Annual General Report - April 2010 to March 2011

 

COMMUNITY SERVICES DIVISION

The Aims and Objectives of the Community Service Division as determined by the needs of the community and as reflected in our annual business plan are outlined below. The 4 key objectives, each with its own programmes, objectives and targets are as follows:

OBJECTIVE 1 - Educational and Training:

To equip youth, children and adults through interactive processes with knowledge and skills on their emotional, social and psychological development to enable them to manage themselves better and to lead healthy, fulfilling and meaningful lives.

• Education for Living (EFL)
• Sexuality and Relationships
• Violence Awareness Programme (VAP) and Anti Bullying
• Child Abuse programmes including Child Protection Week and Child Trafficking

Target set – 41 700. Numbers reached 26 286 children and youth. Although we have reached more than half of our yearly target, we were unable to reach the full target this year due to certain challenges. One of these being the public servants strikes in August and September 2010 which severely interfered with our plans for the last quarter of 2010. As predicted the School recovery programmes, as a result of the strikes as well as the 2010 FIFA worldcup tornament, impacted on our accessibility to the Schools. In addition a shortage of staff and volunteers as well as a demand for our services outside the School environment impacted on the numbers reached.

For Child Protection Week we reached over 15 500 children and youth through awareness campaigns and blitzes. This achievement was made possible through ongoing collaborations and partnerships with other stakeholders in the community’s within which we operate.

The programmes facilitated continue to prove effective and relevant in the communities. The child abuse and child trafficking programme was widely promoted in Schools this year to help raise awareness of the reality and risk of child trafficking in light of the 2010 FIFA world cup. This programme was well received and is going strong even after the World cup tournament has come and gone.

Facilitators continue to feedback an encouraging level of awareness and prior knowledge amongst most learners in areas of abuse, bullying and human trafficking. There is also an increase noted in learners showing confidence in their educator’s ability to offer support during periods of crises. This is both a positive and encouraging development.

We have reached over 2600 children through the child abuse programmes facilitated at the Schools. Disclosures of abuse and neglect continue to be reported to facilitators following these programmes. The necessary services are subsequently provided to the children and families to help address issues as well as to offer support and education.

We have trained and supervised 5 Auxilliary social work students as well as 2 volunteers in the content and facilitation of the 5 key activities. They have subsequently successfully facilitated theses programmes in Westbury, Lenasia/Lenasia South, Ennerdale, Soweto and Alexandra Schools

The sexuality and relationship programmes have been extended outside the School environment to include vulnerable young adults with learning disabilities and mental health problems.

We will continue to strictly screen, recruit, train and develop volunteers as they are an extension of our organization in the community and ultimately are invaluable in reaching a greater number of children.

 

OBJECTIVE 2 - Skills Development:

To train, develop and empower youth, students and community members by providing them with counselling, life skills and community development skills to enable them to understand and facilitate supportive counselling, life skills and community services and to engender a culture of community involvement, ownerships and conscience and to be a resource to Family Life Centre.

• Youth Community Developers (YCDs)
• Caring for the Caregiver
• Community Volunteer Programme
• Essentially Women
• Student Intern Training

This programme continues to be very popular amongst learners. We have trained 8 new groups comprising of 153 new YCDs and supervised approximately 92 YCD's this year. Our aim to train and supervise at least 420 YCDs was not possibly this year due to the prolonged June/July School holidays. Our focus on further developing the YCD’s that have already been trained continues. The long term investment in the youth from G10-G12 is evident by the 92 youth still involved in the programme.

The trained groups have been involved in the following projects for the year:

Hiv/Aids awareness campaigns, planning committee for the Westbury honours evening, teen pregnancy and awareness and prevention campaigns, establishment of the Westbury motivational and empowerment centre which is run in conjunction with the University of Johannesburg social work students as well as an establishment of an information, career and reading centre. Overall the YCD programme remains an important part of our service to the community with the youth being the main beneficiaries.

We have reached over 523 women in our 'essentially women' programme through a variety of activities. We have exceeded the target set for this which was 175. These women participated in a variety of talks, workshops and groups that highlighted and acknowledged issues faced by women.

All the outcomes under this section comply with those set in our Business Plan 2010-2011.

 

OBJECTIVE 3 - Family Empowerment:

To provide support groups and educative programmes to families and children.

• Lifeskills/Growth Orientated/Educational
  • Talks/Awareness
  • Groupwork/Victim Empowerment
  • Training/Workshops
• Holiday Programmes
• Community forum

For this year we have collectively facilitated 44 awareness campaigns and talks reaching over 10 178 adults and youth through events that included 16 Days of Activism, World Aids Day, Day of the Aged, Women’s day, Youth day, Family day,transport month and health day.

We have reached almost 404 youth and adults through various group work psycho-education initiatives. There has been a significant increase in group facilitations in the different communities. The psycho-educational group that was started by an ex-worker more than 3 years ago and which was taken over by a new worker in 2010 continues to serve as an excellent support for the group. In Soweto a structured HIV/Aids group focuses on providing support and education on how to live positively with HIV/AIDS. In Alexandra several short-term structured support groups have been facilitated with the focus being on issues such as self awareness, lifestyle choices and decision making, problem solving, abuse, parenting and dealing with conflictual interpersonal relationships. Groups in Westbury, Newclaire, Coronationville and Riverlea focused on teen pregnancy and support for teen mothers, behavior modification and leadership, stress management and support with emotional and behavioural difficulties.

300 people have benefited from specific workshops and trainings that we have facilitated at their request. These included service providers training on child trafficking, basic counseling training courses for community members as well as training for educators on ways to effectively manage violence and trauma in the classroom.

Approximately 1677 children have benefited from Holiday Programmes that we have facilitated this year in partnership with other service providers.

FLC is represented in over 10 forums on several regional and Provincial forums. Our involvement remains active on these forums. The team are also actively involved in marketing the services of The Family Life centre and in forming partnerships with different organizations.

Relatively few challenges have been experienced in the implementation and facilitation of this objective.

 

OBJECTIVE 4 - Family Preservation:

To preserve and build healthy families and relationships by offering appropriate therapeutic or educative intervention to individuals, couples, families, groups and communities thereby increasing self sufficiency and independence.

• Family preservation
• Parenting Programmes
• Caring for the Caregiver

We have reached 4 713 individuals, couples and families this year. This includes 5 parenting groups comprising of 133 parents. These are structured programmes facilitated on a one-on-one basis or in small groups. Many of these parents have been referred for parenting skills either through the courts or through Child welfare. In most of these instances, reports are requested once parents have completed the programme.

Staff at FLC benefited from an service training on Ethics. Individual staff members have attended different workshops and talks facilitated by other organizations and Government Departments. One social auxiliary worker is studying for a degree in community development and 4 senior social workers are doing postgraduate studies.

The team experienced the loss of our community manager, Hasmita Hurdudh-Dass, towards the end of 2010. She has embarked on studying full time towards a masters degree in psychology. This together with the resignation of social workers has caused some challenges within the team.

Above: Hasmita Hurdudh-Dass

Some of our Team at Hasmita’s Farewell