The Program

Integrated Community program img3The Hope for Children Integrated Community Health program responds to the multiple health needs of children and young people in our target area, providing them with the solid foundation to achieve success in their academic performance and enable them to grow into self-reliant adults. We achieve this by ensuring not only the physical health of the children and young people in the program but also their mental well being.

Each child in our program receives a yearly health assessment including history taking, nutritional assessment and physical examination and where required immunization. Children and young people who are HIV positive are visited by home based care givers who provide close follow up of treatment adherence and extra nutritional support if needed. Home based care services are also available for caregivers or parents who are critically ill.

Hope for Children also recognizes that ensuring the mental well being of children and young people is one of the keys to the positive transition to adulthood. Case management is undertaken by the Hope for Children counselor both at the office and at the children’s home and includes child-to-child support groups, one on one counseling and creative therapy.

Integrated Community program banner

A key component of our Integrated Community Health program is sexual and reproductive health training and education, which is provided for young people in our program and also in the target area. This is achieved by building their competency through life skills development training, which assists young people to make healthy choices and decisions, regarding their sexual and reproductive health.

For parents and caregivers of the children and young people in our program counseling support, family planning and group therapy is also available. This ensures that each child in our program is provided with the support they need from their families to continue to attend school and achieve academic success.

Our Strategic Vision

Integrated Community visionHope for Children works to ensure the physical and mental health and well being of the children and young people in our program. We believe that a significant factor in ensuring the educational success and wellbeing of vulnerable children and young people rests on supporting their physical and mental health, this is particularly the case where the child is living with HIV or their caregiver or parent is HIV positive.

Demographic and health Statistics

†Source: Demographic and Health Survey of Ethiopia (EDHS, 2011)

How Hope for Children makes a difference

Who we work with

Integrated Community with

  • Caregivers and parents of children and young people in our program
  • Children in our program aged 0-18
  • Young people in our program aged 19-24
  • Young people in the target area aged 14-24
  • School teachers in the target area
  • Community Based Organisations and government health service providers in the target area

How We Work

Integrated Community howLike each of our programs the Hope for Children Integrated Community Health program is embedded in the target community.

We actively involve caregivers and parents in the program by providing them with training to become community facilitators and home based caregivers. Our employees are also carefully selected based on a mix of their professional expertise and experience, academic achievement and commitment to immersing themselves in community based work.

We work with key local, regional national and international stakeholders to create an enabling and positive environment where both physical and mental health issues are addressed using the most up to date approaches which meet the holistic needs of the children and young people in our program and from the target area.

An Interview with Jo Rees

From Integrated Community Health. 

Jo Rees, Clinical Nurse and Youth Health and Wellbeing Specialist, is from Perth Western Australia. During her long service leave in 2005, Jo had a brainwave; “I wanted to go to Ethiopia and give back to impoverished young people who lack access to quality sexual health education”, she says.

In her job, Jo teaches a comprehensive sexual health, relationships, assertiveness and negotiation skills program to young people aged 10 - 20 years of age. She spoke to Hope for Children Founder, Jacqui Gilmour, to see if she could develop this program for children and youth in Hope for Children programs.

Over an eight-week period, Jo saw 200 young people educated about sexuality, puberty and adolescent health. She ran a full day workshop for different age groups, and supplied morning tea, lunch and snacks to keep the students energetic.