Professional Documents
Culture Documents
VSO Namibia Newsletter
VSO Namibia Newsletter
for Development
IN THIS ISSUE:
Cross-Agency
Working for Fillemon
VSO-RAISA 2006
Conference tackles
Food Security in a
world of HIV & AIDS
ince 2000, VSO Namibias HIV & AIDS Programme has supported a range of
government ministries, non-government, community and faith-based organisations
through a range of interventions and activities in order to strengthen their response to
and to reduce the impact of HIV & AIDS in the country. These interventions have been
provided through skilled VSO volunteers
either through direct service delivery (e.g.,
doctors, nurses and social workers), or
via capacity building and organisational
support (e.g, managers, accountants and
IT specialists).
A programme review conducted in
2006 resulted in identifying its focus, as;
a) improving and increasing access to
prevention and treatment services for
people infected and affected by HIV &
AIDS; and b) reducing the burden of care
on communities. The programme will
continue to support the Ministry of Health
and Social Services (MoHSS), specifically
in the ART or Anti-Retroviral Therapy Programme, as well as local and communitybased organisations in terms of capacity building, service delivery and organisational
development. Support will be provided through placement of volunteers, disbursement
of small grants, exchange visits, conferences and workshops.
There are currently 12 VSO volunteers working within the HIV & AIDS Programme.
These volunteers are placed with community-based organisations, primarily to
improve service delivery through individual capacity building and organisational
development.
F BURDEN: cont. on page 11
PROGRAMMES
SO Namibias Disability Programme has been supporting the establishment of effective Community-Based
Rehabilitation Programmes since 2003, mainly through
VSO volunteers placed in strategic MOHSS departments
and community-based organisations. In March 2006, a
volunteer serving as national CBR coordinator has started
working at the VSO Programme Office to coordinate the
efforts of several CBR coordinators in the country. There
are currently seven VSO volunteers actively working on
CBR, either as management advisor, physiotherapist,
occupational therapist or social worker. Through these
volunteers, VSO has partnerships with the MOHSS,
Onyose Trust (an Organisation working for people with
disabilities based in Windhoek) and ELCIN Rehabilitation
Centre (based in Oniipa, Oshikoto region). The Ministry
and both organisations run CBR Programmes, and the
serving VSO volunteers provide support in terms of
management, training, fundraising, networking, among
many others. VSO is also working together closely with
other related ministries in order to adhere to the holistic
approach that CBR promotes. One of the many results
of VSOs fundraising and networking activities for CBR is
the cooperation with Liliane Foundation.
n the beginning of 2006, a memorandum of understanding was signed between Liliane Foundation, a Dutch
December 2006
./
PROGRAMMES
Sustainable
Change through
Education
V
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PROGRAMMES
Products currently in
demand are colorful
baskets produced to
exact specifications.
Producers who have
worked alongside VSO craft experts are learning that
quality products pay the best prices.
initiatives are sustainable.
In the aspect of enterprise development, craft
production remains the main source of income
generation in the Caprivi, the four north central
regions, and recently the Kavango region. The
challenge for craft producers is to keep exploring
new products to ensure constant sales and
demand. At present, VSO supports a number
of organisations in enterprise and business
development through two VSO volunteers
with Integrated Rural Development and Nature
Conservation in Caprivi, doing craft, finance and
organisational development. There is also one
volunteer hosted by Rssing Foundation working
on craft development.
December 2006
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STEPS AHEAD
ational
volunteering,
more
commonly referred to as community
volunteering, is playing an increasingly
important role in Namibia today. The
NANASOs Monitoring and Evaluation
Report on the Civil Society Contribution
to Tackling HIV & AIDS in Namibia,
conducted in 2005, noted that the nature
and scale of voluntary input is inspiring.
The NANASO directory records more
than a hundred organisations working
for HIV & AIDS relying on the services
of nearly 22,000 community volunteers.
This figure does not include non-HIV &
AIDS programmes, such as those on
Disability, Education or even Secure
Livelihoods.
The Namibia NonGovernmental Organisations Forum
(NANGOF) database in-progress, for
instance, records that at least 33 civil
society groups working towards a wide
range of development issues in Namibia,
alone, deal with a slightly lower total of
about 14,000 local volunteers.
Evidently, various organisations are
making effective use of local volunteers
to implement their programmes, thus
enabling more and more Namibians
to contribute their share to community
development through volunteering.
Instead of seeing people as part of the
problem, volunteering sees them as part
of the answer. Volunteering can mobilize
citizens in pursuit of specific development
goals and can also contribute to the
strength of civil society. However, this
remarkable development is not without
its set of challenges, particularly in
terms of the kind of support that is being
provided for national volunteers.
VSO promotes volunteering to fight
global poverty and disadvantage.
Hence, VSO Worldwide has been
Overall NV Goal:
Objectives:
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STEPS AHEAD
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STEPS AHEAD
Short-term
Volunteering
at VSO
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Q&A
STEPS AHEAD
Lisa to Petrina
Flavia Negumbo of TKMOAMS (seated fifth from left) shared that she
learned a lot from the VPDM Course and that she hopes to convince
TKMOAMS to have a proper volunteer management system in place so
that they could work with their home-based care community volunteers,
more effectively.
Emily to Ndapewa
./
Fillemon
Sometimes it is the small changes that are remembered
the most. One of the important aspects of my role in
TKMOAMS has been to build relationships with other
agencies. One success of these relationships has been
help to a boy named Fillemon.
Fillemon regularly attends the TKMOAMS soup
kitchen in Oneshila, Oshakati East. His father passed
away a few years ago and both he and his mother have
been shunned by their family because of the cause
of his fathers death, but also because Fillemon has
physical disability (brittle bones that break easily). They
do not have anywhere to live and so they move around
in the area living in different corrugated iron rooms. The
mother is often sick and has an alcohol problem. There
have also been incidents of physical abuse directed at
Fillemon and often they do not have any food. If they
are given food, then this is sold so the mother could buy
alcohol this happened at Christmas time once.
Fillemon has just turned 8 years old but he was not in
school until this year. Sanet Cloete from the Ministry of
Basic Education was instrumental in finding him a place
in grade 1 at the local primary school and in ensuring
that he was exempted from paying school fees.
Hannah Kambowe, an Occupational Therapist at
Oshakati Hospital, was able to get Fillemon some
crutches (he has always been in a wheelchair) so he
could walk and start to build up strength in his legs,
which have been broken many times.
I realised that his situation was not sustainable without
my help and I was concerned for his well-being once
I left Oshakati. We had arranged counselling for his
mother but there was no improvement. I contacted the
SOS Childrens Village in Tsumeb and discussed his
case with the Director, who advised me that he would
meet their criteria but only referrals from Social Services
were accepted. I then contacted Ilona Ndjenja, a social
worker on the TKMOAMS Board. She was able to
interview both Fillemon and his mother and put together
a case to get Fillemon a child in need of care court
order which needs to accompany any referral to SOS.
During this interview Fillemons mother said that she
is not capable of looking after Fillemon anymore and
wanted someone else to take him.
A court case was scheduled and eventually, SOS
Childrens Village accepted him and collected him a
week after the court case.
I know that the Namibian Governments OVC policy is
that children should not be put into institution care but be
taken cared of by the extended family. However, there
are cases where this is not possible or appropriate. I
am confident that at SOS Childrens Village, Fillemon
will be taken cared of and given a chance to a normal
life. I met Fillemon again when he was in Windhoek.
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GE 1
10
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GE 1
nder the Ministry of Health and Social Services Highly Active Anti Retroviral
Treatment or HAART Programme, the Walvis Bay State Hospital operates a
HAART Clinic, located in the town center. Carole Alderton, a VSO volunteer working at
the Walvis Bay Multi Purpose Center, observed that while the number of referrals to the
clinic from the VCT (Voluntary Counseling and Testing) Clinic is increasing, the number
of clients receiving HAART is low and decreasing.
After conducting an assessment of the clinic and its offered services, Carole identified
the following factors, which deterred clients from going through the process of being
placed on HAART:
Up to 200 clients attend the clinic, however, the clinic facilities are very basic, with
only one room and two benches.
The clinic has no toilet or bathroom facilities.
There are no facilities for children and/or babies, e.g., changing or feeding area.
The room does not provide privacy for client consultations since there are no room
partitions.
There is a lack of effective administration system, leading to long waiting periods by
clients wanting to be examined by the doctor.
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11
OR
E COUNTRY DIRECT
MESSAGE FROM TH
VSO
ANNOUNCEMENT
Programme Name:
Getting It Right
Producers:
12
Namibia
assists
disadvantaged
people in the country to gain
opportunities and develop their capacity to
fully participate in society by exercising their
fundamental rights. VSO or Voluntary Service
Overseas promotes volunteering to fight global
poverty and disadvantage. We bring people
together to share skills, creativity and learning
to build a fairer world. VSO is an international
development charity that works through, and with,
volunteers. The organisation is presently working
in roughly 35 countries worldwide, and there are
around 1600 volunteers working overseas at any
one time.
VSO Namibia
8 Month Blanc St, Eros
P. O. Box 11339, Windhoek
Tel: 061-237513
Fax: 061- 237515
www.vso.org.uk
Editorial Adviser:
Daan Gerretsen
Issue Editor:
Abby Mercado
Writers:
Menno Bongers, Paul Collair, Daan Gerretsen,
Josia Helmut, Lute Kazembe, Abby Mercado,
Ehrens Mbamanovandu, Brigithe Oases, Niek
van der Spek
Layout & Design:
Johannes Aoxamub, The Big Squeeze
The Big Issue Namibia
Send us your volunteer stories, programme news
and upcoming events at abby.mercado@vsoint.org
December 2006