Community Resilience Strategies

Evidence suggests that caring for orphans and vulnerable children affected by HIV and AIDS remains one of the greatest challenges facing South Africa. The majority of these orphans live in rural and poor urban households. Caring for orphans and vulnerable children places severe strain on support systems, such as the extended family; this spills over into the community. Providing care and support also places an extra burden on the already overstretched welfare sector and drains state resources. The primarily objective of this study was to explore community resilience strategies on challenges faced by orphans and vulnerable children affected by HIV and AIDS in Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality, Gauteng. A combination of data collection methods was employed in order to explore different perspectives of community resilience strategies on challenges faced by orphans and vulnerable children affected by HIV and AIDS in Benoni. The success of this initiative confirms the importance of community driven interventions using the resilience framework to supports orphans and vulnerable, rather than dependency on the government imposed programmes- top down approach.

Autorentext

The author has 15 years experience in the social development sector focusing on human rights, HIV/AIDS and community development. He has supported different donor funded programmes. He has also been part of the civil society movement that lobbied the South African government to introduce antiretroviral treatment in public health care facilities.