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5. Creating an enabling environment for scale-up of work for orphans and vulnerable children
   Last updated: 29.06.02
5.1 Enabling environment
In order for community-based OVC responses to flourish, there must be an 'enabling environment'. At the national level, external factors such as the lack of widespread civil unrest and the existence of trust within and between communities and individuals must exist. An enabling environment also contains ingredients such as:

  • Policies and laws (such as those on inheritance and on community care) that are supportive of widows and orphans.


  • Steady, secure and increasing resources that are available for community OVC initiatives and relevant CBO/NGO support.


  • Public figures such as politicians and church leaders who will talk openly about HIV/AIDS and tackle stigma experienced by children and families affected by AIDS.


  • A willingness to listen to relevant stakeholders, especially community groups and their advocates, in debates and decisions about scale-up of community OVC initiatives.


The activities of international organisations, as well as regional and national stakeholders, are important in influencing the overall environment in which OVC work takes place. It is important to recognise the links between international and national advocacy and the daily activities of communities, no matter how disparate they may appear. An enabling environment makes an improvement and expansion of OVC work more possible and easier to achieve. By reaching, drawing on and informing stakeholders in both the 'North' and the 'South', politicians, decision-makers, donors and practitioners are encouraged and empowered to demonstrate:

  • Understanding - through information, exchange of ideas and policy analysis.


  • Goodwill and motivation to change the situation - through their actions and advocacy work.


  • Support and commitment - including resource mobilisation.


How can this environment be shaped and improved, to become more nurturing for the scale-up of community OVC responses?

5.2 Case studies: policy and advocacy around OVC issues
International HIV/AIDS Alliance - developing policy/ advocacy work on OVC issues

The International HIV/AIDS Alliance was set up in 1993 by a consortium of international donors to support community action on AIDS in developing countries. It was established in response to the need for a specialist, professional intermediary organisation to work in effective partnership with developing country NGOs/CBOs as well as with national governments, private and public donors and the UN system.

Creating an enabling environment depends on good relationships and a flow of ideas and information between policymakers and practitioners. The arrows in the diagram to the right represent this flow of information and ideas at local level and among policymakers, where the Alliance acts as an 'active filter' to enable exchange between local level programmes and policymakers.

[This diagram was originally developed by Healthlink Worldwide]

Local organisations have detailed knowledge and experience of their own situation, whereas policymakers need to consider the 'bigger picture'. The Alliance is in a position to create dialogue between local organisations and policymakers. The Alliance's approach is based on evidence that HIV/AIDS services and activities are particularly effective when carried out by local organisations that are guided and supported by local people. At the same time, these organisations are linked to a wider body of information, expert technical support and good practice on HIV/AIDS at the national, regional and global level.

The United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on HIV/AIDS provides an example of how the Alliance has worked on advocacy, including children's issues. The Alliance attended the Special Session and associated preparatory meetings, participated and gave presentations at an informal roundtable and satellite session, and contributed to the process of drafting the civil society response to the UNGASS declaration. In addition, the Alliance prepared a set of seven policy statements for distribution at UNGASS and other conferences, including a statement about children affected by HIV/AIDS. These statements shared the Alliance's experience from partner organisations, stated what the Alliance believes the United Nations should do, and explained the Alliance's contribution.

The Alliance believes that influencing policies at a national and international level can increase resources and help to ensure that programming is effective and sustained. Such advocacy work has to be based in experience at field level. The Alliance is strengthening its role in policy and advocacy by increasing its capacity to draw on field experience and build on this to develop ways of reaching policymakers with appropriate and compelling information. Success depends on the authenticity of the information gathered, the reputation and technical competence of the organisations contributing to the information, and the involvement of stakeholders in the process of drawing out key points. While advocacy can potentially have a strong impact on the ability of community-based organisations to carry out their programmes efficiently and effectively, it is hard always to assess and track its impact.

Save the Children USA - policy/advocacy work in Malawi

Save the Children Federation-USA (SC-US) is part of the International Save the Children Alliance, 'working to create a better world for children'. Policy is a key part of the organisation's work and is based on a concept known as 'experience-based advocacy'. This is defined in the following way:

"Save the Children Federation-USA and the communities with which it works organises and presents evidence from its community-based work to governments and donors with the purpose of influencing policies and practices to impact more positively on the lives of increased numbers of children."

Gail Snetto, Regional Health Advisor, Save the Children-USA, South Africa

Getting started in policy work

In 1991, SC-US and other NGOs in Malawi were influential in supporting the Government of Malawi to establish the National Orphan Care Task Force. The Task Force is made up of national and district representatives from Government, NGOs and religious organisations and is responsible for planning, monitoring and revising orphan programmes.

A year later, SC-US helped this Task Force to develop national orphan care guidelines. The guidelines served as a blueprint to encourage and focus sub-national and community efforts on OVC in Malawi, and have guided local and district efforts to support orphans.

The Task Force established a sub-committee that reviewed existing laws and legal procedures to provide greater protection to vulnerable children. Recommendations for modifying laws to protect orphans were submitted to the Ministry of Justice, including the Wills and Inheritance Act, Adoption Act, Child and Young Persons Act and Foster Care Act. A shortage of lawyers in the Ministry of Justice delayed this process.

Malawi's National Orphan Care Guidelines

1. Community-based approaches to orphan care are primary. The government will co-ordinate service providers to support and enable communities.

2. Formal foster care will be expanded as the second source of care.

3. Institutional care is the last resort, although temporary care may be needed for children awaiting placement.

4. Hospitals should record next of kin so relatives can be traced if children are abandoned.

5. Birth and death registration should be revitalised to monitor orphans.

6. Government will protect the property rights of orphans, and these should be widely publicised.

7. Self-help groups should be developed to assist families with counselling and other needs. NGOs are encouraged to set up systems of community-based care in consultation with the government.

8. The needs of all orphans should be included, regardless of cause of death, religion or gender.

9. The National Task Force will continuously plan, monitor and revise programmes and policies.

10. Government will solicit donor support for resources for capacity building.

11. The Ministry of Youth, Women and Community Services is the lead government body on these issues.

Developing advocacy work on OVC

SC-US advocacy work in Malawi is based on the success of their COPE (Community-based Options for Protection and Empowerment) programme. COPE demonstrates a systematic approach to mobilising community-based responses to the needs of orphans and other people made vulnerable by the impacts of HIV/AIDS. SC-US and the COPE team used several stages in developing their advocacy work:

(1) Identified the advocacy issues: the COPE team examined the overall programmatic objectives and identified problems that could be overcome by changing government or other policies in Malawi.

(2) Selected advocacy issues: the COPE team reviewed all potential issues and analysed them using the following criteria:

  • Relative contribution of the policy to the problem.


  • Potential impact on a large number of people.


  • Likelihood of success.


  • Potential for working in coalitions/partnerships.


  • Potential risk.


  • Potential for SC-US to advocate effectively.


(3) Set advocacy goals: once the issues to be addressed were identified, SC-US developed and articulated advocacy goals concerning OVC work in Malawi. For each issue, an advocacy goal statement was developed. It outlined what needed to be changed, who would make the change, by how much and by when that change should be made.

(4) Identified relevant government officials and donors to influence: having identified the relevant policymakers, SC-US advocated for policies that would enable the success of the programmatic objectives of the OVC programme.


What do you need for good experience-based advocacy?

  • Accurate data collection - both qualitative and quantitative data.


  • Good documentation of the effects of policies on programme implementation.


  • An understanding of the political and policy context.


  • Skilled staff, preferably with connections to decision-makers.


  • A well thought out advocacy strategy with clearly stated goals and objectives.


  • Partners, constituencies and supporters.


  • Practical solutions and a willingness to be flexible about the strategies used.


5.3 Creating a more enabling environment
As at other levels, success in creating an enabling environment requires that different stakeholders act in appropriate and mutually supportive ways. Participants identified key issues or principles (see also the Table, below)):

  • Africa is experiencing an unprecedented OVC crisis and this crisis will continue for many decades. Increased policy/advocacy efforts must be carefully targeted on the individuals, governments, institutions and donors with greatest potential to have an impact. Policy/advocacy efforts must be designed with sustainability in mind - a truly enabling environment to support a response of sufficient scale will not be created overnight.


  • All stakeholders successfully engaged in OVC work should document and publicise their achievements and views to inform and encourage others to act. INGOs have a key role in facilitating regional and international lesson sharing.


  • INGOs, donors and governments need to both act and react to create an enabling environment. They need to scale up their policy/advocacy work to influence others. They are also targeted by advocacy efforts and need to be receptive to new ideas and to external advice and support on policy development.


  • 'Southern' community perspectives should inform policy and advocacy work.


  • INGOs and multilateral institutions in particular have a key role in facilitating both South-South and South-North information exchange and collaborations.


  • Community groups often feel that advocacy work is not their priority. However, the concept of an 'enabling environment' applies locally, as well as nationally, regionally and internationally. At the local level, much can be achieved by community groups targeting and influencing local leaders - traditional, political or public sector employees. For those community OVC groups that wish to undertake advocacy, local CBO/NGO support organisations can provide training and information.


  • Donors need to mobilise more funds for OVC work and associated CBO/NGO support, and move to longer-term funding cycles that provide a greater degree of security for recipients scaling up their operations. Donors also have a key role in influencing government policy and resource allocation - in appropriate ways and for legitimate reasons. Donors should not seek to use aid politically unless they have compelling programmatic or epidemiological reasons for doing so.


"Communities have a profound understanding and memory of what is going on. NGOs, donors and international organisations need to be very aware of what they do and do not know."

Dr. Mike Meegan, Director Epidemiology and Medical Ethnography, ICROSS, Kenya

In analysing ways to create an enabling environment for scale-up, participants at the workshop analysed the responsibilities of the five groups. A summary of their analysis can be found in the table overleaf.

Table: Expanding support to create an enabling environment
Community groups and NGOs should...

  • Publicise their achievements to encourage other communities.


  • Use traditional leadership structures and other opportunities to influence government on OVC issues.


  • Avoid perpetuation of harmful cultural practices/ beliefs that stigmatise or have a negative impact on OVC.


  • Address stigma and discrimination towards HIV in their work.


  • Promote the involvement and participation of children and young people.


  • Be aware of the influence of gender roles, and be prepared to challenge them where appropriate.


CBO/NGO support organisations should...

  • Act as a channel of communication between communities, governments and donors.


  • Actively participate in development of OVC policy at the national level, based on field experience.


  • Build their own advocacy capacity and train community groups on advocacy.


  • Prioritise the issues for advocacy.


  • Collaborate and learn from/ share with others, rather than entering into competition.


  • Facilitate the formation of networks between community programmes.


Government should...

  • Initiate, develop, implement and review supportive policies for OVC through consultation with all relevant stakeholders.


  • Develop a national strategic plan, which integrates OVC work with other strategies.


  • Promote the expansion of community OVC initiatives through active political support.


  • Establish channels for sharing views on OVC issues with stakeholders at all levels.


  • Commit local resources to support and expand community OVC initiatives and lobby donors to do the same.


  • Pay attention to local context when importing ideas.


International NGOs should...

  • Identify, document and share good practice information on community OVC initiatives and CBO/ NGO support.


  • Accurately articulate the views and experiences of communities in policy/ advocacy work with "northern" governments and donors.


  • Facilitate South- South and South- North collaboration.


  • Catalyse and support national policy formulation on OVC issues.


  • Mobilise financial resources for national and local OVC efforts.


  • Be sensitive to the local political, cultural and social environment.


Donors should...

  • Create a relationship with NGO support providers and governments.


  • Provide funding for expanded and improved OVC work, including organisational development, technical support and policy/ advocacy activities.


  • Work with local partners in national/ regional policy formation.


  • Support identification and sharing of good practice information.


  • Engage with government in dialogue and influence policy.


  • Develop projects and strategies based on evidence and experience.


  • Avoid imposing own organisational policies on intermediary organisations.


  • Limit the use of aid for political expediency.


Source: Expanding Community-Based Support for Orphans and Vulnerable Children
This is an extract from Expanding Community-Based Support for Orphans and Vulnerable Children , published by the International HIV/AIDS
Alliance with the Family AIDS Caring Trust, Zimbabwe, in 2002.

To view the whole report follow this link.

To download, complete with graphics, in pdf format (which requires Adobe Acrobat software to read it) follow this link (file size: 523 Kbytes).