Our Approach

There are no "proven" approaches to deal with the orphan and vulnerable children crisis.

There are, however, many existing community-based efforts that show promising results. Such local initiatives are managed by committed men and women who have taken on the responsibility to raise children in their communities.

Bantwana works with small organizations and communities that are already serving orphans and other vulnerable children. Many of these groups have suddenly found themselves having to cope with an increasing number of children, as relatives and community members are affected by the HIV epidemic.

Bantwana identifies promising community efforts and helps build management, technical, and advocacy skills that bring to bear the resources and political will necessary to enable communities to care for children over the long-term. Bantwana works with local groups to implement a range of comprehensive care services to meet the needs of vulnerable children.

Our Focus

Drawing on decades of experience helping communities address HIV and AIDS, Bantwana:

• Builds the management and technical skills of community-based organizations to provide a comprehensive package of support.
• Links organizations to one another, and to other policy and funding networks to share best practices.
• Monitors and evaluates what works and why.
• Convenes policymakers, government officials, funders, and communities to track and share knowledge, expertise, challenges, and successes.
• Focuses on adolescents who make up more than 60% of all OVC.
• Mobilizes and leverages resources for advocacy in partnership with existing local, national, and global efforts.

How We Measure Success

Bantwana has developed a range of simple, practical tools and strategies to assess how our programs improve the capacity of organizations to provide high-quality, comprehensive OVC services—as well as the impact our initiatives have on children’s lives. In addition to tracking the number of children who receive direct services—such as educational support, counseling, access to basic healthcare, or support to launch small business activities—Bantwana’s tools help partners measure their own progress in improving effectiveness and reach, and measure program impact at the level of the child. These tools include:

• Child Profiling Tool
• NGO OVC Capacity Assessment Tool

Moreover, Bantwana shares results with all program stakeholders including communities, families, schools, public officials, policymakers, and donors. By strengthening efforts to capture effective information and ensure understanding between communities and policymakers, Bantwana creates the momentum necessary to replicate and expand successful models in different contexts.