Community Camps
BACKGROUND
One of the lessons learnt from the camp program is that community camps are more sustainable in the long run. A community camp is different form the conventional camp in the sense that it takes place within the child’s community as opposed to a distant venue like Masiye Camp. The advantages of this type of camp are many. More children can be reached as there is no hassle or cost of transporting children. A community camp is also easy to co-ordinate in terms of logistics. The crucial aspect in these camps is community involvement. Community cadres are involved in the running of the camp which naturally means they will begin to appreciate the need for psychosocial support to orphans and other vulnerable children. In the process, they begin to have a sense of program ownership and will hopefully continue with the camps even in the absence of a donor. Some of the resources can be sourced locally like food. It also becomes easy to follow up on arising issues or cases that arise from these camps. In the absence of specialised equipment for psychosocial support, such as the type found at Masiye Camp, other games and activities can be done using locally available resources, with the same impact. As a whole, community camps are less expensive and reach out to more children. In short, community camps are replication of the Masiye Camp concept at community level.
OBJECTIVES:
- Restoring and strengthening of self-esteem
- Allowing and supporting grief processes to overcome trauma
- Development of goal setting, decision making and negotiation skills
- Empowerment and a healthy sense of responsibility for one’s life
- (Re-) instilling values and hope for a future
In addition to the above, one of the objectives is to build the capacity of communities to offer psychosocial support to orphans and other vulnerable children. This would increase safety nets for these children. The camp program itself is similar to the conventional camp program.
LESSONS LEARNT:
- Because of the magnitude of the OVC problem, NGO’s do not have the capacity to deal with the problem entirely by themselves. The way to go would community empowerment. The capacity of communities to offer psychosocial support to orphans and vulnerable children using their own sustainable resources must be enhanced.
- When replicating the PSS concept, great care must be taken to ensure that communities are allowed to identify their own needs and solutions.
- Effective collaboration between stakeholders is crucial for community programs to succeed. The role of each stakeholder needs to be clearly spelt out. Therefore, massive sensitisation needs to be done prior to any such program. The support of community leaders, village heads, councillors, rural district council officials and chiefs needs to be enlisted.