USAID 4TheChild Co-Creation Process

Community co-creation opens up USAID 4TheChild project innovation process to a wide range of voices that would normally never be heard

USAID 4TheChild is designed to support the county governments of Bungoma, Busia, Kakamega, Siaya and Kisumu in attaining the national goal of addressing HIV/AIDS, safeguarding the rights and welfare of children and adolescents impacted by HIV/AIDS, and ensuring equitable access to quality primary healthcare services by the most vulnerable. Therefore, to ensure adequacy, effectiveness, and sustainability of its interventions, the five-year PEPFAR/USAID-funded project promoted an exchange of information, ideas, strategies and resources through a process of co-creation with the project beneficiaries, host communities, government officials at the county level, and local and international stakeholders, including civil society actors and private sector players.

First, USAID 4TheChild held focus group discussions with 293 orphans and vulnerable children (OVC), 26 adolescent girls and young women, 69 caregivers, and 84 caseworkers to correctly understand their issues while compartmentalizing policies put forth by the authorities and efforts by previous and existing mechanisms to address them.

The project then highlighted the issues raised in the focus group discussions during co-creation workshops with 135 stakeholders including key government officials at the county level, civil society actors and private sector players.

Finally, USAID 4TheChild visited the project beneficiaries to assess their perceived needs and jointly develop actions to be taken to address those needs.

Orphans and vulnerable children participate in a focus group discussion conducted by USAID 4TheChild to understand issues impeding access to quality health and social services by the children and their families.

The issues identified across the engagements varied. USAID 4TheChild established that most of the children that the project targets reside in resource-limited settings and require multiple support services for themselves and their families. The project also noted that many of the adults/caregivers of the children were living with HIV. Moreover, there were a substantial number of non-HIV-related OVC affected by poverty, abuse, exploitation, or limited nutrition or education.To achieve comprehensive programming, therefore, the participants of the co-creation activities urged USAID 4TheChild to revitalize the five counties’ HIV and child protection systems so that vulnerable children can become healthy, safe, schooled, and stable.

“The project should aim to keep the children healthy, safe, schooled, and in stable households,” Mr. Humphrey Wandeo (Kisumu County Coordinator for Children’s Services) emphasized during a co-creation workshop held in Kisumu.

“I advised USAID 4TheChild to offer food to the very needy OVC households,” a 10-year-old girl from Nyamasaria in Kisumu East Sub-County, Kisumu County, informed her peers during a focus group discussion held in her area to reach OVC.

Further, to build a more cooperative and collaborative framework that can develop a shared goal and a common strategy, USAID 4TheChild gathered the stakeholders through County Area Advisory Council (AAC) meetings and, together, formed County Project Delivery Committees (CPDCs) as sub-committees of the AACs that will initiate and make evidence-based decisions about how best to direct resources and program activities and maximize positive outcomes for the children and their caretakers.

Mr. Humphrey Wandeo (Kisumu County Coordinator for Children’s Services) urged USAID 4TheChild to keep children healthy, safe, schooled, and in stable households during Kisumu County Area Advisory Council meeting

“The CPDCs will strengthen the involvement and leadership of the county governments in the project planning, implementation, and monitoring at the county level,” said Kennedy Odera (USAID 4TheChild Capacity Building and Systems Strengthening Technical Lead). “This team will meet monthly to ensure that all project partners within the counties are accountable for their deliverables while also facilitating structured reviews of their counties’ progress toward meeting the set targets in all program areas.”

“Common vision through co-creation is critical in attaining sustainable programming that truly contributes to improving access to health and social services,” said Esther Wasige (Busia County Coordinator for Children’s Services) during a co-creation conducted in her area.

“We have worked with the county governments in harmonizing the USAID 4TheChild project priorities through a robust co-creation process,” Kenneth Otieno, USAID 4TheChild’s Acting Chief of Party, said. “USAID 4TheChild implementation structure is anchored on the local government structures to ensure we journey together towards sustainable care and support to orphans and vulnerable children.”

Read more in the USAID 4TheChild newsletter.

USAID 4TheChild staff engages children during a focus group discussion held during the project co-creation.