Semi-Annual Report Fiscal Year 2010

The project is implemented by Children's Emergency Relief International (CERI) in collaboration with the Sinomlando Centre for Oral History and Memory Work in Africa. The project aims to enhance resilience and nurture identity in orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) who have lost parents or primary caregivers to AIDS. The identified strategy is to encourage CERI/Sinomlando's partners in South Africa to adopt and integrate the Memory Box approach into their existing programs with a purpose of providing holistic care and treatment services to OVC. In this reporting period, a total of two blocks of the Capacity Building training program were conducted in Limpopo and Free State, resulting in the training of 54 Memory Trainers and 817 Memory Facilitators. The Memory Box methodology is a family-centered psychosocial intervention that facilitates intergenerational dialogue among immediate and extended family members. The project has made significant progress in achieving its strategic objectives. In November-December 2009, Sinomlando Partnership Liaison and Sinomlando Project Manager conducted awareness meetings with prospective partner organizations in the Free State. In March 2010, CERI-SA National Director held awareness meetings with 12 partners in the North West province. The partner organizations learned about the Memory Box methodology and discussed ways to expand their ongoing services to OVC through the integration of the Memory Box approach. The project has also made progress in training healthcare workers and caregivers. A total of 945 healthcare workers successfully completed an in-service training program within the reporting period. Additionally, 1,716 providers/caretakers were trained in caring for orphans and vulnerable children. The project's success is evident in the number of orphans and vulnerable children served by an OVC program, which has increased significantly. The project has also made progress in building the capacity of indigenous NGOs/CBOs/FBOs and appropriate governmental entities to create, manage, evaluate, and sustain the Memory Box intervention within their organizations. The project's partnership with the South African Government has been strengthened, and the project has received accreditation of its Training Manual by the South African Qualifications Authority. The project has also participated in the XVIII International AIDS Conference in Vienna, Austria. Overall, the project has made significant progress in achieving its strategic objectives and has contributed to the improvement of the lives of orphans and vulnerable children in South Africa.