Vision, Mission & Aims
Isibindi Umbumbulu – Creating Circles of Care
The National Association of Child Care Workers (NACCW) initiated a social service delivery model called “Isibindi –Creating Circles of Care”, in partnership with Durban Children's Home, the Provincial Department of Social Welfare and Population Development, along with the national departments for Health, Education and Home Affairs. The project responds to the needs of children and families made vulnerable by HIV/AIDS through training unemployed women in the community to assist designated households in a variety of avenues.
Partnerships between the Durban Children’s Home, the Umbumbulu District Department of Social Development and the community have resulted in the public presentation of the Isibindi Umbumbulu project. Funding was originally sourced from the First Rand Foundation, the Momentum Fund and the Integrated Provincial Support Programme. The project operates in the Imsimbi, Illovo and Bhekawandle communities of Umbumbulu in KwaZulu-Natal, where the unemployment rate is 72% and the area has an estimated HIV/AIDS rate of 41.2%.
The project has a steering committee and includes 14 representatives from the community including the local magistrate, pastor, teachers, clinic nurse, South African Police Services, and traditional leaders. Under the supervision of a social worker from the Durban’s Children’s Home and the steering committee, 17 community members received accredited training to provide child care services in the affected communities that are normally rendered in a residential children’s home.
These child and youth care workers work daily with families in their homes and have been described as the “glue that holds families together” during their time of crisis. They access state and other resources to assist with daily struggles and work to strengthen families through providing services such as meal preparation, homework supervision, grief counselling, health care, teaching life skills, growing food gardens, accessing grants and admitting children to schools.
Innovation
The innovative nature of the project centers on the transformation of unemployed woman, with little to no marketable skill sets. They are specifically trained to support an HIV positive households to creating a better living situation for children affected and infected by the disease. Instead of relying on a multitude of people to provide a support network for life in or out of the home these woman are trained to accomodate such unique situations, and are better able to provide the level of personal care needed for the families or individuals to succeed.
Effectiveness
The project provides cost-effective child and youth care services to children made vulnerable by HIV/AIDS. It provides support services to children who head households, and to grandparents who have to care for grandchildren who have been orphaned due to HIV/AIDS. During the past 9 months, 55 families representing 197 children and youth were provided with services and 31 grants and pension applications were processed. All 146 school aged children were admitted to schools with help from Isibindi, and all neccessary school uniforms and school fees have been provided for. Eighteen children have participated in income generating projects. Sixty-two young people have benefited from skills training such as welding, carpentry, catering and home-based care. Thirty-eight youth and their siblings have received life skills training. The workers can help access ARVs for families if need be.
Poverty Impact
The project has been able to provide the most imperative social assistance, such as food security, skills development and job creation to a section of the community in dire need of attaining a better standard of living.
Sustainability
Annual operational costs are R240 000, and the level of service provided makes the programmes currently offered more cost-effective than admitting these vulnerable children to state institutions.
Replication
The Isibindi model has an appropriate structure and form conducive to replication, and includes a mentoring component, which makes it easy to generate qualified volunteers anywhere. The model has been replicated in five provinces with government and donor support. There are plans in Durban to replicate the model in Ndedwe and Inanda. It has been replicated in Giyani in Limpopo, Cala in the Eastern Cape, Donkerhoek and Galeshewe in the Northern Cape and Hout Bay in the Western Cape.
Partnerships
- National Association of Child Care Workers (NACCW)
- Provincial Department of Social Welfare and Population Development
- Department of Education
- Department of Health
- Department of Home Affairs
- Durban Children’s Home
- Integrated Provincial Support Programme
- First Rand Foundation
- Momentum Fund
