Ethiopia
National leadership:
The National OVC Task Force, co-chaired by the HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Office (Ministry of Health) and Women’s Affairs Ministry regroups major OVC stakeholders and donors. The OVC Task Force has led the efforts to define standards of care for OVC programmes at the point of service delivery.
Contact persons for the QI Initiative:
Mr. Wondwossen Hailu, Save the Children,whailu@savechildren.org.et; Mr. Gezahegn Amza, Propride, bubamza@yahoo.com; Mr. Gebena Seboka, Mekdim, Gobseb@yahoo.com; Walleligne Alemaw, Project Concern International, aberiye@gmail.com; Sr. Bogalech Zegeye, Christian Children Fund, ccfirishaid@ethionet.et.
Background
In 2007, U.S. Government-funded partners reflected on the need to address quality for OVC services at the point of contact with child and family during a two-day workshop on defining quality. Following the workshop, stakeholders, through the conduit of the OVC Task Force, met regularly to draft quality service standards. This was a highly consultative process, regrouping major partners, involving youth, and attracting community input. The standards are in final draft and being reviewed to ensure that their wording accurately reflects the essential dimensions of quality for each service area before they are validated by key stakeholders.
Achievements
- Held national stakeholders workshop on quality
- Defined quality standards for OVC services at the point of delivery
- Started an improvement collaborative in two regions to identify best practices to operationalize the standards of care with Save the Children USA, Project Concern International, Christian Children Fund and their local partners
- Developed job aids for volunteers to guide their home visits
Current Focus
Through the improvement collaborative and also the PC3 Program (SAVE), we are currently helping local NGOs and CBOs introduce job aids and supportive supervision to improve the quality of their services, and are trying to find a balance between improving quality without overburdening staff and community volunteers. In addition we are working on developing tools to help assess the quality of services provided and to rigorously document the learning during the improvement collaborative. One of the tools being applied to measure the change in child level outcomes is the child status index (CSI). Assessments using the tool will be conducted at six month intervals – the first was completed in February 2008.
Challenges & Lessons
Maintaining the momentum toward quality while local partners face many challenges due to the sheer numbers of children affected amidst limited resources High turnover among professionals within the NGOs and FBOs make it very difficult to work consistently toward measurable progress in quality.
Last updated June 2008
Resources
Draft Standards of Services for Orphans and Vulnerable Children in Ethiopia: Quality OVC PEPFAR Pragramming
Project Concern International, World Learning, CARE International, Save the Children USA, World Vision and Catholic Relief Services, PEPFAR, USAID, July 31, 2007, PDF, 40 pages, 338 kb
Why Focus on quality?: Simplified Draft Guidelines for Ethiopia
Project Concern International, World Learning, CARE International, Save the Children USA, World Vision and Catholic Relief Services, PEPFAR, USAID, 2007, PDF, 10 pages, 214 kb
Quality Assurance and Improvement Standards for OVC Services in Ethiopia
PEPFAR, USAID, Save the Children, April 2008, PPT, 740 kb
Applying Standards to Improve Quality of OVC Services, poster
Blackett-Dibinga, K., Radeny S. and W. Hailu, PEPFAR, USAID and Save the Children, 2008, Word, 1 page, 4.3 MB
