Children club: a valuable vehicle for helping adolescence and youth to make healthy choices- The FHI 360/Pamoja Tuwalee experience PYSCHOSCIAL SUPPORT FORUM 2015; VICTORIA FALLS- ZIMBABWE Presented by Levina Kikoyo FHI 360, Tanzania Pamoja Tuwalee Pamoja Tuwalee

Presentation outline Introduction About children clubs approach Methodology and materials Sessions Achievements Recommendations Conclusion Acknowledgement

Introduction Background: Pamoja Tuwalee ( let us bring children up together) is a five year OVC program funded by PEPFAR through USAID- Tanzania and has been implemented since FHI 360/Pamoja Tuwalee program covers coastal zone( Dar es Salaam, Morogoro, Pwani regions and Zanzibar) with 25 districts Overall Goal: To improve the quality of life and well-being of OVC and their households Objectives: The program has four objectives and one of the objective is to Empower OVC, particularly females, to contribute to their own well-being by improving their resilience, as well as their livelihood and self-care skills. Children’s clubs: establishing children clubs is one o the intervention to achieve the said objective.

About children clubs approach A combination of age-appropriate and gender-sensitive life-skills education Psychosocial support activity that build on children’s/youth strengths to increase self-esteem, and help them to make health choices Reduce self-stigma and improve social skills Instill coping skills that enable children to handle everyday life stress and challenges and help them to make health decision

Methodology and materials FHI 360 developed its children clubs manual back 2009 and reached a number of children between 2009 to 2011 under TUNAJALI (We care -HBC and OVC) project In 2012, based on the lessons from TUNAJALI, we decided to revise the manual to include youth/adolescence reproductive health and HIV/AIDS prevention We worked with REPSSI on its revision and trained clubs attendants/volunteers who in turn establishes and run the clubs Provide Ongoing supportive supervision to clubs attendants

Methodology and materials cont. The guide has 14 sessions The guide has also step by step guide on how to establish and run each session including meeting with children themselves, their caretakers and getting their re-written consent. It has annexes including:  consent form,  games  photos

Methodology and materials cont.

Sessions in the children club guideline Relationship building Our life history My everyday life My life, my friend and my school- what I like most Love, Happiness and my body safety List of life challenges Trial and error, moving forward

Sessions in the children club guideline cont. My future plan- setting the goal My participation in my community Challenges in this era of HIV/AIDS (10 sub sessions) - Knowledge about HIV/AIDS, Prevention and Responses ; SRH etc My capacity and ability- My feelings My dreams Defining future group plan and graduation

Achievements

Achievements cont. Through program observation during supportive supervision and a mini assessment conducted in 2014 that involved about 12% of the children clubs participants, children highlighted advantages of the clubs as; Gaining self-confidence- ‘now I can ask questions which was difficult for me to ask such as how do I deal with the a night dream’, 16 yrs boy- Ilala DSM Good school attendance Having more friends - ‘I no longer feel being alone despite of being sick’ a 14 yrs boy in Kinondoni

Achievements cont Being responsible to their health and their body- ‘I’m grateful for the children club, I was fearing on how I will deal with period days when time will come, but through the club, we speak about it openly, 13 yrs girl- Kinondoni- DSM Gaining new knowledge on HIV/AIDS – I knew about HIV, but through clubs I have leant the important of being supportive to my classmate who is HIV+ Prevent VAC and fight negative gender norms Setting their future plans

Recommendation Children should not be treated as recipients only, they should be given the opportunity to participate on issues concerning them.

Conclusion FHI360 find children clubs as the best intervention that allow children to learn, gain skills and cope with the stress

Acknowledgement PEPFAR through USAID Tanzania REPSSI HUMULIZA Project (and founder Dr Kurt Madorien) Masiye Camp HIV/AIDS Alliance

Thank you for listening