Vision, Mission & Aims
GAPA: Grandmothers Against Poverty and Aids
The Albertina and Walter Sisulu Institute for Ageing in Africa (UCT) conducted research into the plight of grandmothers living on the Cape Flats who head households affected by HIV/AIDS. The 2001 study showed that household poverty was made worse by a family member contracting HIV and subsequently dying. As a result of this study, Grandmothers Against Poverty and AIDS (GAPA) was formed to build capacity and provide support to elderly women, often grandmothers of children whose parents died of HIV/AIDS related causes. Partnerships were created with Grandmothers Against Poverty and AIDS (GAPA), the Social Services and Poverty Alleviation Department of the Western Cape, and the National Department of Social Development through the Independent Development Trusts, Cape Town. The goal of the initiative is to build the capacity for grandmothers to cope with the effects of HIV/AIDS within their families and communities.
In October of 2001, a group of grandmothers from Khayelitsha and an occupational therapist formed a Non Profit Organisation called Grandmothers Against Poverty and AIDS (GAPA) to assist grandmothers whose families were affected by HIV/AIDS to better manage their daily lives. Previously, very little attention had been focused on building the capacity of grandmothers to become effective sole caretakers of children from families where the parents have died from HIV/AIDS. Because of the role these grandmothers were assuming, their ability to generate income, educate their grandchildren, and provide sustenance became increasingly taxed. When grandmothers from the community, participating in the study, were asked what they thought would best assist them in coping with their situations, more than half expressed interest in business skills training, help with accessing grants, education for their grandchildren and assistance obtaining food.
Originally, the project was funded through the sale of second-hand clothing and private donations. Funding is now sourced through partnerships with the Independent Development Trust (IDT) and Provincial Department of Social Services and Poverty Alleviation (PDSSPA). GAPA has now spread to the Eastern Cape with the help of the social and family networks of the participatants in the Western Cape, and funding from the state is allowing for both programmes to flourish. GAPA is also able to pick up referrals for support from social workers, and conversely provides grandmothers with information about the services they are entitled to receive from the government through workshops and meetings.
A fundamental role GAPA plays is in the formation of psychological support groups for grandmothers who rely on one another for emotional support. In addition, the formation of business co-operatives based in peoples homes throughout Khayelitsha has helped to increase the annual income of grandmothers. GAPA grandmothers are trained to create intricate bead work which is then sold in the GAPA store. Often this is a valuable source of income for those grandmothers who might have otherwise struggled to care for their grandchildren on a monthly government stipend. Links have also been opened to feeding schemes, counselling sessions; and other organisations, including Age in Action, and Khalelisha based Sibyane, which 'fits' manufacturers or retailers with those producing handicrafts. In conjunction with the emotional support offered in the peer support groups a workshop series is run every month for thirty new grandmothers covering various topics such as AIDS education, Human Rights, accessing government grants, business skills, vegetable gardening, bereavement, child care, drawing up a Will and nutrition.
Innovation
Grandmothers Against Poverty and AIDS has created a community of grandmothers based on the need to address the plight of the elderly affected by HIV.
Effectiveness
Since its inception there are now 19 home groups, comprised
of 10 members each resulting in 190 grandmothers, operating
in Cape Town and 3 co-operatives in the Eastern Cape. There were 406
workshop attendees from February 2004 to April 2005. The number of
grandmothers who received preschool bursaries rose from 53 in 2004 to
67 in March 2005.
Poverty Impact
The grandmothers, empowering themselves through education,
information, skills development and social support networks have made a
positive impact on the wellbeing of themselves, their families and
their community. 65% of participants indicated they made from R10
to R200 per month.
Sustainability
A large measure of the success of GAPA is attributed
to the leadership: a committee of grandmothers. The project
manager and Brodrick meet weekly to discuss and plan the organisations
activities. Also, there is a monthly indada to which all
grandmothers are invited, and at which they can express their
views.
Replication
The GAPA model is already successful in Umtata, in the
Eastern Cape, and interest has been shown in the Sedibeng District,
located in the Free State, about starting up GAPA type
organisations.
Partnerships
- Grandmothers Against Poverty and AIDS
- National Department of Social Development
- National Department of Arts and Culture
- Provincial Department of Social Services and Poverty Alleviation
- Independent Development Trust
