Community and faith-based groups lend a hand

Several households falling into poverty as a result of HIV/AIDS desperately need support systems. African communities have modified existing safety net mechanisms and pioneered new responses such as home-based care programmes, support groups and orphans and vulnerable children initiatives. But how long can self-resourced initiatives continue to function?

Safety nets protect people from the worst effects of poverty. They prevent poor households from making hasty decisions to sell productive assets and increase their chances of escaping destitution. Without state-run programmes, the extended family and local community are the best source of help for people facing unexpected income loss. Community safety nets:

• help households in greatest need
• respond quickly to crises
• are cost efficient, based on local needs and available resources
• involve the specialised knowledge of community members.

Although community safety nets are crucial for tackling poverty they are poorly understood. Though often seen as straightforward mechanisms with a clear definition, in reality they are diverse - ranging from savings associations, burial societies, cooperatives, philanthropic groups or individuals. Safety nets are constantly changing, accommodating changes within society.

Faith-based groups are an important component of safety nets and are sometimes the only source of support for extremely poor people:

• A UNICEF survey of religious congregations in ten different areas of Africa found that 97 percent are working with orphans and vulnerable children.
• Most churches in Namibia have an HIV/AIDS programme, often involving economic support, though few receive external assistance.
• Many responses go undocumented - a believer sharing her food with a neighbour dying in a mud hut, for example - perhaps unsurprising as they involve poor people serving the more needy ones.
• Some programmes involve volunteers from faith based groups caring for several people in ways that are uniquely in tune with people's needs, often in situations of extreme poverty.

Community groups provide vital economic support and carry a huge burden of care yet remain largely invisible to governments, non-government organisations and international bodies. They receive a very small portion of the huge amounts of aid provided annually for HIV/AIDS initiatives.

The economic burden of the HIV/AIDS epidemic is shifting with communities taking on increasing responsibilities. However, the much glorified 'resilience of the poor' has its limits. We cannot assume that poor people can continually adapt to changing conditions and still survive. Programmes based on the idea that poor people can support needier people are an unsustainable and unacceptable form of social welfare.

Strategic responses to strengthen community safety nets to prevent them from collapsing under the strain of people facing destitution are essential:

• Studies need to evaluate safety nets, understand the role of community groups and assess the value of transfers from community members to destitute households.
• Toolkits should be developed to assist agencies such as health sectors, for example, to map community safety nets.
• Model programmes that build skills and provide financial support to groups contributing to safety nets should be pioneered.
• Formal safety net programmes should build on existing community safety net mechanisms.

Geoff Foster
Consultant in Paediatrics and Child Health, Box 30, Mutare, Zimbabwe
T +263 20 61650
F +263 20 65281 (attn G Foster)
gfoster@mweb.co.zw

See also

Under the Radar - Community Safety Nets for Children Affected by HIV/AIDS in Poor Households in Sub-Saharan Africa, Report for UNRISD, by Geoff Foster, Jan 2005 (PDF)
www.sarpn.org.za/documents/d0001830/
Unrisd_children-HIV_Jan2005.pdf

Bottlenecks and Drip-feeds: Channelling Resources to Communities Responding to Orphans and Vulnerable Children in Southern Africa, Report for Save the Children UK, by Geoff Foster, 2005 (PDF)
www.savethechildren.org.uk/scuk_cache/
scuk/cache/cmsattach/3166_Bottlenecks.pdf

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