up a business
Project Interventions through Microfinance:
The PRISMA project will implement activities with the five microfinance institutions (MFIs) in the project countries that result in the following nine outputs, or tangible services:
- Increased capacity to learn and support integrated HIV/AIDS and microfinance services.
- Improved access to appropriate financial services for rural female clients, including those caring for orphans and vulnerable children.
- Improved responsiveness of credit and savings products to the needs of rural female clients.
- Increased capacity of MFIs to partner with World Vision and other HIV/AIDS agencies.
- Increased capacity of the MFI boards in governance.
- Increased capacity of senior leadership to transform MFIs into large-scale deliverers of financial services in rural areas.
- Increased capacity of MFI managers in rural finance, management, business planning, and staff development.
- Increased efficiency of MFI financial services and systems.
- Transformation into a regulated financial institution.
Project Outputs:
PRISMA project outputs will contribute over the next four years to the following two outcomes, or benefits:
- Sustainable, client-centered, development-integrated microfinance institutions
- Improved household incomes and/or resilience of economically active women, including those caring for orphans and vulnerable children.
The project is also active in Ethiopia, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda
Grace Tiberondwa Sebageni
PRISMA Project Manager
World Vision International
Kampala, Uganda
grace_sebageni@wvi.org
February 2006 to December 2009
