OmphemetseMokgatlhe - SACBC AIDS Officeaidsoffice.sacbc.org.za/.../2014/03/EVALUATION-REPORT-Omphemetse1.pdf · Vision incorporated vocational and agricultural training into its sponsorship

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Omphemetse    Mokgatlhe  

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Omphemetse Mokgatlhe conducted research at KIDS CARE in

Bronkhorstspruit, east of Pretoria, towards a post graduate diploma in

Monitoring and Evaluation through the University of Stellenbosch. KIDS

CARE is one of the orphan and vulnerable children’s project of the SACBC

AIDS Office. Here follows her report.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

List PAGE

1. Acknowledgements…………………………………………1 2. List of Acronyms…………………………………………….2 3. History of OVC………………………………………………3

o Global perspective o Regional perspective o South African perspective

4. The Project: Kids Care and Support Trust………………9

o Background o Programme Theory

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o System Approach

5. Logic Model…………………………………………………21

6. Evaluation Methodology……………………………………24

7. Interview Conducted………………………………………..25

o Semi- structured

8. Interview methods conducted……………………………..27

o Documents review o Site visit o Interview Schedule o Observation o Telephone interview

9. Data Analysis………………………………………………..30

10. Data Interpretation (Results)……………………………….36

11. Limitations…………………………………………………….46

12. Conclusion…………………………………………………….49 13. References……………………………………………………50

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1. Acknowledgements

There are many people who provided various valuable inputs to the writing of this evaluation report. The South African Catholic Bishop`s Director of HIV and AIDS and orphaned vulnerable children, Sr Alison who allowed me to use the project for my evaluation report. Director for Kids Care Support and Trust, Sharon Theron who provided wealthy information about the history and implementation of the orphaned and vulnerable children project in Bronchorspruit.

A special thank you is directed to the SACBC OVC coordinator who made appointments and supported me during the staff interviews. The managers at various sites, Ezithobeni, Rethabiseng and Refiloe who took time from their busy schedule to participate in the interviews and provided information about the centres. Thank you Vusi, King, Yvonne and Maureen for information you provided to make this evaluation report meaningful.

A thank goes to the Stellenbosch University staff, Professor Mouton and Ms Laurel who supported and geared us with their academic expertise towards the monitoring and evaluation field. Ms Marthie cannot be missed with her administrative skills which liaised between the lecturers and the students and ensured that students received materials on time.

Dr Victor Adonesh, Epidemiologist who provided assistance with editing and statistical expertise is appreciated. Lastly my family which supported me throughout the duration of the course.

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2. List of Acronyms

AIDS……………………………… Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome CBO………………………………..Community- Based Organization CDWs………………………………Community Development Workers DHS………………………………...District Heath Survey DAFF……………………………….Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries DBE………………………………...Department of Basic Education DoH…………………………………Department of Health DoHA……………………………….Department of Home Affairs DSD………………………………...Department of Social Development FBO………………………………...Faith – Based Organization GAP………………………………...Global Action Plan GHS…………………………………General Household Survey HIV…………………………………..Human Immune Deficiency Virus MDG…………………………………Millennium Development Goals NACCA……………………………...National Action Committee for Children Affected by HIV and AIDS NAP………………………………….National Action Plan NGO…………………………………Non – Governmental Organization NMCF………………………………..Nelson Mandela Children Fund OVC………………………………….Orphan and Vulnerable Children PEPFAR……………………………. President `s Emergency Fund and AIDS Response PSS………………………………….Psychological Support RAAAP………………………………Rapid Assessment Analysis Action Planning SADC………………………………..Southern African Development Community SANAC………………………………South African National AIDS Council SASSA……………………………....South African Social Security Agency SONA………………………………..State of the Nation Address STI…………………………………...Sexually Transmitted Infections UNAIDS……………………………..Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS UNGASS……………………………United Nations General Assembly`s Special Session UNICEFF…………………………...United Nations Children `s Fund WV…………………………………..World Vision WHO………………………………...World Health Organization

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3. The history of the orphaned vulnerable children (OVC)

i. Global perspective: Worldwide, the number of children under the age of eighteen has lost their parents through poverty, war and HIV and AIDS. HIV and AIDS is the worst enemy of the situation which left about 14, 3 million children being orphans and vulnerable. Either children are heading the families or are taking care of a critically ill parent at an early age, resulting in children being vulnerable to hostile environment. It was found that globally 10 million children die each year, 100 million children are out of school and 60% of them are girls, 150 million children suffer from malnutrition while HIV and AIDS is spreading with catastrophic speed. In two years period (2001 – 2003), the global number of orphans due to HIV and AIDS increased from 11.5 million to 15 million. The Sub-Saharan Africa is the most hit by HIV and AIDS which left 12.3 million children orphaned. The evaluation report will concentrate and focus on the orphans and vulnerable children due to HIV and AIDS disease.

Several organizations, international and national, NGO`s and individuals contributed

world-wide to offer a helping hand to the orphans vulnerable children (OVC). Social

factors such as poverty, war and diseases left millions of children without parents.

The first child sponsorship program was established in Korea by Dr Bob Pierce to

help children orphaned in the Korean War. He expanded the program into Asian

countries, Latin America, Africa, Eastern Europe and Middle East as the needs grow

(World Vision, 2010: 1).

In the 1960`s, the World Vision delivered food, clothing and medical supplies to the

people suffering from disaster. In 1970`s, donations continued to grow and

thousands of children and families in emergency situations were assisted. The World

Vision incorporated vocational and agricultural training into its sponsorship to enable

parents to farm and earn money through small enterprises. In the 1980`s, World

Vision drilled wells in communities in Ethiopia thus reducing infant mortality rate. By

the 1990`s, it addressed the urgent needs of children orphaned by AIDS in Uganda

and joined United Nations peacekeepers to help millions affected by civil war(World

Vision, 2010 :1).

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The Plan of Action of the World Summit for Children and the World Declaration are

the most rigorous monitored and implemented international commitments of the

1990s (United Nations, 2002:3). The Convention on the Rights of the Children was

also held where 191 countries signed the Convention. 155 countries prepared

national programmes of action to implement the Summit goals and regional

commitments made. The Committee on the Rights of the Child emphasized that the

States parties need to develop a comprehensive strategy with realistic and

achievable targets which includes adequate allocation of human, financial and

organisation resources

(Save the Children, 2010: 8).

Following the first World Summit for children held in 1999, countries were encouraged

to develop national plans of action for children. The document further called for the

countries to commit to strengthening specific, time-bound and measurable National

Action Plans for Children by the end of 2003 to direct government`s focus towards

children`s health, education, protection and the impact of HIV and AIDS. During the

summit, governments were urged to mainstream the objectives of the country`s NPA

on children into other national legislation and policies (Save the Children, 2010: 9).

In 2001, the world leaders agreed on the first set of global commitments for children

affected by AIDS at the United Nations General Assembly Special Session

(UNGASS) on HIV and AIDS. The articles 65 – 67 of the Declaration of Commitment

on HIV and AIDS identified children as a vulnerable group and highlighted the need

for policies and programming around HIV and AIDS to be child-sensitive. The

leaders committed that they will implement the National Action Plans for children,

national policies and strategies by 2005 (de Bruin Cardoso, 2010: 9). The global

commitment to combat the impact of AIDS on children was delineated in “A World Fit

for Children”. A World Fit for Children is an agenda that focuses on the key priorities

which are: Promoting healthy lives, providing quality education for all, protecting

children against abuse, exploitation and violence and combating HIV and AIDS.

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The Heads of the State and Government committed themselves to take action to

promote and protect the rights of each child, to adhere and promote the principles

and objectives of the Declaration and to foster partnership and participation in

creating a world fit for children (United Nation, 2002: 7).

In 2004, the Framework for the Protection, Care and Support of Orphans and

Vulnerable Children living in a world with HIV and AIDS was developed. The

framework provides guidelines and guiding principles for OVC programming. The

Framework was endorsed by UNICEF, UNAIDS, donor and governments agencies,

faith-based and non-governmental organizations, academic institutions, private

sectors and civil societies

(de Bruin Cardoso 2010: 8).

In 2006, world leaders pledged to resolved the vulnerabilities faced by the children

affected or living with HIV and AIDS, to provide support and rehabilitation to these

children and families, promoting child- oriented HIV and AIDS policies and

programmes,

ensure access to treatment and intensify efforts to develop child –specific treatment

and to support the social security system for children (de Bruin Cardoso, 2010: 8).

Nearly 399,000 orphans and vulnerable children were sponsored in AIDS affected

communities.

ii. The Regional perspective: Although HIV and AIDS have reached almost every part of the world, the sub-

Saharan Africa has been worst hit. By the end of 2002, over 29 million people in sub-

Saharan Africa were living with HIV and AIDS. The HIV and AIDS epidemic in sub-

Saharan Africa has left the children without the parents, making life difficult for these

children to face the challenging world. It was estimated that in 1990, less than 1

million sub-Saharan African children under the age of 15 had lost one or both

parents to HIV and AIDS. By the end of 2001, 11 million in the same group were

orphans because of HIV and AIDS and by 2010 20 million in the same age group

were likely to become orphans from the same cause (UNICEF, 2003:6).

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Governments in sub-Saharan Africa have been slow to respond to the increasing

number of orphans which pushed extended families beyond their ability to cope. The

United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on HIV/AIDS, paid

attention to orphaned children made vulnerable by the disease. The UNGASS set

specific goals for the period of five years in its Declaration of Commitment to ensure

that the orphaned population is being protected and supported (UNICEF, 2003: 6).

In 2000, fifteen Southern and East African countries convened in Lusaka to start

discussions on the impact of HIV and AIDS on children. Subsequently, the

participants were expected to develop country specific action plans with the intention

of creating national frameworks and strategies for action. In 2002, a second

Southern and East Africa high-level regional workshop was held in Windhoek,

Namibia. The workshop`s objective was to develop strategies and activities for their

implementation to accelerate action towards achieving the 2001 UNGASS goals (de

Bruin Cardoso, 2010: 9).

In response to the awareness by both policy makers and implementers, 17 countries

in sub- Saharan Africa including 10 SADC Member States participated in country

specific rapid assessments of children`s condition and wellbeing. The Rapid

Assessment, Analysis and Action Planning (RAAAP) took place between 2003 –

2007 with the support from UNICEF, USAID, UNAIDS, WFP the POLICY Project and

in partnership with national OVC steering committees (Save the Children, 2010: 9).

During the same time of RAAAP initiatives, the OVC Policy and Planning Effort Index

(OPPEI) took place. The OPPEI was developed by UNICEF, USAID and the Futures

Group to monitor the implementation of national responses for OVC. 35 sub-Saharan

countries participated in the OPPEI in 2007 and 68% indicated effort to have national

plans of action in place (de Bruin Cardoso, 2010: 9).

The Africa leadership Initiative (ALI) was motivated to start an investigation into the

creation of a multi-stakeholder OVC initiative in 2007. The initiative proposed to

convene multi- sectorial groups comprised of participants from national, provincial,

local and community levels. The main purpose of the groups was to generate

innovations related to orphans and vulnerable children and develop leadership

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among stakeholders working in the field (Africa Leadership Initiative, 2007:5).

Between 2004 and 2007, 29 sub-Saharan countries developed National Plan of

Actions that focused on orphaned and other vulnerable children and integrated OVC

into either national AIDS plans, or National Development Plans or Poverty Reduction

Strategy Papers (de Bruin Cardoso, 2010: 10).

In 2010 at the Save the Children workshop in the United Kingdom, the development

of the stand-alone national plans that maintained a vertical programme response

versus mainstreaming it into existing programmes was highlighted. Countries which

opted to pursue a stand-alone NPA s were guided from the IATT WG on national

plans of action. The global and regional around vulnerable children had shifted from

targeting OVC caused by AIDS but to include all children made vulnerable by all

causes including poverty, conflict and natural resources ( de Bruin Cardoso,

2010:11).

iii. South African perspective:

“There can be no keener revelation of a society`s than the way it treats its children”.

Nelson Mandela

South Africa`s future is dependent on the health of their children, however social

factors such as poverty, war, HIV and AIDS and others contribute to the reality

where millions of children are in need of support and care. The situation is

unbearable to children as a result the children are traumatized and become

vulnerable to poverty, prostitution, drug use and other unforeseen circumstances. It

is either the child is heading the family or is caring for a critically-ill parent. There are

more than 1.2 million orphaned children in South Africa, and more than 10% of

children suffer from moderate to severe malnutrition (www.cmmb.org). According to

the 2010 General household Survey, orphans in South Africa are estimated to 3.82

million and approximately 1,233,978 children have lost their mothers (Maternal

Orphan Surveillance Study, 2012).

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The Constitution of South Africa (Act 108 of 1996), Section 28 provides for the protection of children. The Act stipulates that every child has the right to basic nutrition, shelter, basic health care services and social services. It further emphasizes that every child has the right to be protected from maltreatment, neglect, abuse or degradation.

Children `s Act (No. 38 of 2005) provides for the principles relating to the care and protection of children and defines parental responsibilities and rights.

Social Assistance Act (No. 13 of 2004) was implemented by the Department of Social Development aiming at providing social grants which includes child support grant.

In 2000 a faith-based organization as well as a leader in Global Health Care, Catholic Medical Mission Board (CMMB) in collaboration with South African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC) supported more than hundred projects in five countries. South Africa was among these countries including Botswana, Namibia, Swaziland and Lesotho (www.cmmb.org/orphans -and- vulnerable-children). In South Africa, the CMMB`s Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) program was implemented in 2007 – 2011 with funding from De Beers and Anglo- American Chairman`s Fund & Educational Trust. The aim of the funding was to address food insecurity among children and provision of after school care. Children from Musina in Limpopo province benefited from the program by receiving free meals, homework guidance and supervised playtime everyday (www.cmmb.org/orphans).

In response to the United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) Declaration of Commitment on HIV and AIDS, South Africa held a national conference held in 2002 to establish a common understanding with reference of interpretation of legislative and policy issues and make recommendations for coordination between the different sectors. The theme for the conference was” A call for Coordinated Action for Children Affected by HIV and AIDS”. The conference established coordination between all sectors of South African Society to ensure that children that are affected by HIV and AIDS have access to the services that provides the basic rights for food, education, shelter, health care, family and protection from abuse and maltreatment. The mechanism of coordination at national, provincial, district and local governments were established as well (Policy Framework for OVC, 2005:7).

The conference mandated the Department of Social Development to establish the National Action Committee for Children Affected by AIDS (NACCA) as a permanent coordinating structure of government departments, civil society, business and development agencies. The Declaration of Commitment of the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on children mandated Heads of the states that by 2003 develop, and by 2005 implement the national policies and strategies (Policy Framework for OVC, 2005:9).

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The National Action Plan (NAP) was developed in 2006, and revised in 2012 to align with the National Strategic Plan for HIV, TB and STI 2012 – 2016.

At the same time, the United States Government responded to the call and funded 22 countries including South Africa through the President`s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR/ Emergency Plan). The goal or aim of PEPFAR is to help the Orphan, Vulnerable Children and adolescents to grow and develop into healthy, well-adjusted and productive members of the society. PEPFAR adopted key concepts and principles from international and local developed documents such as Framework for Protection, Care and Support of Orphans and Vulnerable Children, Living in a World with HIV/AIDS, 2004, International Protection of Children ,Family and Property Relations, Children on the Brink, Africa `s Orphaned and Vulnerable Generations and Policy Framework for Orphans and other Children made vulnerable by HIV/AIDS( Orphans and Other Vulnerable Children Programming Guidance, 2006 : 1).

Guided by the host country, PEPFAR OVC programs became part of the South African National HIV/AIDS strategies and plans, national plans of action and became engaged in the multilateral organizations and institutions. It adopted the Department of Social Development core program areas which include food/nutrition, shelter and care, protection, healthcare, psychological support and education.

4. KIDS CARE AND SUPPORT TRUST

i. Introduction

Kids Care and Support Trust (KCST) is a non-profit organization which is situated in the rural and impoverished area of region 5 and 7 of Tshwane Metro municipality. It serves the community at the boarders of Gauteng and Mpumalanga in three peri- urban areas of, Rethabiseng and Refilwe located in Bronchorspruit and Cullinan respectively. Kids Care and Support develop and support orphans, vulnerable children and empower families and communities to cope with the devastating effects of HIV/AIDS holistically.

Kids Care and Support Trust was founded in 2004 by Ms Schilling from St Joseph`s Care and Support Trust as a pilot drop in centre model for the National Department of Social Development (DSD). The St Joseph`s Care and Support Trust was funded by De Beers and Anglo Americans and Kids Care and Support Trust benefitted from these funders for a period of five years, 2004 – 2009. In 2009, the programme was registered as an independent trust and received funds from different funding agents such as Nelson Mandela Children fund, Department of Social Department, Kidsright, Hospice Association, PEPFAR through South African Catholic Bishops Conference and local business partners.

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As indicated above, there are many projects rendered by KCST supported by various funders. The evaluation will only focus on the services provided to OVC by Kids Care and Support Trust through the President`s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).

ii. PROGRAMME THEORY

Programme theory is the conception of what must be done to bring about the intended social benefits (Rossi, P.H.; Lipsey and Freeman, 2004: 134). Rossi et al further elaborates that programme theory explains why the program does what it does and provides the rationale for expecting that doing so will achieve the desired results.

                                                                                                                                                                                           Kids  Care  and  Support  Organogram:  2012  

Vision: Kids Care and Support Trust is investing in the future of our children. Mission:

To be child and youth centres that improves quality of life by protecting and

supporting vulnerable children , through development and participation and

strengthening families and communities to cope with the effects of HIV/Aids through

successful interventions.

Board  of  Trustees  

CEO  

Human  resource  Manager  

M&  E  manager  

Project  managers  

Health  promoter  

Poverty  alleviation  manager  

Finance  manager  

Data  capturer  

Administrator  

Care  taker   Driver   CCw`s   ECD   Finance  Assistant  

Cooks  

ECD  assistant  

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Goal: Improve quality of lives of orphans and vulnerable children

Objectives:

• To assess the extent to which the OVC project is being implemented in Bronchorspruit.

• To identify the achievements and challenges encountered by the Kids Care and Support Trust.

• To provide feedback to the project staff for improvement

iii. Kids Care and Support Trust using system approach:

The project is functioning as a system. Smit and Cronje`(2002: 46) define a system as a set of interrelated elements functioning as a whole to achieve its objectives. A system cannot perform its functions effectively and efficiently if one element is dysfunctional. The Kids Care Support and Trust approaches the needs of the orphans and vulnerable children in a holistic manner using the elements displayed below to improve the lives of the forgotten or neglected population. Elements are OVC centered, and all of them are equally significant. If one element is omitted, the chain of sustainability will be broken and the life will be retarded.

To ensure efficient service delivery to the OVC population, Kids Care Support and Trust is supported by many of the government departments such as Department of Health, Department of Social Development, Department of Home Affairs, Department of Education, Department of Social Security Agency (SASSA), Department of Safety and Security, SANAC, NGO`s and many more.

           Sustainability  elements  for  the  orphans  and  vulnerable  children  Kids  Care  Support  and  Trust  Approach:  

Education  and  Training  

OVC  

Economic  Strengthening  

Health  Care  

Shelter  and  Care  

Food  and  Nutrition  

Psychosocial  Support  

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 Guided by the National Action Committee for Children Affected by AIDS (NACCA), PEPFAR continues to leverage the core service areas which children need for their wellbeing and future development which are:

• Food/Nutritional support • Shelter and care • Protection • Health care services • Psychosocial support • Education and Vocational training • Economic Opportunity/ Strengthening

iv. Food and nutritional support:

Malnutrition underlies more than half of death in children under five in developing countries (PEPFAR, 2006: 7). Food and nutritional support are essential to OVC, but are often the most costly intervention supported by the OVC programs. Ensuring adequate food and nutrition requires intervention and coordination with many stakeholders such as governments, communities and food agencies. Kids Care and Support Trust works with government departments and communities to ensure that the children receives good healthy food at the end of the day. The trust provides full meal for the children during the after school lessons. There is a menu that is followed per day. The menu is attached as an appendix. Apart from the food that is provided to children, Kids Care and Support Trust works with the community to maintain the garden which provides the children with fresh vegetables. There is a garden project whereby the community ploughs different types of vegetable such as cabbage, spinach, carrots, onions, sweet potato and others. The women who are taking care of the garden are from the community around the Kids Care Support and Trust. They entered the food garden competition promoted by the Department of Agriculture, and they won the first price. Below is a picture of a garden.

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Women won the first price in the garden competition

Some of the crops that are sold from the garden

Some of the vegetables are cooked at the centre as part of the children menu, and others are sold to increase the project income.

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v. Shelter and care:

Many children are left without the suitable shelter or care. A home is a place where the children can grow and develop physically, psychologically and emotionally. The Emergency Plan for OVC ensures that no child goes without shelter, clothing or basic personal hygiene. In some cases the house needs major renovations or just fixing the roof, the door or window that is broken. Depending on what the children need, Kids Care and Support Trust assists where possible. Some of the children who were previously in the program have joined the labour companies such as brick lying, hotel school, welding, carpentry and plumbing. They do come back at the center and help other children in need of the fore mentioned services. See the picture below:

One of the Orphan `s old home before renovations One of the Orphan`s new home after renovation

vi. Education and vocational training:

Orphan and vulnerable children are less likely to attend school and as a consequence, they will be unable to care and provide for themselves in future. A body of research from sub- Saharan Africa stipulates the importance of timely, cost effective interventions to secure access to primary and secondary education including livelihood training for children affected by HIV and AIDS (PEPFAR, 2006:17).In South Africa, Section 29 of the Constitution promotes that everyone has the right to basic education including adult education and further education which the state through reasonable measures, must make progressively available and accessible( The Constitution, 1996:14). In response to the Constitution, the Department of Education made it possible for primary school children to have free education. Education department launched Early Childhood Development (ECD) program in pre-primary schools to assist children to develop and acquire educational skills at an early age.

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In 2010 in his State of Nation Address, the president committed the government to reinstate health programmes in public schools in South Africa. The aim is to provide health services to the population through the Primary Health Care (PHC) approach called re-engineering. The School Health Policy was developed and by 2012, more than 12 million learners were enrolled (Integrated School Health Policy, 2012:3).

Through PEPFAR funding, Kids Care and Support Trust assists orphans vulnerable children by paying school fees for those in secondary schools. The project also supports school uniform, winter clothes, shoes and track suits to all OVC. The distribution of stationery and some books to beneficiaries are also supported by the project. Additionally, the project supports the following:

• Training and materials for health providers and caregivers on identifying vulnerable children and appropriate care procedures.

• Activities to monitor OVC status and to integrate OVC`s into community social life, particularly education aimed at reducing the stigma faced by HIV and AIDS orphans.

• Advocacy and technical support provide school-based counseling services, flexible school schedules and curricular, life skills, business and household management, agricultural training and mechanisms to provide linkages with community and faith-based organizations.

• Training parent-teacher associations in school communities to support and enable OVC to remain in school such as tutoring and psychological support (PEPFAR, 2006:18).

Peer group education during camping

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vii. Psychosocial Support: Children who are growing without parent `s guidance or who became adults at an early age, experience some emotional trauma in their lives. They require emotional support to cope with life. If they are left unsupported, they may end up being destroyed and see live a negative life. Kids Care and Support Trust has a social worker, a priest and a psychologist to assist the children cope with daily activities. The social worker visits the homes of the children, assess the situation of an individual child and address the challenges as they emerge. In some instances, she referrers other cases to psychologist. The priest visits the children weekly to support them spiritually. Kids Care is linked with other institutions such as Widow, which deals with children with substance abuse such as drug addicts to rehabilitate them. Counseling is a continuous activity which is done by all cadres of health care workers including teachers. The centre also renders the after-school HIV prevention clubs facilitated by teachers. One success story from Kids Care is that there are children who were in the project as beneficiaries, they have attended counseling course and they are the ones who counsel the other children in the programme. viii. Health Care: Prevention of HIV is a priority of health interventions, particularly among the adolescents in areas where the risk of infection is high. South African government supports the communities with free health care services. Kids Care has established good relationship with local primary health facilities, and they refer children with health related issues such as children on antiretroviral, minor ailments, immunization and family planning to the clinics. In the after-school support groups, topics including HIV prevention, sexual transmitted diseases, prevention of pregnancies, substance abuse and others are covered in the discussions. The project supports periodic health campaigns, youth camps and education of HCW working in the centre to support the children effectively and efficiently to develop coping mechanisms. ix. Economic Opportunities: Economic strengthening is required for the family or care givers to meet the expanding responsibilities for the sick family member and orphans and vulnerable children. Maturing children need to learn how to provide for themselves and establish sustainable livelihoods. Kids Care Support and Trust support OVC by linking them with the organizations that have experience and expertise in the area of bricklaying, hotel schools, welding, plumbing and others. Kids Care also assists children with academic potential to apply for bursaries. The success story from the centre is that one of the beneficiaries who was assisted by the Kids Care, has graduated as a Human Resource Assistant and he is working at the centre.

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x. Protection: The Constitution of South Africa (Act 108 of 1996), stipulates that every child has the right to a name and nationality from birth, to be protected from maltreatment, neglect, abuse or degradation. Kids Care facilitates the process of OVC with birth and ID registrations to assist them to access the grant services that the government is providing. It strengthen the child-headed households to keep the siblings together or assisting the to re-unite with the families. In case of the worst situation, the centre removes the children from the abusive environment into a safe temporary or permanent placement.

5. Logic Model for KidsCare Support and Trust

Logic models are visual methods of presenting an idea. They offer a way to demonstrate and share an understanding of relationships among elements necessary to operate program or change effort. Logic models provide a clear roadmap to a specific end by detailing resources, planned activities, their outputs and outcomes (Knowlton, L and Phillips, C. 2013:4).Logic is a tool which describes the main elements of a program and how the elements work together to reach a particular goal.

                                                                                                                                             The  logic  Model  

1.1 Key definitions of the logic model:

National treasury defines the following components of the logic model as follows: Inputs: are resources that contribute to the production and delivery of outputs. Inputs are “what we use to the work”. Activities: are the processes or actions that use a range of inputs to produce the desired outputs and ultimately outcomes. Activities are “what we do”.

   Inputs:    

   Processes:  

   Outputs  

Outcomes  

Impacts  

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Outputs: are final products, or goods and services produced for delivery. Outputs are “what we produce or deliver”. Outcomes: are the medium-term results for specific beneficiaries that are consequence of achieving specific outputs. Outcomes are “What we wish to achieve”. Impacts: the results of achieving specific outcomes. Impacts are “what we aim to change”. Indicators: are measurements of performance. Indicators are “what we use to measure change” (www.treasury.gov.za).  

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Logic  Model  for  Kids  Care  Support  and  Trust:  

                                                                                                                             Objective  1:    To  provide  educational  support  to  Orphans  Vulnerable  Children  (  OVC).  

                 Activities   Outputs   Expected  Outcomes   Outcome  Indicators   Data  to  be  collected  

         Assist  learners                                            w    with  home-­‐work.    -­‐      Provide  learners  with                sc    school    uniform            Pay  learners  `s                                                school  fees.  

 -­‐        Filling  bursary          application  forms  

List  of  learners  recruited    Enrollment  register    Weekly  programme    

Immediate:  Improved  performance  in  all  subjects.    Learners  retained  at  schools.    Intermediate:    Learners  pass  matric  with  national  certificate.    Long  term:  Learners  enter  tertiary  education.  Learners  enter  labour  market.  

Numerator:  Number  of  OVC  learners  retained  at  school  at  the  end  of  Grade  12.  Denominator:  number  of  OVC  learners  enrolled  in  the  program.  Numerator:  Number  of  OVC  learners  passed  matric  with  national  certificate.  Denominator:  Number  of  OVC  learners  enrolled  for  Grade  12.  Numerator:  Number  of  OVC  learners  entered  the  tertiary  education  Denominator:  Number  of  OVC  learners  enrolled  for  Grade  12.    

 OVC  learners  enrolled  for  Grade  12.    OVC  learners  passed  matric  with  national  certificate.    OVC  learners  entered  tertiary  education.    OVC  learners  entered  the  labour  marked.  

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                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       Objective  2:  Provide  food  and  nutritional  support  to  orphans  and  vulnerable  

Activities   Outputs   Expected  Outcomes   Outcome  indicators   Data  to  be  collected  

           Provide  meals  during                                      rs    after-­‐school  care.    -­‐        Provide  food  parcels              Provide    vegetables            from  the  centre  garden              Provide  seeds  to  develop              g          gardens  at  home    

 List  of  children  OVC  recruited    OVC  registered  in  the  program    Menu  list      

 Immediate:  Improved  OVC  learners  participation.    Intermediate:    Improved  OVC  learner’s  results.    Long  term:    Improved  health  (malnutrition  prevented).            

Numerator:  number  of  OVC  provided  with  meals    Denominator:  Total  number  of  children  enrolled  in  a  program.  

 OVC  enrolled  in  a  program.    OVC  provided  with    food  parcels.  

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Objective  3:  To  empower  orphans  vulnerable  children  with  knowledge  and  skills  in  health  issues.  (HIV/  AIDS,  Crime  prevention,  pregnancies  and  substance  abuse:  Activities   Outputs   Expected  Outcomes   Indicators  to  be   Data  to  be  collected  

Run  group  counseling  sessions    Provide  educational  camps    Provide  books,  games  and  equipment  to  OVC  learners    Engage  other  stake-­‐holders  in  training    Refer  to  clinics  for:  Immunization  ART  collection  Minor  ailments  treatment.    Refer  to  rehabilitation  centres  and  crime  prevention  centres.  

 Attendance  list  of  OVC  learners    List  of  peer  group  educators    Training  plans    Activity  report    Enrollment  register      Transport    Camping  equipment.    Photos        

 Immediate:  Knowledge  and  skills  developed.    Intermediate:  Coping  mechanisms  with  health  challenges  improved.    Long  term:  Behavior  changed.  

 Numerator:    Number  of  training  conducted    Numerator:  Number  of  children  <  5yrs  immunized  during  the  quarter.    Denominator:  Total  number  of  children  under  5  yrs  of  age.    Numerator:  Number    of  OVC  collected  ART      Denominator:  Total  number  on  Antiretroviral  treatment.  

 OVC  attended  counseling  sessions.      training  conducted    camps  attended    Stakeholders  involved        OVC    Immunized        OVC  collected  ART  

   Objective  4:  Protect    OVC    from  abuse,  exploitation,  loosing  inheritance  and  land  Activities   Outputs   Outcomes   Outcome  indicator   Data  to  be  collected  

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 Assist  children  with  birth  registration.    Assist  teenagers  apply  for  ID  documents.    Assist  OVC  for  grants  applications.    Assist  OVC  to  re-­‐claim  their  inheritance  and  land.    Trace  families  for  re-­‐union  with  the  children.    Place  children  for  foster  care  or  permanent  adoption  

     List  of  children  require  birth  certificates,  grants,  and  ID  documents.    List  of  families  to  be  traced.    List  of  children  to  be  placed  for  foster  care  or  adoption.  

 Immediate:  Children  have  birth  certificate  and  ID  documents.    Intermediate:  Family  re-­‐united  with  the  children    Long  –  Term:  Children  belong  to  a  family.  

 Numerator:  Number  of  children  received  birth  certificate.    Denominator:  Total  number  of  OVC  children.    Numerator:  Number  of  children  placed  for  foster  care.    Denominator:  Total  number  of  OVC  children.  

 Birth  certificate  received    ID  documents  received.    Children  placed  for  foster  care/  adoption  

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Evaluation Methodology

During September and October 2013, a clarificatory evaluation was conducted to

Kids Care Support Trust using the logic model framework to determine if the project

goals and objectives were formulated properly, whether the activities, outputs,

outcomes and indicators were clearly specified. A process evaluation was carried out

to assess whether implementation and the delivery of the project met its intended

outcomes. Process evaluation is sometimes called implementation evaluation, it

focuses on how a specific program operates and is designed to answer questions of

what is done, when, by whom and to whom to enhance program quality (Casey, A.

2002 :1). It measures what is done by programme and for whom these services are

provided (WHO, 2000:8).

Bowie and Bronte-Tinkew (2008: 1) view process evaluation as known as formative

or implementation evaluations. It examines the extent to which a program is

operating as intended by assessing ongoing program operations and determining

whether the target population is being served. An evaluation helps program

components to improve service delivery as a result Kids Care and Support Trust will

improve the service it renders to the orphans and vulnerable population.

Process evaluation can be conducted by the evaluation specialists as a separate

project that may involve program personnel but not integrated into their daily routine.

The feedback about the program performance is provided to the programme

managers and stakeholders during or after the evaluation is completed (Rossie, P. et

al, 2004: 175). They further elaborated that process evaluation plays two major roles

such as 1. It can be a stand- alone evaluation in situations where the questions are

about the integrity of the program operations, service delivery, collaborative partners

and context and community in which a program is delivered. 2. The second major

role of process evaluation is as a complement to an impact evaluation, whereby

impact evaluation is required. Rossie et al (2004:177) indicated that a full impact

evaluation includes a process component to determine what quality and quantity of

services the program provides so that the information can be included with the

findings on what impact those services have.

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A qualitative design was used in the evaluation, whereby the case-study was the method of choice to obtain the detailed and required results. Bless and Higson – Smith (2000:41) define the case study as the way of organizing social data and looking at the object of the study as a whole. Welman, Kruger and Mitchell (2005:25) view case study as a type of research that is directed at understanding the uniqueness and idiosyncrasy of a particular case in all its complexity.

I. Purpose of the Evaluation

The Kids Care and Support Trust is a long–term project which has been in operation for more than eight years. The project forms part of the South African Catholic Bishop`s Conference, a faith – based organization and is dependent on funding from different agents. The project was chosen for academic purpose to demonstrate the knowledge and skills acquired during the course and to provide information to the management to make informed decision.

2. Objectives:

• To apply the knowledge and skills acquired during the PGD MEM Course • To assess the extent to which the OVC project is being implemented • To identify the achievements and challenges of the Kids Care Project • To provide feedback to the Kids Care staff at the end of the evaluation

3. Problem Statement

Orphans and Vulnerable children are designated segment of the child population who are most at risk of facing negative educational, health and social outcomes compared to the average child in the society (American Institutes for Research, 2013:1). In some instance, these children are forgotten or neglected by many societies. They grow up without the guidance of the parents and live under difficult circumstances such as poverty, no shelter, no education, diseases and many more. The challenge is that these children are the threat to the society because they end up vulnerable to the environment such as abuse, engaged in drugs, prostitution, teenage pregnancies, gangsters and others.

4. Evaluation question

To what extent has the Kids Care Support and Trust OVC project been implemented at Bronchorspruit

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5. Literature Review The literature review encompasses both national and international authors who are specialists in the field of evaluation. The books, journals, Acts, official documents including internet search are part of literature used in this evaluation. A combination methods of data collection tools such as face- to- face interview using semi- structured questionnaire, observation and documents review were used to collect information as much as possible. Different categories of personnel such as the CEO of the project, three project managers, two funders, three beneficiaries (OVC children) and one human resource manager were interviewed to get a glimpse of the project in per se. The Vivo software was used in capturing, coding and analyzing the data collected. The evaluation report is concluded by discussing the findings as well as the limitations of the evaluation. Appendices will be attached to support the report.

6. Interview

Interview as a data collection method was first identified by Benny and Hughes in 1956. They viewed interview as the most common method of data collection used by researchers to inform them about social life (Jarbandhan, D. and Schutte, D.2006: 674). In the family interviews, three types of interviews were found which are structured, semi-structured and unstructured. Various data collection instruments associated with the various interviewing techniques ranging from the structured to unstructured interview is reflected in the diagram below. In case of this evaluation, the semi-structured interview was chosen due to its relevance.            Unstructured                                                                                          Semi-­‐Structured                                                                                                        Structured                                  In-­‐depth  interviews  –  Focus  groups  -­‐  Semi  structured  questionnaires  –  Fully  structured  questionnaires                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                (Jarbandhan,  D.B  and  Schutte,  De  Wet.  2006:  675     Semi-structured interview  

Semi-structure interview is the interview that is between the complete structured on the other hand and the complete unstructured interviews on the other hand (Welman et al, 2005: 166). The researcher has a list of key themes, issues and questions to be covered. Although the questions may vary from one interview to the other, the wording of questions are left to the interviewer`s discretion. The interviewer is allowed to ask questions spontaneously and perhaps more probing or follow-up questions in response to the

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information given by the interviewee. An interview guides are used in this type of interview (International Secretariat, 1999:7).

Semi-structured interview is the interview that uses questionnaire with only or various open-ended questions. The questions mould the respondent`s frame of reference, at the same time giving her/him the freedom to respond as openly as possible (Jarbandham and Schutte, 2006: 678).

It means that whatever the respondent says as an answer to the question, should be accepted as a response. It may be used when the interviewer is interested in the understanding, knowledge and insight of the respondent and the content of the program or project. They further elaborated that it should be noted that some structured questionnaires could include semi-structured or unstructured questions, however it does not mean that it was unstructured or semi-structured interviews but only that some questions have to be treated as such during the structured interview (Jarbandham, D and Schutte, D. 2006: 678).

Gray, D (2004:217) outlined some advantages and disadvantages of the semi-structure interview as follows:

• Additional questions may be asked during the interview, and at some instances it might be the questions that were not anticipated at the beginning of the interview. In case of this evaluation, follow-up questions were asked to ensure that the respondents understood the questions clearly. • Notes taking or tape recordings the interview will assist the researcher to code and transcript the interview efficiently. For an example, I recorded all ten interviews conducted using a mini tape recorder. • The interview gives the researcher an opportunity to probe for views and opinions of the interviewee as a result the researcher explores new paths which were not initially considered. • The researcher can explain or re-phrase the questions if the respondent does not understand the questions clearly. • Semi-structured interview offers a versatile way of collecting data, and can be used in all age groups. It was used to the CEO, project managers, and children. • An inexperienced interviewer may not be able to prompt questions, thus missing some relevant data.

The semi- structured interview gave us an opportunity to further investigate, generate information and increase knowledge. The questions asked to respondents were aligned with the topic of the evaluation and was simultaneously used with the methods of interview which are documents review, site visits, face to face interview, telephone interview and observations.

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i.Documents review

The first step to evaluation methodology was to review the documents that guide the project team to execute their activities in an effective and efficient manner. The documents reviewed were mainly South African Acts, policies, and guidelines. PEPFAR guideline, Kids Care Support and Trust Strategic Plan, work-plan, meeting minutes held with different, annual reports and other documents that gave me an understanding of how the project operates. The CEO of the project sent the electronic copies to the evaluator to deepen her knowledge in order to formulate the evaluation question, design and data collection methods. The project team was involved from the onset of the evaluation.

ii. Site visit

Several site visits were conducted to the sides to observe the environment of the centres as well as interviewing the staff categories to gain more information. The initial visit conducted was to introduce myself to the project team, explain the purposes for conducting the evaluation and to build the rapport so that they provide information without fear. To buy their support, I always made appointments in advanced not to disrupt their activities and the OVC coordinator accompanied me throughout the subsequent visits conducted. This made my life easy during the entire project evaluation. At any given time my telephone calls were well received to obtain clarity of some issues.

iii.Face- to- face interview

It is the interview that is conducted between the interviewer and the interviewee. Several authors have indicated several advantages of a specific method as well as its weaknesses. This will provide the interviewer with the knowledge and skills of when and how to use a particular interview (Russek, B. and Weinberg, S. 1993:133).

Strengths:

• The interviewer is in control of the interview and would read the questions to the respondents thus keeping focus on both the interviewer and the interviewee. The questionnaire is administered to people who can hardly read and write. The interviewer is the one who reads the questions and also writes the answers.

• It builds the rapport with the interviewee, thus promoting trust. The respondent will be open and responds to the questions thoroughly without fear.

• It allows the interviewer to examine the respondent`s attitude, perceptions and values. The interview provides for a better view of social reality of a person, his/her place and interactions.

• It allows the interviewer to follow-up responses by checking the initial information, at the same time it allows the respondent to ask questions and clarifications.

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• There is a higher rate of responses, almost 100% because the interviewer is in contact with the interviewee. Unless the respondent decided not to answer some questions.

• It provides for the non-verbal cues observation, for an example the interviewer can observe additional non-verbal communication such as nodding the head when the respondent agrees on a statement or frowning when he/she is not certain about the answer.

• It allows for the interviewer to ask personal, emotional, confidential and complicated questions. The interviewer will be able to provide emotional and physical support when the situation becomes unbearable (Elmendorf, W. and Luloff, A. 2001: 142).

• The strength of the interview I conducted ( the semi-structured) , is to visit the OVC center before the actual interview to build rapport with the staff, introduced myself to them, clarify the purpose of the interview and to collect the information about the center which assisted me to formulate the questions for the actual interview.

• Practicing questions that will be asked the respondents before the actual interview assisted me to be well conversant with them and to be fluent during interview. It also gave me confidence as I was able to probe the respondents for further information.

• Working with health programs as part of my job, assisted me with basic knowledge of approaching the interview.

• The preliminary visit assisted me to put the respondents at ease (alley their anxiety) by jointly agreeing on the date and time of the interview. The respondents were informed of the interview that it will be recorded and the reasons of recording. My interview skills were good in the sense that I managed to ask the probing questions and to make a follow-up questions to gather more information. For an example, “Do you mean that the total children admitted in your programme are 1100?” “You mentioned that you have several funders, what are others?”

Weaknesses

• Costs are regarded as the major drawback of face-to- face interview. The costs are associated with the training of the interviewers, re-imbursement of their travel costs and remuneration for conducting interviews.

• Personal interviews are time consuming. Time includes the actual process of interviewing, arrangements of suitable appointments with the respondents; the interviewer may be required to visit the interviewee several times before the actual interview. Analyzing the data as well as report writing is time consuming.

• It has no anonymity. Since the interviewer is in contact with the respondent, the respondent can feel uncomfortable in providing some of the personal information and provide only limited information. Although I visited the respondent before the actual interview, they displayed some signs of discomfort. For an example, repeating same words several times, stammering and mannerism such as eeh… eeh…

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• As an amateur in transcription, I found it very difficult to transcribe the voice tape, it took me more than two weeks to put words as were recorded on paper.

iv.Telephone interview

Telephone interview is a means of communication between the interviewer and the respondent using a telephone. The interviewer asks questions from the interview schedule over the telephone an records the respondent`s response (Wilman et al, 2005:164). It may be one-to-one or conference calls (among many people).

Strengths:

• If the format is standardized, it allows for easy coding and analysis of data. • It offers a higher response rate than posted questionnaires. • It allows for collecting data across the wide geographic area, that is the interviewer

can phone far places and obtain data without travelling there physically. • The interviewer receives data during the conversation.

Weaknesses

• It is costly as the interviewer needs to explain some questions if the respondent does not understand. This may take more time than anticipated.

• The interviewer may not reach the communities in the rural areas where the services of telephones have not reached those places. It is limited to people who have access to telephones only hence not representative.

• The line may be interrupted and not clear, and the interviewer may miss some important information.

• The respondent may decides to cut the conversation at any time and drop the phone.

v.Observation

Observation is the type of interview whereby the interviewer observes the participants directly. The interviewer looks and listens at the behavior, activities and physical aspects without to depend on people`s willingness and ability to respond to questions (Taylor-Powell, E. and Steele, S. 1996: 1). Strengths:

• Observation is a useful method for obtaining qualitative information such as behavior and attitude.

• The observer is able to collect direct and first-hand information which is accurate, valid and reliable.

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• The observation may reveal “true” behavior and attitude that was not anticipated by the observer especially when the observed is not aware that he/she has been observed.

Weaknesses:

• Observation may alter the behavior, when the observed is aware of being observed. He/she will behave in an expected ay of the observer hiding the true behavior thus providing false results.

• The observer runs the risk of being subjective because he/she will be judging what is happening at that particular time, not being aware that the behavior that is displayed is false.

• Unstructured observations are difficult to analyze because the participants may display different behaviors at the same time.

7. Analysis of data

Data collection: Data were collected from a purposive sample of managers and students through in-depth interviews using an interview guide with questions. A total of 10 interviews were carried out (6 with managers and 4 with students). The software used to analyse data is NVIVO 9. As any other computer aided qualitative analysis data software, NVIVO 9 is an 'aid' in analysis. It provides the tools but the researcher or evaluator has to do the analytical thinking as well as the coding. It has the advantage of being able to structure work by enabling access to all parts of the project immediately; offer instant access to source data files (e.g. transcripts); offer tools to search text for one word or a phrase; provides the possibility to create codes and retrieve the coded sections of text; provides the possibility of search for relationships between codes; and possibility of exporting outputs to other program packages.

Data transcription: The taped interviews were transcribed verbatim by the evaluator and made ready for importation into NVIVO for exploration and analysis.

Data Importation into NVIVO: The project documents that were imported into NVIVO consisted of the transcribed interviews in text format and coded Word Frequency Search Words from Excel. This was done using the IMPORT function of NVIVO.

Organisation of data within NVIVO: Once imported, data were reorganized within NVIVO through a process that involved creation and organisation of folders into “Sources”, “Nodes”, “Classifications” and “Collections”.

Exploration of data: Data were explored first visually and then secondly using the EXPLORE function of NVIVO. Visually, the formatting of the transcribed interviews was not uniform. Formatting was therefore standardized using the edit function of NVIVO. Also the questions that managers responded to were not exactly the same questions that the students were asked. Managers responded to a set of 9 questions while students responded to a set of 5 questions. Following the visual exploration, 14 nodes were created to serve as placeholders for the answers to the various questions. This was followed by a first coding process which can be called thematic coding, done manually within NVIVO. All responses to the first question were coded in the node for Question 1, and this was done systematically until all answers to the 14 questions had been coded. Next, using the explore function of NVIVO, a word frequency query on all the text from the answers to the interview questions were run, and the NVIVO programme to search for all words (including stemmed words) that had minimum length of three characters was set. This generated a list of 723 words with stemmed words, sorted according to frequency of occurrence.

Second Data Coding Using Excel: The first step of this process was carried out using the EXPORT function of NVIVO in which the word frequency list was exported into an Excel spread sheet. Within Excel, the words were coded into themes using both the idea that each word communicated, and the context in which it was used by the study participant. Each meaningful word was given a code between A and N, while all words that were deemed meaningless were given the code Z. The spread sheet was later reorganised using the SORT function of Excel, which brought together words with the same codes from which a total of 14 themes emerged. It is imperative to note that in the initial coding process that occurred within NVIVO, codes were not mutually exclusive, but were exhaustive in the sense that each word was given a code. However, the coding within Excel was both mutually exclusive and exhaustive.

Development of Categories: From the 14 themes that emerged, matrices were developed within NVIVO with rows representing themes, columns representing the research participants and cells representing either coding presence, number of coding references or number of words coded. Using the matrix whose cells represented coding presence (with a “Yes” if coding was present and “No” if absent) the themes divided into 2 categories (see Table 1). From Table 1, it can be seen that 9 out of 14 themes were discussed by all the study participants while 5 of 14 themes were not discussed by all study participants. This provided a natural basis for the emergence of 2 categories - Cat1 and Cat2 (See also Figure 1).

Data Analysis: The goal of analysis was to arrive at explanation, understanding or interpretation of the people and situation under study, and this greatly influenced the approach adopted. Of the many available methods of formal qualitative data analysis, the following were employed in this study:

1. Describing regularities: In this method a mix of theories was used: 1) the grounded theory by constant comparison to discover themes, categories, connections, matrices and charting; 2) both naturalistic inquiry and 3) typologies to discover patterns.

2. Quasi-statistics: Through the Word Frequency Search, we counted the number of times some words were mentioned in the transcribed interviews and this permitted us to form a rough estimate of their importance. These were used to provide evidence for the themes and categories that eventually emerged.

3. Content analysis: This was considered a specific case of the typology method. The transcribed interviews were analysed for emerging themes or what people talked about the most, and then these themes were studied to see how they related to each other. Finally, any overt or latent emphases were studied. This particular analysis was purely emergent-driven in order to enable all the data to fit into some category at least. In doing this, the evaluator believed that the transition from words through themes to categories is an important step in reflecting the notion of fundamental interest in the text.

4. Narrative analysis: To some extent, this was used to study the latent stories people told about themselves through their use of words and expressions. The evaluator studied how participants wanted to be perceive through what they said and whether there was a tendency towards avoiding to reveal negatives about themselves, their circumstances or the project. The extensive coverage of each theme by the participants - the least number of themes covered was 11/14 by the participant labelled “Case C” - shows that no deliberate effort was made to withhold information on the project by the participants.

Figure 1: Model of Visual representation of the relationship between project items, emerging patterns and stages in data analysis: using NVIVO version 9.2.81.0 (32-bit) by QSR International

Table 1: Matrix of coding presence, with rows representing themes; columns representing study participants and the cells representing presence (yes) or absence (no) of theme in participants interview.

Table 2: Matrix of coding reference, with rows representing themes; columns representing study participants and the cells representing number of references to the theme in participant’s interview

Theme Case A Case B Case C Case D Case E Case F Case G Case H Case I Case J Total Count of Yes

Children Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 10

Status Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 10

Issues Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 10

People Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 10

Place Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 10

Process Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 10

Project Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 10

Resource Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 10

Time Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 10

Standard Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes 9

Ex pectation No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes 8

Age Yes Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes Yes Yes 7

Quantity No Yes No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 7

Additional Yes No No Yes Yes Yes No Yes No Yes 6

Total 12 13 11 13 13 14 12 14 11 14 127

Theme Case A Case B Case C Case D Case E Case F Case G Case H Case I Case J TotalAddtion 1 0 0 1 6 4 0 5 0 5 22Age 1 1 0 2 0 1 0 1 1 4 11Children 1 13 5 2 9 11 1 17 2 17 78Expectation 0 4 1 3 5 2 1 2 0 6 24Status 2 6 2 5 13 5 2 7 1 13 56Issues 3 12 4 4 11 6 5 4 1 14 64People 4 14 6 2 14 11 2 10 3 18 84Place 3 13 4 5 16 11 3 10 1 21 87Process 4 12 3 4 9 7 3 7 1 16 66Project 2 8 2 3 11 10 2 8 2 16 64Quantity 0 11 0 0 8 4 1 2 1 13 40Resource 1 5 2 1 7 4 3 9 1 11 44Standard 3 5 2 4 7 1 1 1 0 2 26Time 1 10 6 7 13 9 2 7 1 17 73

Total 26 114 37 43 129 86 26 90 15 173 739

Table 3: Matrix of words coded, with rows representing themes; columns representing study participants and the cells representing number of words coded under the theme in participant’s interview.

Theme Case A Case B Case C Case D Case E Case F Case G Case H Case I Case J Total w ords coded

Process 97 575 247 292 746 526 153 523 61 1037 4257

People 125 494 144 63 538 420 44 390 69 870 3157

Place 63 354 115 123 536 306 166 355 25 661 2704

Children 21 379 110 61 225 387 20 396 44 625 2268

Issues 63 453 115 99 391 197 127 127 28 448 2048

Time 34 280 150 141 437 216 43 163 36 412 1912

Project 42 235 120 115 275 246 40 185 60 421 1739

Status 57 179 53 138 327 105 52 180 22 326 1439

Resource 38 139 64 21 170 142 60 233 22 308 1197

Quantity 0 253 0 0 206 98 21 45 22 373 1018

Ex pectations 0 84 36 109 121 69 21 56 0 152 648

Standards 72 96 50 95 166 21 21 21 0 42 584

Addtitional 35 0 0 21 169 84 0 105 0 113 527

Age 21 21 0 42 0 38 0 21 22 99 264

Total 668 3542 1204 1320 4307 2855 768 2800 411 5887 23762

8. Data Interpretation (Results) The results are presented in the form of tables and narratives and are based on the responses of participants to the questions in the interview guide. Even though there were 2 sets of questions based on the 2 groups of participants interviewed, the way the themes and categories emerged eventually led to these 2 groups being treated as 1 group of participants. Table   4 shows the characteristics, attributes and values of the interviews and participants.

Table 4: Characteristics, Attributes and Values of the interviews and participants

Interview Date Interviewee Interviewer Location Transcriber Case A 9th Sept 2013 Child 1 Interviewer Refilwe Interviewer Case B 4th Sept 2013 Manager 1 Interviewer Cullinan Interviewer Case C 9th Sept 2013 Child 2 Interviewer Bronchospruit Interviewer Case D 19th Sept 2013 Manager 2 Interviewer Rethabiseng Interviewer Case E 19th Sept 2013 Child 3 Interviewer Ezithobeni Interviewer Case F 9th Oct 2013 Manager 3 Interviewer Refilwe Interviewer Case G 4th Oct 2013 Manager 4 Interviewer Pretoria Interviewer Case H 1st Oct 2013 Manager 5 Interviewer Rethabiseng Interviewer Case I 1st Oct 2013 Child 4 Interviewer Rethabiseng Interviewer Case J 11th June 2013 Manager 6 Interviewer Ezithobeni Interviewer

Factors associated with the Implementation of the OVC project as viewed by study participants

The World Bank has outlined 5 arguments that guide the implementation of OVC projects namely1) the rights argument; 2) the economic argument; 3) the social capital argument; 4) the cost of inaction argument and 5) the institutional argument (the MDG). In this study, 14 themes emerged and these were grouped into 2 categories based on whether all or only some participants discussed these themes in their answers. To answer the 2 research questions of this study namely 1) to what extent the OVC project is being implemented and 2) what achievements and challenges of the Kids Care Project can be identified, The evaluator chose to discuss the themes of category A under the Social Capital argument while the themes of category B are discussed under the institutional argument.

Category A: The Social Capital argument The themes we discuss under this category include:

1. Processes 2. People 3. Places 4. Children 5. Issues 6. Time 7. Project 8. Functionality 9. Resources

The common thread found among these elements was that collectively, they address the social capital argument. All participants in the study used words or expressions that were coded under these themes. Social capital integrates concepts of social cohesion and connectedness. Many researchers have found that a broad range of outcomes of programs and projects as well as improved performance among functionally diverse groups can be explained by the social capital argument, not only because it facilitates cooperation, but also because it can be exploited by communities and individuals alike to achieve their objectives.

Processes: Social capital has been described by some authors as “…a metaphorical construction [that] does not consist of resources that are held by individuals or by groups but of processes of social interaction leading to constructive outcomes”1. In this study a total of 4257 participants’ words were coded under the theme “Processes”, representing coverage of 18% of all the words that were coded. Some excerpts from participants’ use of words that were coded under this theme can be seen in Figure 2. Central in this theme were the various forms of support provided in the program (educational, nutritional, spiritual, and psychosocial.

                                                                                                                         1  http://tulane.edu/liberal-­‐arts/sociology/upload/social-­‐capital-­‐as-­‐process.pdf  

Figure 2: Word tree for the theme “Process” generated using NVIVO 9

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Figure 3: Word tree for words coded under the theme “People” as generated by NVIVO 9�

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People: People represent a resource or a subset of the economic capital which many authors have chosen to call human capital. One view regards social capital as a set of horizontal associations between people, consisting of social networks and associated norms that have an effect on community productivity and well-being. Social networks can increase productivity by reducing the costs of doing business. Social capital facilitates coordination and cooperation. Another view sees social capital as accounting for both the positive and negative aspects by including vertical as well as horizontal associations between people, and includes behavior within and among organizations,

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such as firms2. In this study, words coded under the theme people represented 13% (3557/23762) of all coded words � from participants. As can be seen from the word tree for words coded under the theme people (See Figure 3), the theme people basically answers the question of who were the people behind the various processes, either as beneficiaries or service providers. �

Places: In this study, words coded under the theme Place represented 11% of all the coded words of participants. The trunk word for this theme was “From”, giving an idea of where the Kids in this OVC program were coming from

� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � ��

1  http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTSOCIALDEVELOPMENT/EXTTSOCIALCAPITAL/0,,contentMDK:20185164~menuPK:418217~pagePK:148956~piPK:216618~theSitePK:401015,00.html  

Figure 4: Word tree for words coded under the theme “Children” as generated by NVIVO 9

Children: In the implementation of OVC programs, the World Bank in their OVC Toolkit (A Toolkit on how to support Orphans and Other Vulnerable Children in Sub-Saharan Africa) advocates the importance of consulting directly with Orphans and Venerable children as well as other children at risk for 3 reasons: 1) to ensure that your project design is well adapted to the needs of its intended beneficiaries; 2) children have a right to be consulted about policies and interventions that will affect them; 3) it is empowering3. In this study, a number of children were also interviewed to get their views about and experiences with the OVC program. From all the participants in the study, the words coded under the theme children represented 10% of all the coded words. As can be seen in Figure 4, children were the central focus of this OVC project. Because of the vulnerable nature of this group of children, the broadened definition of children as 0-18 years comes out in the word tree.

Issues: In this study, 9% of the coded words used by participants were grouped under the theme “Issues”. As can be seen from Figure 5, the trunk of the word tree consisted of the idea of HIV, which as we know is the greatest cause of orphan-hood and vulnerability among children.

Figure  5:  Word  tree  for  words  coded  under  the  theme  “Issues”,  generated  using  NVIVO  9  

                                                                                                                         3  World  Bank:  OVC  Toolkit  for  SSA:  A  Toolkit  on  how  to  support  Orphans  and  Other  Vulnerable  Children  in  Sub-­‐Saharan  Africa.  Available  from:  http://info.worldbank.org/etools/docs/library/164047/index.htm  

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� � � � � �   � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � i �

Time: In addition to the fact that time is a resource, we know that most objectives of any program or project (including OVC programs/projects), have to be time-bound in order to quality as good objectives. In this study, one of the themes that emerged was “Time” and the words that were coded under this theme represented 8% of all the coded words of participants. Behind the words used to discuss time issues is the trunk word “When” (see Figure 6).

Project: The World Bank recommends that in setting up an OVC program, that time be taken to identify relevant stakeholders and partners such as government ministries with the mandate to handle OVC issues and other umbrella organizations such as NGOs, interagency bodies, bilateral and multilateral lenders and donors that may provide useful information on the OVC activities of civil society or plan to fund projects benefiting OVC4. In this study, the words that were coded under the theme “Project” represented

� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �3� � l l : b-­‐-­‐ t � pre p/1� � � t   rp/� -­‐ � l pp1u-­‐ � p� u-­‐1 � /� /d-­‐yB3g3k-­‐ � pe � p-­‐e p/   t � yr� l h �

7% of all coded words and consisted of words such as “Kids Care”, “Afterschool program”, “AIDS awareness program” and “St Joseph’s”. The stakeholders were mostly mentioned as funders.

Functionality or Status: This theme grouped together words that communicated their idea of achievements or the functional state of one or more elements of the project. Within the social capital argument, it carries the idea of social relationships that have a productive benefit. In terms of the relative importance in this study, only 6% of the coded words of study participants were grouped under this theme. Nevertheless, as the following excerpts from some of the beneficiaries show, the program has had some recognizable impact in the community. One participant noted as follows:

“…each and every child go through the programme become successful. We have many children who come back to thank us like they say thank you for keeping me at school, thank you for giving me life, thank you for giving me skill and many more thank you”.

Another participant noted:

“Since Kids Care took over it has assisted us a lot has changed, it has touched and changed our lives in a way that I cannot comprehend. It assisted with paying for school fees, school uniforms for all of us, providing us with food to eat at the drop in Centre, food parcels on monthly basis, homework supervision among other interventions”. And finally another participant remarked as follows:

“Kids care and support trust after school program helped me a lot in terms of getting my school work on point assisting me in life skills that were necessary for my development to make sure that i stay away from taking decisions that may harm me in the future. It also groomed me in terms of understanding what I want to do with my life and how to choose a career that can best suit me and make me happy in the near future. It is because of kids care and support trust that today i know what career I want to follow though it might be hard to finance it”.

Resources: One author has noted that “Social capital affects health risk behavior in the sense that individuals who are embedded in a network or community rich in support, social trust, information, and norms, have resources that help achieve health goals”. In this study, references that were coded under the theme “Resources” accounted  for 5% of the coded words of participants. The central idea behind resources was availability of funding for the various elements of the project (see Figure 7)

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� � � � � � F � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �

Category B: The institutional argument Five of the 14 themes that emerged from the study were grouped under category B which were chosen to discuss under the institutional argument rationale for OVC programs. These themes (Standards, Expectations, Quantity, Additional and Age) collectively gave coverage of 13% of all the coded words use by participants. In putting forth the institutional argument, the World Bank strongly believes that the delivery of quality, cost-effective and financially sustainable services to OVC is critical to the attainment of many of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). In this wise the OVC toolkit advocates “Careful and partially participatory monitoring [as] a way to reduce unintended leaks to other interest groups and ensure that the needs of the OVC are well understood and, therefore, served as intended. Participatory monitoring in OVC programs … should also serve to build and strengthen community buy-in and co-ownership for the intervention, and, thereby, support project sustainability”5. Standards provide benchmarks against which to measure the quality of programs. If the expectations of the beneficiaries of these programs are to be met, this calls for stronger commitment on the part of the institutions that are responsible for developing and implementing OVC policies and programs. Quantity talks of metrics and the need to count or quantify achievements or remaining gaps in order to attain preset objectives, and this is a major challenge. In the context of OVC, the age factor is of crucial importance for many reasons. First, all children are vulnerable by nature compared to adults; second, each a time a child is exposed to any form of shock, their vulnerability witnesses a downward spiral leading to a new level of vulnerability and new risks. Consequently, the earlier an intervention is made (i.e. higher up in the spiral), the more � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �W� � � � � � p/1� � � � t   r� � � � � � pp     l b� pt l p/ t � � � t � � � n� 1a� l pt r� � n� 1� � 1� � � /ph b�� l l : b-­‐-­‐ t � pre p/1� � � t   rp/� -­‐ � l pp1u-­‐ � p� u-­‐1 � /� /d-­‐yB3g3k-­‐ � pe � p-­‐h pt l p/ t � r� l h �

cost-effective it is likely to be; third, because the definition of a “Child” takes into account the age factor. In defining the age of children to include in an OVC program, it might become necessary to adjust for important group specificities or become sensitive to definitions used by local government and implementing partners. However, the general recommendation is to adopt the widely ratified UN Convention on the Rights of the Child that states that a "child means every human being below the age of eighteen years unless under the law applicable to the child, maturity is attained earlier". The theme of additional carried the idea that the people behind the processes in the OVC program often had to go beyond the call of duty to do other things, instead of over-specializing. Being polyvalent and willing to go the extra mile may be important within the challenging context of OVC where resources are often limited. The theme highlights an important consideration for the sustainability and institutionalization of OVC programs, namely that if these programs are to become owned by the community and beneficiaries are they are often intended to be, then there is need not only for additional funds, but also for involvement of other stakeholders and agencies.

In nutshell, it is evident from the analysis that Kids Care and Support Trust is well established and useful to the community of Bronchorspruit. The children have expressed their views with regard to thanking the project to make life meaningful to them. The goal, objectives and activities were formulated and adhered to in order to improve the lives of OVC children. Stakeholders such as Department of Social Development, Nelson Mandela children`s fund, PEPFAR through South African Bishop`s Council and local business forums are assisting the project in terms of monetary funding to ensure day-to-day functioning. Local business entrepreneurs contribute in terms of funding and employment such as brick-laying, welding plumbing, housekeeping and others.

Like any other project, Kids Care and Support Trust have achievements as well as challenges. Some OVC children have passed matric, able to enter tertiary education, some already working and some are still retained in schools. The gap is that some of those who passed matric, others are neither working nor furthering their education due to lack of funds, others have dropped at school due to environmental factors like pregnancy, drugs, alcohol abuse and others. Funding is a major challenge as it is not sustainable, and it depends on contract. For an example, the United States funds are declining, as a result many contracts are terminated.

9. Limitations of the evaluation

i. Representation: Although case study provides an in depth information, it does not provide representation as it focuses only on one or few cases. An evaluation focuses on one OVC project where ten personnel were interviewed, 6 at managerial level and 4 children. This is neither the representation of all managers nor the children.

ii. Data loss: Some data were lost during the transcription, as the interviewer is not experienced in the interview transcription. However, an effort was made to retain the ideas by using relevant expressions to minimize risks. Some data were lost again during the coding exercise as some words were meaningless.

iii. Time: The time for interviewing, transcription and report writing is limited. Three months was challenging when it comes to balancing work travel and studies. Being an amateur in transcribing, it took me a full month to transcribe the tape. One has to put a lot of effort to submit the report on time.

iv. Costs: The evaluation was not funded and the evaluator has incurred some costs travelling to the sites.

v. Distance: The project Kids Care and Support Trust is situated in a low income community of Tshwane where roads are bad and one site is about 25km – 30km apart from another. To do site visits five to six times without financial support was costly

10. Conclusion

Kids Care and Support Trust is a well-established Orphans and Vulnerable Children Centre situated in three sites in Bronchorspruit. It has been in operation for about ten years now, receiving financial assistance from funding agencies, South African department and private companies. It has vision, mission, goals and objectives that steer the activities towards the realization of achieving them.

From the evaluation results, it is evident that Kids Care and Support makes a difference in the lives of orphans and vulnerable children population. Beneficiaries (children) are appreciating the assistance they receive from the project, and wish Kids Care can continue to assist others. The project works with several stake holders to address the various challenges of the children holistically. Children are referred and assisted by a social worker to address different challenges such as psychologist, clinics for treatment, home affairs for legal documents and etc. Although the project is doing its best to assist children, it experiences several challenges including finance and drop outs from school.

11. References:

Africa Leadership Initiative, 2007.Orphans and Vulnerable Children in South Africa. Problems, Perceptions, Players… and Possibilities for Change: Kilimanjaro and Hollard Foundation Bless C. and Higson- Smith, C. (2000). Fundamentals of Social Research Methods: An African Perspective. Cape Town. Creda Communications Bickman, L. (1987) Using Program Theory in Evaluation. New Directions for Program Evaluation, no. 33. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass

Briefs17: Data Collection methods for Program Evaluation: Interviews. Available at

http:// www.cdc.gov./Healthy Youth/ evaluation/resources.htm    

http://tulane.edu/liberal-arts/sociology/upload/social-capital-as-process.pdf  

http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTSOCIALDEVELOPMENT/EXTTSOCIALCAPITAL/0,,contentMDK:20185164~menuPK:418217~pagePK:148956~piPK:216618~theSitePK:401015,00.html

de Bruin Cardoso, I. National Plan of Action for Orphans and Vulnerable Children. Pretoria

Department of Basic Education (2012) Integrated School Health Policy. Pretoria

   Department of Basic Education (2010) Action Plan to 2014: Towards the Realization of Schooling 2025. Pretoria Department of Social Development Annual Performance Plan 2013 – 2014. Pretoria Department of Social Development: National Action Plan (2012-2016) For Orphans, Other Children and Youth made Vulnerable by HIV and TB Department of Social Development (2005): Policy Framework for Orphans and Other Children made Vulnerable by HIV and AIDS. South Africa

               Elmendorf, W.F. and Luloff, A.E. (2001). Using Qualitative data Collection Methods when Planning for Community Forests. Journal of Arboriculture. Vol 27 no 3. pp 139 - 151

Gibbs, G.R. Research Methods in the Social Sciences. Available at http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0C3243FC24FC639C  

Gray, D. E. (2004). Doing Research in the Real World. London: SAGE Publications.

   International Secretariat, (1999) Amnesty International. Evaluation: A Beginners Guide: London. UK  Jabandhan, D. E. and Schutte, D.(2006) Journal of Public Administration. Vol 41 no 3.1. pp. 669 – 681 Kids Care and Support Trust, 2011. Communication Plan. Pretoria Kajornboon, A.B. (2004) Creating Useful Knowledge: A Case Study of Policy Development in E-learning at Chulalongkorn University Language Institute. Dissertation. University of Melbourne: Australia Kvale, S. (1996). Interviews. An Introductory to Qualitative Research Interviewing. .. London. SAGE Publications

Knowllton, L. and Phillips, C. 2013, The Logic Model Guidebook: “Better Strategies for Great Results” USA. SAGE Publications, Inc.

Mouton, J. (2013). Notes on Monitoring and Evaluation. Cape Town: Stellenbosch

University.

Platt, J. (1996) The History of the Interview: SAGE Research Methods

 PEPFAR, 2006: Orphans and Other Vulnerable Children Programming Guidance for United States Government In – Country Staff and Implementing partners. Republic of South Africa. Constitution of South Africa (Act 108 of 1994).

Republic of South Africa. Children`s Act (No 38 of 2005).

Republic of South Africa. Social Assistance Act (No 13 of 2004).

 Russek, B. E. and Weinberg, S.L. (1993) Mixed Methods in A Study of Implementation Of Technology-Based materials in the Elementary classroom: New York University Rossie, P. Lipsey, M. and Freeman, H. (2004). Evaluation: A Systematic Approach:

Thousand Oaks, California: Sage publications, Inc. 7th Edition.

Saving Lives, changing minds, 2011. Project/ programme monitoring and evaluation (M & E) guide. Geneva. International Federal of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies Save the Children, 2010. National Plan of Action for Orphans and Vulnerable Children Multisectoral workshop on legal and policy frameworks protecting children. Pretoria

Smit, P.J. and Cronje` de G.J. 2002. Management Principles: A Contemporary Edition For South Africa. Landsdowne. Juda & Company Limited South African National AIDS Council (2011) National Strategic Plan on HIV, STIs and TB: 2012 – 2016. Pretoria Tylor-Powell, E and Steele, S.(1996) Program Development and Evaluation, Collecting Evaluation Data: Direct Observation (August 1996) . Unicef, 2007. Progress for Children. A World Fit for Children Statistical Review United Nations, 2002. ‘A World Fit for Children’ An agenda both visionary and Concrete: Special Session on Children. United Nations, 2002. General Assembly: Resolutions adopted by General Assembly [on the report of the Ad Hoc Committee of Whole (A/S-27/19/Rev.1 and Corr.1 and 2)] Weiss, C. (1997) Evaluation: methods for studying programs and policies. Prentice Hall: New York Welman, Kruger and Mitchell. (2005) Research Methodology: Oxford University Press. (3rd Edition) World Vision, 2010. A Brief History of World Vision. Building a better world for children www.kidstrust.wozaonline.co.za www.teasury.gov.za www.unicef.org/specialsession/wffc    

       World Bank: OVC Toolkit for SSA: A Toolkit on how to support Orphans and Other Vulnerable Children in Sub – Saharan Africa http://info.worldbank.org/etools/docs/library/164047/index.htm

The Presidency, 2012. State of Nation Address. Pretoria

The World Bank. OVC Toolkit: Monitoring and Evaluation. Available from: http://info.worldbank.org/etools/docs/library/164047/howdo/monitoring.htm1  

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Kids Interview: 6/11/2013

Place: Bronchospruit

Interviewer: Omphemetse Mokgatlhe

The Project: Orphans and Vulnerable Children Project ( OVC)

Introduction:

I am Omphemetse Mokgatlhe from the Centre of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and a student of Monitoring and Evaluation at Stellenbosch University. I am here today to conduct and recorded interview as discussed in my previous visit to your center. I would request you to answer questions as free as possible as we all going to benefit from the evaluation. The objectives of the visit are as follows:

1. To assess the extent to which the OVC project is being implemented in Bronkhorspruit.

2. To identify achievements and challenges of the Kids Care and Support Trust. 3. To provide the project staff with the evaluation report for improvements.

Interviewer: When was the OVC project started/established?

Respondent: “It was started in 2003, but at that particular time it was started as a baby project for St Josephs. It was operating under St Josephs until it went independently in 2006 as a …Kwingwini Care Support Trust”. Our main OVC was established in 2003, eeh… but it really got on its feet in 2005. It was established with few volunteers and it was formalized with training and support. : Eeh, the we are operating in three areas which are Ezithobeni, Rethabile and Refilwe and we eeh. We registered this project the in other sites in 2008 and the name of eeh … our organization is Kids Care and Support Trust

Interviewer: Can you please explain what motivated you to start the OVC project?

Respondent: I think there are, there are two things here. One, The provincial Department of Social Development wanted to pilot the drop-in care model, to see whether the drop – in care model is working. It was the first of its kind in the province. Secondly, there were lots of parents that passed on in hospice, we were part of St Joseph `s hospice at that time. Children were left without parents and there was a need

to take care of them. “Ok, eeh! At St Joseph, at particular time they had a lot, they were … they were largely focusing on hospice, so they had lot of parents who were coming in and who were leaving children vulnerable at home. Eeh… we started on a small, eeh… scale just taking care of those children who were left home vulnerable by the parents who went to the hospice but… over sometime we realized that there was quite a bigger need or eeh… larger scale we could reach. So… that’s why we became independent and saying we are going to focus on all the OVC`s not just the ones that their parents are coming to the St Joseph’s hospice”.

Interviewer: Thank you, how many children do you currently have in your project?

Respondent: “At this particular moment we… we have about 650 that are active on day- to-day runnings, and the ones that are being cared daily we have about 500 in all three centers”. Interviewer: Do you mean you have 1100 children in the program? Respondent: “No, that’s...that’s… the 500 is from the 650, it is just that some of them do not attend or coming to the dropping center every day”. The number changes everyday, and fluctuates with time, like there are other months that we have fewer children and others more. In winter we have fewer children, and in summer and during the holidays we have more children over five hundred coming to the centre.

Interviewer: Thank you! Can you explain step by step procedure of how do you get the children into the project?

Respondent : In fact, there are many ways ha ha ha… firstly by referral such as by the schools, social workers, community workers, community nurses, health promoters, churches and most importantly the children themselves. Immediately the children see the situation of others that they need care, they bring the matter to our attention and we do home visit to assess the situation, and when they meet the criteria they are admitted into the project. “We have quite a number of a… steps, the first one would be referrals. When some-one refers a child to us it could be the clinic or local stakeholders eeh… could be a school or any person from the community who refers either by phone call or referral letter. What we do is to send our child care worker to do home visit. The child care-worker would do basic assessment to see whether the child qualifies to be on our program. There is a check list that they are using and the child care-worker will come with the report. Furthermore there is an auxiliary social worker who does in-depth assessment and would refer the child to us”. “To add on what Vusi had already said, we also do home-visits and assess the conditions of children at their homes. If it needs urgent actions, some of our staff members do take the child until such time the problem is solved”.

Interviewer: A follow-up question: What ages do you admit in your project?

Respondent 1: “We admit from 0 to 18 year” Basically, its 0 – 18 years, but there are children that are in grade 11 and 12 who are over age, they are currently in the programme because they are still at school. Some are not accessing our service because of different criteria of funders.

Interviewer: Can you mention the activities you provide for the children?

Respondent: Basically, its PEPFAR indicators which are provision of shelter, psychosocial support, home-work and supervision, nutritional support. The health promoter ensures that children understand hygiene generally, TB/HIV, anykind of eeh…actually everything to do with prevention activities. For education, there is suitcase library where children can access books and borrow them for reading. Children with disability attend the special school. “We provide our activities in eeh… I can say in 8 wider or broader scope such as:

1. Educational support where we assist children with home-work and provide supervision

2. Nutritional support eeh… where we look at feeding whether they eat well or eeh…need nutritional assistance

3. HIV education, we teach them about HIV prevention and so on… 4. Child protection, we look at assisting with getting identity documents as well as

teaching them about the children`s rights. 5. Shelter, we assess whether the home environment is conducive or assist where

possible. 6. Economic strengthening, which includes gardens, we teach them about drawing

the budget and how to start a business.

Interviewer: Ok… for children who are under five year’s old, how do you assist them?

Respondent: We have ECD program that I forgot to mention, thank you for reminding me. We look at motor- development of the child, we look at eeh…weight and any other developmental stages of a child like how they play with others. We involve the parents by teaching them how to take care of their children”.

Interviewer: ln terms of children support/ maintenance, how do you cope with the needs of the children?

Respondent: That is very difficult, children are expensive. We have four to five funders which make it easier to provide children with school uniform, pads for young girls who are starting to menstruate, deodorant so that they feel good. “We are supported by

eeh… South African Catholic Bishops Conference (SACBC) eeh… as one of our funders. In their line items we can assist children with toiletry, stationery for their school and other basis needs that they require. We conduct assessment first to… to check whether they truly needs help”

Interviewer: follow-up question, you mentioned that you have other funders. Who are they?

Respondent : Nelson Mandela Children Fund, Department of Social Development and Kick-Rights

Interviewer: Thank you very much. What are positive experiences did you achieve in the project?

Respondent: each and every child go through the programme become successful. We have many children who come back to thank us like they say thank you for keeping me at school, thank you for giving me life, thank you for giving me skill and many more thank you. We have one girl who wanted to commit suicide when she was told that she is HIV positive, she was supported, given required coping mechanism, today she is a strong leader runs a support group. OK, personally for myself it has to be eeh… the children themselves when the project impacted and changed their lives. One of the children in Cullinan center never knew his father until he was 18 years old. We traced the father until we found him. Based on the situation he was willing to pay the tertiary fees for the child. As we speak now, the … the child is in his third year doing social work”. The other achievement is the three children that stayed alone where by the eldest was 14 yrs, taking care of her siblings, the brother and the younger sister who was 8years old. The mother left them alone, went to look for the work in Pretoria and she never came back. We managed to look for their elder sister who was staying with the relative to take care of her siblings with the support of the project”.

Interviewer: What challenges did you experience in the project?

Respondent 1: “Funding is our major challenge. Eeh… even though it appears that we have enough funders, they are funding half of that and a quarter of that, I don`t know what to call it… They are funding in portions. As a young organization, sometimes we run out of cash-flow but… but we improvise until the money is in the bank”. Another major issue is that not all children who passed matric are entering the tertiary institutions, others drop from school due to pregnancy. Others the system in home affairs takes a long time to be assisted with birth certificates and other documents like a mother who has three children and disabled, it took us five years to sort the grant aspect right because the children did not have birth certificates. We do not a vehicle to conduct side visits, sometimes the Child Care Workers have challenges in reaching families in different areas due to a long distance. There is also lack of transparency from

management, we tried to address it several times in the staff meeting but it does not improve as a result staff feel demoralized at some time.

Interviewer: Now that PEPFAR funding is ending, what are your future plans with the project?

Respondent: “ We have some small funders such as Educational Price and Russell Stone that are coming on board. Russell Stone donated R50 000, although it is not enough, at least is something. We are also marketing ourselves to the local, provincial and national companies to assist such as ESKOM, local business people and cut down other things and live with essentials until we get more sponsorship. We are busy registering with one of the BEE companies. We need to do rigorous fundraising

Interviewer: When did you join the Kids Care after-school programme?

Respondent: In 2011 when I was 13 years of age in grade 7. In 2007, when I was 16 years old.

Interviewer: Can you explain how Kids Care afterschool program assists you?

Respondent: I attend different activities i.e.HIV and Aids awareness programs the child care workers refer us in the community Library for assistance with home works and school projects. I attended drug awareness campaign and I also attended drug awareness camp and I learned about respect and team building. I also learned about HIV precautions.

Interviewer: Is there any difference in your studies before and after you joined Kids Care afterschool program? If yes, please explain the difference?

Respondents: At the community library Theresa lot of information and I have passed two subjects Life Orientation with 100% I would like to thank our teachers for allowing us and encourage us to go to the library. I had a challenge in Social science and English ,in the last term I passed both subject with distinction .i would to thank Solly for giving me support and if it wasn`t for him I wouldn`t have passed.

Interviewer: When you complete your matric, what do you intend to do in the near future

Respondents: I would like to become a Policeman in my community because there’s a lot of because there is lot of crime in South Africa and its killing our world every single minute of the day.it will be great pleasure for me to be a great help for my country because am a person who admires working with the law. I would like to have my own business a contractor (construction) i like it with my whole heart

Interviewer: We have come to the end of our interview, thank you very much for participating. Do you have questions?

Respondent: “From my side, I am ok”

Respondent: “I would like to ask whether we are going to have your report at the end of the evaluation, just to look at ourselves and see how we can improve”?

Interviewer: Definitely! As mentioned earlier, we are going to work together until the end of November. You will receive some feedback as we go along, and you will be given the final evaluation report. Are you fine with that?

Respondents: “Yes”.

Interviewer: Thank you once more for your participation, we will keep in touch for further interview of the remaining staff. I`ll make appointment before I come, so that we can visit the other OVC sites for more information. Thank you

N/B: Please note that this is a combination of transcripts

MONDAY   v SAMP  v FRIED  CHICKEN  &  GRAVY  v FRUIT  

TUESDAY   v BREAD,BUTTER,PEANUT  BUTTER  v JUICE  

WEDNESDAY   v PAP  v DRY  BEANS  

 THURSDAY   v RICE  

v MINCE  v BEETROOT    &  PUMPKIN  v FRUIT  

 FRIDAY   v BREAD  

v JAM  AND  BUTTER  v JUICE