Orphans & Vulnerable Children Portfolio

 

John Snow Inc. (AIDSTAR-One, USAID / PEPFAR)
Washington D.C.: January 2010 – present

Developing guidance entitled A Guide to Food and Nutrition Security Programming for Orphaned and Vulnerable Children in an HIV Context for OVC programmers of USAID missions and NGO partners. It provides a framework for understanding the relationship between HIV and food & nutrition security and a menu of interventions to select from for a variety of contexts. The Guide will be released in mid-2011.

 
John Snow Inc. (AIDSTAR-One, USAID / PEPFAR)
Washington D.C.: January 2010 – present

Developed two case studies and one technical brief on promising practices in food and nutrition security programming for orphans and vulnerable children (OVC), with a particular focus on communities/countries affected by HIV and AIDS:
1) Coffee, Popcorn, Soup and HIV -- Integrating urban gardens and poultry activities with PMTCT and ART programs for children (in Ethiopia).
2) Looking Within -- Working with families to identify resource gaps and subsequently develop ‘community enforced agreements’ to fill those gaps, including gaps in food resources (in Tanzania).
3) Catching the Wave -- Permaculture training in primary schools and other OVC venues (global) to enhance long-term food security for OVC.

 

World Vision International (WVI), Food Program Management Group (FPMG)
Johannesburg, South Africa: January – March 2011

Developed a reference guide for World Vision field staff on how to align food programming with WV’s new Child Well Being (CWB) Aspirations, Outcomes and Indicators. Guided the agency in selecting appropriate outcomes and outcome-level indicators for four categories of food programming, including vulnerable group feeding, school feeding, Food for Work/Assets and cash transfers/vouchers. Also made recommendations to management on how to modify FPMG’s mandate and strategic framework, so that they would have greater impact in relation to the CWB outcomes.

 

Catholic Relief Services
Baltimore, USA: October – December 2009

Adapted Urie Bronfenbrenner’s social ecology model, entitled ‘Circles of Care’, to OVC programming in resource-poor settings. Created an interactive framework and resource guide to help OVC practitioners in the CRS’s country offices to apply the Circles of Care methodology to their OVC interventions. The aim is to help practitioners to view their OVC interventions in a more integrated, multi-sectoral and holistic manner, by providing suggestions on how to support and link their work to complementary services within the various Circles of Care, and then to provide comprehensive guidance on those services.

 

Academy for Educational Development (AED)/John Snow Inc. (JSI)
Washington, D.C., USA: November 2009 – February 2010

Designed and co-facilitated the Technical Consultation on Food and Nutrition Programming for OVC and their Families. The Technical Consultation was organized through the joint efforts of a multi-partner planning group led by AED, and including JSI, Save the Children, USAID and OGAC/PEPFAR. It created a unique opportunity for inter-sectoral dialogue among OVC, food security and nutrition specialists, with the aim of identifying the programmatic needs of OVC technical staff at NGOs and USAID missions operating within PEPFAR programs.

 

U.N. World Food Program
Maputo: July-Aug, 2008

Facilitated strategy development for improved integration of WFP OVC programming with the Government of Mozambique’s social protection mechanisms. This included reviewing and making recommendations for improved collaboration at the central level; building capacity of government structures and local partners for holistic OVC programming at the provincial level; and examining possibilities for merging WFP support with existing social protection mechanisms implemented by the government.

 
UN Inter-Agency Task Team (IATT) on Children and HIV and AIDS – Social Protection working group
New York: May-June, 2008

Conducted research and wrote advocacy paper on social protection for vulnerable children in high HIV prevalence contexts, with a focus on viewing social welfare services as a critical component of a social protection framework. The work, entitled Social Protection for Vulnerable Children in the Context of HIV and AIDS: Moving towards a more Integrated Vision, was supervised by UNICEF and the Better Care Network.

 
UN WFP
Sept 2007 – Jan 2008

Researched and co-wrote with Kate Greenaway, Getting Started: Food Security Programming for Orphans and Other Children Affected by HIV and AIDS, a manual intended to provide comprehensive guidance and direction for WFP field staff and partners who intend to design and implement food security interventions in support of OVC in the context of HIV.

 
Catholic Relief Services, HIV/AIDS Unit
Baltimore: April-Sept 2007

Researched and documented promising practices in Home Based Care programming by CRS in 26 countries. Analyzed trends and exceptional practices and co-wrote the Home Based Care Assessment: Giving Hope to a World of Need.