young carers supportIn this programme we aim to explore the needs and circumstances of children who take care of their ailing or ageing guardians and taget those needs.
| Duration: March 2007 - 2011 Donor: A private donor Budget: £10,000 Beneficiaries: 150 young carers |
We do this by involving the children in the programme planning and implementation. The pilot phase of this programme involved 48 young carers from two communities. We encouraged the children to set up a youth club in each community, providing the children with sports equipment. We had workshops with the childern, facilitating their thought processes so that they could critically explore and evaluate their circumstances. To facilitate this process we provided the children with cameras, paper and colour pens to enable the children explore and share what they find important and relevant.
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Some of the observations made by the children we have included in a little video below. The information generated through these exercises provided the children with ideas of what activities would be appropriate to circumvent some of their difficulties. Our belief is that by involving the children in poverty alleviating activities, it will strengthen their psychosocial well-being. The children from Lela community decided on buying sacks of maize for selling at the local market place. The children were trained on project management skills, preparing them for their business proposal, and set up a project management committee. The children negotiated access to a storage facility in the market centre and had their guardians selling the maize whilst they attended school. In Bar Puoyo community, the children wrote three proposals based on their observations through photography, all of which were accepted and funded. The activities this group of children decided to engage in included poultry keeping and vegetable farming. The children received training on farming and poultry keeping.
One of the issues we faced in this pilot project was retention. We learned just how busy these children are, and gathering 24 busy children in one location is difficult. In our second phase of this programme, we are involving a smaller number of children. Through two stages we are setting up an additional 20 groups with 5 children in each, reaching a total of 150 young carers. These children will be geographically close and already have a relationship with the other children in the group. We believe that tageting this group of children in smaller groups will allow us to overcome some of the challenges we faced in the first phase of the programme. The longitudinal nature of this proramme ensures we build rapport with the children we serve.
One of the issues we faced in this pilot project was retention. We learned just how busy these children are, and gathering 24 busy children in one location is difficult. In our second phase of this programme, we are involving a smaller number of children. Through two stages we are setting up an additional 20 groups with 5 children in each, reaching a total of 150 young carers. These children will be geographically close and already have a relationship with the other children in the group. We believe that tageting this group of children in smaller groups will allow us to overcome some of the challenges we faced in the first phase of the programme. The longitudinal nature of this proramme ensures we build rapport with the children we serve.
