Early childhood development: changing society from the roots

Healthy and Proactive Living

The long-term aim of Moya Centre is to develop strong and self-sufficient individuals who are able to strengthen their communities and who have developed a high social responsibility. As many Children in Eswatini have lost their parents due to HIV/AIDS, Moya Centres' specific aim during the first project supported by sahee (Helping children to stay on the right track) was providing support to children or very old and frail family members heading households by ensuring that all affected homesteads get basic physical and psycho-social support.
Besides the negative impact of HIV/AIDS on the development of children growing up in the community Mahlanya, the families have to cope with an unstable social environment due to a high level of labor migration in this periurban area. Rooted in the difficult living conditions, Mahlanya shows the highest crime rate and acts of domestic violence among the youth as compared to other communities in Eswatini. To address this situation, Moya Centre shifted their focus towards strengthening parenting skills of parents and guardians from the Mahlanya community during following project Becoming true parents. Working towards the long-term aim of Moya, the vision of the project was to create more loving and stable home environments, where the children feel valued and are given skills and guidance to equip them for their adult life.
During the last project A better future for the OVCs of Mahlanya: an integral approach a more holistic approach was applied by Moya Centre to positively influence early childhood development by offering guided playschool activities and to build up the skills of the caregivers in psycho social support, permaculture gardening (to increase food security and healthy nutrition in their homesteads) as well as financial literacy and income generation (to increase economic sustainability of the homesteads).
The current project is basically a continuation of the former project, but including new target groups such as the community youth and Moya alumni. Main activities are:
• Conduct sessions to teach children about; health, hygiene, self-protection, moral and emotional development in the kids’ clubs. Conduct sessions to teach youth club children; life skills, sexual reproductive health and enhance moral and emotional development. Healthy living activities such as gardening, good hygiene, wholesome eating habits and recycling will be promoted and encouraged during all clubs, including afternoon clubs and preschools.
• Supportive meetings of kids’ clubs and preschool parents/guardians with emphasis on story-telling, games, and nutrition through the promotion of gardens, family planning, birth certificates, social connectedness.
• Capacity building of Moya alumni for supporting activities in the kid’s clubs and youth clubs.
• All Moya sponsored students are mandated to, and peer supporters are encouraged to, establish backyard gardens in their homesteads as a prove of their commitment.

Project site

District Malkerns, Mahlanya (Map)

Beneficiaries

Women above 16 years: 212 (direct), 2580 (indirect)
Men above 16 years: 70 (direct), 1548 (indirect)
Children under age 16: 750 (direct), 5676 (indirect)

Project costs and assistance by sahee

The entire project costs are CHF 115’000.–, whereas sahee takes over CHF 106’000.–.

Sahee stays in regular contact with the project leaders, monitors the activities and visits the project on site.

Duration of assistance

1st of January 2019 to 31st of December 2021

Local counterpart

Moya Centre

Project site

www.moya.org.sz