Programme Description
Give a Child a Family Africa has developed a scalable and evidence-based process, whose objective is to address the underlying structural and systemic weaknesses that create barriers in the provision of nurturing care by families. Rather than seeking to advocate for new or different services, we believe that we have to first facilitate access to those that already exist, and that to some extent are already functional. Only once this is clarified, can we be in a position to assess what is still required.
South Africa – Rest of Africa
We believe that a multi-level approach is required, with advocacy at National Level for new services only being carried out when it is proven that these are indeed lacking. The bulk of our approach takes place at the level of the primary caregivers (understanding the barriers they face and creating awareness related to required services) and the Duty bearers at the district or local level who need to be aware of these challenges and need to be part of creating the solution.
GCF does so by facilitating trainings and dialogues, capacity building with stakeholders.
Problem Statement
There is currently overwhelming, compelling evidence that children’s development requires the realisation of their collective rights and that the primary responsibility to provide these rights (framed as nurturing care) falls on parents and families who, in turn, require the support of a range of service providers (both community– and government–based)
What must be noted is that while the current narrative tends to revolve around the non-existence of services in our communities, we believe (and this is supported by our own data gathered in the Ugu District of
KwaZulu Natal) that it is the inability to access these services, rather than their lack of existence, that forms the largest barrier faced by caregivers and families. This inability to access services must also take into account the fact that some of the caregivers do not yet know that the services exist or that they should access these services for the benefit of their children and thus the “Lack of Service Delivery” narrative is perpetuated.
Target Group
A point of concern has been the exclusion of moral duty bearers (faith-based and traditional leadership structures) from this discourse. Both of these structures are extremely relevant in informing change or creating awareness that is needed on the ground through their reach and the power that they have to create an impact. We believe that together with the statutory duty bearers, engaging with the moral duty bearers presents us with the best chance of making real and sustainable change in the communities that we serve and that this change is ultimately what creates the foundation for nurturing care for children.