HACT provides targeted support to vulnerable and at-risk groups such as orphaned and vulnerable children as well as gogos (grandmothers) caring for such children. Through our practical HIV support programmes we are able to build the capacity and resilience of local families and communities in need and reduce their vulnerability to HIV/AIDS.

HACT provides targeted care and support to orphaned and vulnerable children and young people, those whose parents are ill, who have lost their parents to HIV/AIDS, who are HIV positive or are at high risk of becoming infected.

By providing a sustainable and integrated system of care as well as access and linkages to social services, our programme builds the resilience of vulnerable children and young people and improves their ability to cope with the challenges they face on a daily basis so they can thrive.

HACT’s Family Strengthening project currently provides targeted support to grandmothers who are caring for their orphaned and vulnerable grandchildren. Through a series of structured group dialogue sessions, HACT’s trained facilitators are able to address challenges within the home and reinforce the intergenerational family bonds which are essential components to the overall health and wellbeing of both the grandmothers and their grandchildren.

Our Parenting Skills and Children’s Rights training courses are designed to help bridge the intergenerational gap that often exists between grandmothers and or grandfathers who are caring for their orphaned grandchildren. These practical training courses help to improve the grannies’ and grandfathers’ communication skills whilst equipping them with the knowledge and skills they need to provide a safe, loving and nurturing environment in which they can thrive.

Crucially, the training courses also cover personal health, hygiene, sex, sexuality and HIV/AIDS, enabling the grannies and grandfathers to openly discuss these essential topics with their grandchildren and provide accurate, life-saving information to promote and safeguard their health.

Many children and young people living with HIV do not have access to age-appropriate educational and psychosocial support and have no way of connecting with other HIV positive children or youth in their local communities with whom they could share their collective challenges and receive emotional comfort and moral encouragement.

HACT’s Adherence Support Clubs provide these children and young people with access to age-appropriate care and guidance in a safe, supportive environment, acting as a refuge where children can gain a better understanding of their disease and the importance of adhering to their treatment whilst receiving the love and acceptance they often so desperately seek.

HACT’s Gogo (Granny) Support Groups programme provides psychosocial support as well as practical and sustainable skills development, training and economic empowerment opportunities to over 2000 gogos through a network of over 60 support groups across 12 rural communities.

Mainly as a consequence of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, many of these gogos are caring for their orphaned and vulnerable grandchildren and are in dire need of emotional as well as financial support.

HACT focusses on working alongside these gogos to find practical and sustainable solutions to the challenges they experience on a daily basis all the while, acknowledging the honour and privilege it is to serve these remarkable women who are the backbone of their families and communities.