Marseille 2007
| Abstract #489 - Searching for a social vaccine through building a shared vision of hope | ||||
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Session: 6.46: Posters A (Poster) on Monday in Chaired by Authors: Presenting Author: Ms Norma Rudolph - Children's Institute, South Africa |
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| Additional Authors: | ||||
| Aim: The well-being of many children is being severely compromised by the HIV and AIDS pandemic, protective factors in homes, schools and communities can mitigate the risks and promote well-being. Schools can play an important role in maximising the protective factors and minimising the risk factors, through partnership with a range of role-players rebuilding the community social and economic safety-nets. While the search continues for a biomedical vaccine or cure for AIDS, there are important interventions, referred to as a social vaccine that can enable society to protect itself and withstand the impact of the disease. In the first wave of the pandemic, the main focus of the school system has primarily been on prevention through communicating information, with more recent attempts to change attitudes and build self esteem to reduce high risk behaviour. This is clearly insufficient. Urgent action is needed to keep children in school and make schools gateway for service delivery to ensure that childrens rights are protected and all their physical, social, emotional and spiritual needs are met. Integrated service delivery must reach the youngest children before they enter school and older children that have already dropped out. | ||||
| Method / Issue: Project The Caring Schools Action research in South Africa is building local capacity to identify children who need help, prioritise and implement interventions and then track progress of individual children and community action. An appreciative rights-based approach is used to mobilise families, community structures and government role-players for joint action, starting with a shared vision of hope. Evaluation is integrated through cycles of action and reflection, so that children and progress can be monitored in an ongoing way at the local level. | ||||
| Results / Comments: Lessons learned As the main wave of the AIDS pandemic crashes across the African continent, a primary challenge lies in ensuring that a steady stream of funding is effectively accessed by the families and communities that are carrying the burden of care and support for the growing number of vulnerable children. Systems for identifying, referring and tracking children in desperate need of help are generally poor. Understanding of child well being must be deepened to take account of the complex and dynamic relationship of protective and risk factors rather than simply targeting orphans. The increasing numbers of vulnerable children in our schools and communities necessitates deep systemic change, not only in the education system but across the entire spectrum of duty-bearers responsible for protecting child rights. This capacity building approach offers the potential for a social vaccine through building a collective vision of hope that generates energy for collaborative action. | ||||
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