Project HOPE
VILLAGE HEALTH BANK
Learn about the wonderful people you'll help!
Welcome to Promote Africa

The Village Health Bank (VHB) is Project HOPE's expansion into helping families supporting and caring for orphans and vulnerable children (OVC). This is done by providing small-scale loans, to start or expand their income generation activities, along with valuable health education. The project has expanded to reach elderly caregivers, orphan headed households, as well as young girls/women--coupled with health counseling and support, to alter risk-taking behavior of vulnerable girls and afford them economic opportunities that would ultimately reduce the burden of new HIV infections.

Key Strategies include:
1. Utilizing a micro-credit approach to alleviate the economic burdens and expand financial resources for OVC, caregivers, and vulnerable girls.

2. Providing targeted education in prevention, bereavement, life skills, home-based care, and utilization of available community social services, to address the unique needs of orphans and other vulnerable children.

3. Linking the array and strengthening the quality of services for OVC provided by local community and faith-based organizations

Economic Empowerment
Women in the program are expressing that since they have taken the loans they are able to buy adequate amounts of food for their children and siblings, which was not previously the case. Caregivers have increased their ability to purchase enough clothing to meet or exceed the demands of the household—from 11% at baseline to 53% a year later! This has been accompanied by an 87% improvement in average income amount from N$145 per month to N$271 per month.

Mitigating HIV/AIDS and its Impacts
In the Kavango Region, Project HOPE had the privilege of organizing a meeting for the US Ambassador with the young women. During this meeting, one of the girls emphasized that because of the information she was receiving in the health sessions, she was able to counsel one of her peers who had been a victim of domestic violence. This woman was unable to pay her loan repayment on time and in full because most of the profit generated was given to the boyfriend. This confidence and ambition to speak about sensitive issues such as violence in the home, shows that the information the women are getting is having an impact on their lives and their peers.

In the Caprivi Region, one young woman in the program reported not having to "hike" with truckers to sell her goods in the town. This has relieved much stress from her, as the truckers would always tell her she must exchange something for the lift into town. Due to the loans, she now has enough excess money to pay for a taxi ride into town and can bypass the "hike." The program has decreased her vulnerability to abusive men and reduced her risks of being forced into transactional sex. She reports feeling confident in herself again and less worried about the risks she'd have to take just to make a living.

Helping Orphaned and Vulnerable Children (OVC)
One of our VHB members has offered her story for us to report. Meme Liina Mateus is 54 years old and lives in Onambango village, Okaku Constituency in Oshana Region. Meme is HIV positive, along with 5 other members of her household. She cares for 12 OVC in total: 2 are double orphans and 10 are vulnerable children.

Meme Liina reports having learned a lot of valuable information from Project HOPE’s Parenting Training, particularly on how to take care of OVC. Before she completed the curriculum, Meme Liina was not aware of the type of needs children have; now, she can list them all: physical, psychological, spiritual, intellectual, and social needs. She also reports a new practice of sharing her life journey with each of her children and taking time to listen to them. Meme Liina has also learned the importance of the role hygiene plays in keeping the children and her family healthy and the environment clean.

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