Executive Summary

The overall goal of the workshop was to facilitate effective action within participating countries to substantially improve the situation of orphans and vulnerable children.

Attending delegates believed that the overall goal could be achieved by enhancing the capacity of the 10 participating countries to conduct situation analyses, establish national consultative processes, formulate policies, develop national action plans, design coordinating structures and implement strategic initiatives that are properly
costed, monitored and evaluated.

The five-day workshop was a follow-up to previous regional meetings on orphans and other vulnerable children (Lusaka 2000, Windhoek 2002) as well as the UNGASS on global HIV/AIDS. Specifically, the workshop was held in response to requests for support in building skills to meet commitments made during UNGASS and the regional meetings.

The workshop agenda was divided into five thematic areas:

• participatory situation analysis
• national action plan
• monitoring and evaluation
• policy and legislative review
• national consultation and coordination

Ten countries were invited to participate in the workshop held in Maseru, Lesotho, during November 2003. Ninety delegates from Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe attended.

 

Translation Alert: This report is also available in Portuguese: Fortalecendo Respostas Nacionais: Workshop do Sul da África sobre Órfãos e outras Crianças Vulneráveis (81 pages, 1.63MB).