The Isibindi Programme is a nationally accredited community-based model of care for orphans and vulnerable children that annually serves about 900 children and their caregivers.
Protecting children, preserving families, uplifting our community
Isibindi, Zulu for ‘Courage”, works to meet children’s basic needs, protect them from abuse and exploitation, promote their rights, and support and empower their families in order to prevent family breakdown and the children’s placement in institutions.
There is a particular focus on education, healthcare, HIV/AIDS awareness, and on support for youth-headed households.
The model was developed by the National Association of Childcare Workers (NACCW), which enlists partners to implement the programme within communities across the country. In 2013, the Department of Social Development adopted Isibindi as its partner in the provision of services for more than a million orphans and vulnerable children throughout South Africa. James House is an implementing partner for Isibindi in the community of Hout Bay.
Isibindi Services
- Services are tailored to meet the needs of each individual family, but typically include the following:
- Facilitating voluntary HIV testing and counseling (VCT) and access to anti- retroviral treatment, and providing treatment adherence support.
- Helping families to access government grants. Providing food parcels.
- Offering grief counseling.
- Ensuring that children attend school (and receive the material and educational support to continue attending and succeeding in the classroom).
- Offering life skills training to prepare families for independence, covering areas such as health, hygiene, children’s rights, budgeting and nutrition.
Isibindi Projects
- The Safe Park – an after-school care programme open to all children from the community.
- The Gogo Programme – supporting grandmothers caring for orphans. Liyema Ikhaya , which means “The Foundation of Our Home”- an adolescent development programme for youth-headed households and other vulnerable youth.
- All these activities are facilitated by the most important element of all – the relationship between the Child Care Worker and the family, which begins with a family conference and is sutained and developed through regular, on-going home visits. Once we have provided the family with all the necessary services, and are satisfied that they are able to function independently, we move them to an after-care phase, offering them continued support and monitoring their wellbeing.