Summary of Key Findings from the 4CHILDREN Case Management Case Studies

PEPFAR’s OVC programming delivers child-focused, family-centered interventions that seek to improve well-being and prevent and mitigate the impact of HIV and AIDS on children and families. This effort involves working in partnership with children and families to identify, plan, and complete a series of actions in an effort to achieve specific goals. This process is typically referred to as case management. 4Children has prepared a series of case studies documenting the core components of the case management process within orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) programming and national child protection systems, in three different countries: The Yekokeb Berhan Project in Ethiopia, the Sustainable Comprehensive Responses for Children and their Families (SCORE) Project in Uganda, and the National Case Management System (NCMS) in Zimbabwe, developed with support of the Vana Bantwana Initiative.

These case studies, developed through an extensive process of consultation with USAID and implementing partners, review of programming reports, country-specific documentation and other literature, and in-depth field work, aim to provide examples of how case management can be used to support work with vulnerable children and families affected by or living with HIV. The experiences, approaches, and tools used by the three different programs share some commonalities as well as challenges and lessons learned. However, they also provide unique examples of how to build on or integrate case management into existing systems and structures at local and national levels, and how to integrate a case plan achievement approach into OVC programming. As the sector begins to embrace the role that a case management process has within OVC programming, these case studies provide concrete examples of how to design and implement case management, including recognition of the challenges that accompany this process.