AID grant agreement no. 656-0217-G-SS-3016-00 to Save the Children Federation (SCF) in partial support of a sub-regional children and war [C&W] program in Mozambique, Malawi, and Zimbabwe under the private voluntary organization (PVO) support project

C&W will expand its Documentation, Tracing, and Reunification (DTR) operations to help to reunify approximately 25,000 unaccompanied children (including an estimated 5,000 former child-soldiers) with a family member. DTR work includes follow-up assistance (such as counseling and job and life skill training) and foster placement. To this end, C&W will strengthen and expand both formal and voluntary DTR networks through community meetings, training sessions, and modest material support, and it will play a major role in regional DTR training workshops, which are coordinated by Social Action and include representatives from the government and national and international NGOs. Community networks will handle the majority of reunification cases. Due to the anticipated large numbers of refugees and displaced persons who will be returning to Mozambique, the previous procedure of completely documenting and photographing each child is no longer feasible, so the traditional DTR method of registration in books will be used. The number of volunteers in DTR networks is expected to increase to 40,000 people in the 7 provinces where the program is operational. Local leaders, including traditional leaders and healers, will be used by C&W whenever possible. C&W will open a new office in Tete, and will support child- and adolescent-focused intervention strategies in the province. DTR work in refugee camps in Zimbabwe and Malawi and in integrated communities along the borders will be completed within the first 2 months of the grant. In all three countries, C&W will act as the children"s ombudsman and advocate at district, provincial, and national levels, and will help governments and NGOs to assess and articulate the field-level concerns of displaced and war-affected children in a community context. In Mozambique, C&W will ask the government"s permission to register unaccompanied children who are without birth certificates or parents or guardians (an estimated 35%-40% of the children in RENAMO areas). In Zimbabwe and Malawi, C&W will support development of national policies for the placement and follow-up of children with substitute families, for Mozambican street children, and for Mozambican children institutionalized in these two countries. Psychosocial support initiatives in Mozambique will include: expansion of the pilot project in Gaza providing life and job skills for older adolescents and young adults; expanded follow-up assistance for demobilized child soldiers; an early childhood community education program; and community-based interventions for severely traumatized children. In Malawi, C&W will maintain the Consolacao program for 200 severely traumatized children and maintain and increase block program participation from 3,750 to 4,000 children until large-scale repatriation begins. C&W will support the development of a Mozambican NGO which will take responsibility for DTR by the end of the grant, and will also support those community volunteer associations that wish to become formal organizations. Finally, training opportunities under the grant will include internships, regional workshops, and international conferences.