By Oluatoyin Alleyne

Lifeline Counselling Services recently became one of only two non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Georgetown to receive funding from USAID for its Orphans and Vulner-able Children (OVC) programme and could now cater for some 300 children, according to Executive Director  Carlotta Williams.

Speaking to Stabroek News recently, Williams explained that Lifeline Counselling had to go through a competitive process in which they had to submit proposals, but she noted that other NGOs in the city do excellent work in other areas of HIV/AIDS.

She said in May this year the proposals were submitted and it detailed what the organisation had planned for the new project year beginning in October. They had been informed that funding is now being granted on a competitive basis, so the NGOs have to compete with each other.

Prior to this NGOs which had been funded previously would automatically be funded for the next project year, but it  is not so this year.

Lifeline Counselling not only sought funding for the OVC programme in its proposals but also for the voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) and home-based care programme. Following the submission of the proposals, representatives of the NGOs met on a one-on-one basis with personnel from the Community Support Development Centre (CSDC), which provides the financial management of the money USAID gives to NGOs, USAID and the Guyana HIV/AIDS Prevention Programme (GHARP).

The latter organisation provides technical support for the NGOs.
Williams said there were queries about two of Lifeline’s programmes. They clarified the queries over the VCT and home-based care programme and funding was made available for its  continuation.  And regarding the OVC programme, which caters for children infected and affected by HIV/AIDS, Lifeline  was asked to expand it and it now caters for 300 children.

The Love and Faith NGO in Sophia is the other NGO in the city that has received funding for its  OVC programme.

According to Williams, initially funding was received  for 130 children in the OVC programme and then they were  given funding for another 150 children from the Health Sector Development Unit (HSDU), which has since come to an end. Following this, Williams said,  in their proposals they asked for funding for both sets of children and in the end were told to care for 300 children.
In their OVC programme, Lifeline caters for the educational support of the children by giving them school uniforms, text books and extra tuition. The children are also provided with hot meals at school and at home and  they benefit also from Lifeline’s vibrant youth club. Home-based care and psychosocial counselling are also provided for the children.

The children’s parents are included in the programme as the NGO works along with them to assist in bettering their parenting skills and teaching  them to prepare nutritional meals for their children.

Children at present are involved in a summer programme at Lifeline where they report four days a week and are taught drama, craft, art and information technology. This is funded by UNICEF for children between the ages of six and seventeen.

And come next year Lifeline along with other NGOs will once again have to submit proposals for funding to USAID.

Meanwhile, Chief of Party of GHARP Kwame Asiedu, following a news item in the Kaieteur News, had explained to the newspaper that the funding for some NGOs was cut based on a decision aimed at ensuring that there is no ‘overlapping’ in the services being provided.

He had stated that the move was essential since complete transparency is required in utilizing US Government funding.  The decision was also made to encourage competitiveness among NGOs.