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GRANTEE FOCUS AREAS

Firelight believes that grassroots programs arising in direct response to needs within local communities are the most effective in promoting children’s well-being. We assess funding applications based on the soundness and community ownership of the proposed activities.

Children living in poverty who lose a parent or other family member to AIDS have a wide range of material, educational, and emotional needs, as do their family members. To address these needs, our grantees develop a wide range of programs that fall into the seven focus areas listed below.

Effective programming for traumatized or vulnerable children and families calls for a comprehensive response. This is why most of our partners are working in multiple focus areas at any given point in time. The examples below illustrate how projects within each focus area take a different shape depending on the particular organization and the specific community context. Each Firelight-funded grantee develops programs tailored to the needs of their community members.

Living Environments
Providing basic necessities, including clothing, bedding, personal hygiene, and shelter.

• Baraka Good Hope Orphan’s Development in Tanzania works to reunite children living on the street with their families. They provide the reunited families with food, clothing, and other goods to ease the economic strain and also provide ongoing counseling to the families.
• The Gwai Grandmothers in Zimbabwe have taken the more than 200 vulnerable children in their community under their wings. In addition to the many things they personally do for these children like nurturing and caring for them, they also provide blankets, clothing, and cleaning and hygiene supplies to the children’s families.

Food/Nutrition/Agriculture
Supporting food production, feeding programs, and household food assistance for vulnerable children and families.

• Mohoma Temeng in Lesotho is working to improve the nutritional status of 400 children by educating them in indigenous methods of sustainable food production in local schools. Income from the sale of surplus produce goes to support the children's health and education expenses.
• Zimbabwe Parents of Handicapped Children, Bulawayo Chapter, is providing supplemental food packages to 100 families supporting children with disabilities.
• Community Health Environmental Care Trust in Malawi purchased agricultural inputs and organized community members to help cultivate food gardens to benefit child-headed households.

Economic Strengthening
Providing materials, skills, and knowledge to caregivers to help them generate income and strengthen household resiliency.

• Rumphi HIV and AIDS Education Awareness Program in Malawi helped a community install a kerosene pump to provide light-generating fuel. The profits from the pump now sustain school fees for 25 secondary school students.
• AIDS Outreach Nyakato in Tanzania helped a group of girls start their own hair salon and become more economically independent.
• Action pour le Developpement du Peuple (ADEPE) in Rwanda provided funding and training in small business management to nearly 60 households. They also linked families to micro-credit institutions to help them access small loans to start or grow their businesses.

Psychosocial Support
Enhancing the caring relationships that meet the emotional, social, and recreational needs of children and help build life and coping skills.

• St. Francis Health Care Services in Uganda created an “Idol Shadow Program” through which HIV-positive youth receive mentoring, life skills training, recreation opportunities, health services, and meals.
• Youth for a Child in Christ (YOCIC) in Zimbabwe trains leaders of “Kids Clubs” in psychosocial support, communication skills, and conflict resolution. These leaders help their peers with bereavement and with building their self-confidence.
• Working with the Khoisan (Bushmen) community in South Africa, Motivation Community Development uses drama to preserve their cultural identity and encourage people living with HIV and AIDS to seek to be treated positively and fairly by community members.

Child Protection
Building a supportive and protective environment that prevents and responds to violence, abuse, and the exploitation of children.

• Justice for Children Trust in Zimbabwe supports children’s rights clubs in schools. Club leaders help their peers with legal issues, such as birth certificate procurement and reporting cases of abuse.
• Pemba Island Relief Organization in Tanzania removes and protects children from child labor and supports them through school and vocational training.
• Tuvuge Twiyubaka in Rwanda hosted inter-school debates on HIV, AIDS and human rights to raise children’s awareness of these issues.

Education
Holistic support helping children enroll, stay, and succeed in school.

• Esandleni Sothando in Zimbabwe is providing “block grants” to two schools to help repair the premises and purchase textbooks. In exchange, 300 children will be able to attend school.
• Federation of Disability Organizations in Malawi (FEDOMA) is working with local committees to break down barriers that prevent children with disabilities from attending school.
• Buntolo Drop-In Centre at Monze Mission Hospital in Zambia provides school fees to more than 40 vulnerable children in their community. They simultaneously work with the children’s caregivers to strengthen their sources of income so that they can eventually pay for their children’s school fees.

Healthcare/HIV
Extending primary health care, preventive care, and HIV and AIDS-related preventive and palliative care.

• Masvingo Community Based HIV and Vulnerable Children Organization in Zimbabwe conducts health and hygiene training sessions for children, also supplying them with soap and sanitary pads.
• Bwafano Community Home Based Care Organisation in Zambia provides mobile testing for HIV and antiretroviral therapy diagnostic services to under-served communities.
• Phopholetsa HIV and AIDS Support Group in Lesotho provides stipends to their 12 volunteers who visit and provide basic medical care to terminally ill community members.

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