Strengthening Community Safety Nets Project (SCSN)

Overview and Objectives

The Strengthening Community Safety Nets Project (SCSN), managed by ChildFund International with partners URC and Christian Children’s Fund of Canada (now known as Children Believe), promoted the healthy child development of 50,000 children and assisting 8500 primary and secondary caregivers in the Addis Ababa and Oromia regions through comprehensive, family-centered, and child-focused care and support services. URC led the introduction of quality improvement approaches to strengthen programs for orphans and vulnerable children (OVC), enhance OVC services, and use data to meet OVC service standards. Vulnerable children committees (VCC), community-based volunteer groups, have formed QI committees, identified critical gaps in services for OVC, and designed and applied solutions to address shortcomings.

Achievements

• Built capacity for demonstrating QI activities at four service delivery pilot sites and used the lessons learned from those pilots to integrate and scale up quality improvement interventions to all nine participating areas, encompassing 78 communities and
• Helped to develop, finalize, and roll out the Government’s national OVC service standard guidelines.