Tutela Feed Sept 2023
“The district of KaMavota is one of the poorest and is also the most populated district of Maputo.”
Developing a plan to reach more children
September 2023 / by Jonny Wakely
On the back of my recent trip to Maputo, there is much to consider about Tutela’s next steps and how to reach more children who need protection.
We have been operating for over six years in Maputo, piloting a foster care programme to a number of children who desperately need a safe family. We have also piloted some parenting courses and given individual support to a number of vulnerable families, some of whom care for children with severe physical and mental needs. The experience we have accumulated has been invaluable - where we have learned from both the successes and failures of our work so far, and have reflected on what things are working well and what things are less beneficial. As a team, we want to do more, to provide a better service to vulnerable families and children in Maputo.
The foster care programme has been a really positive experience but it’s also demanded a lot of input. We have talked about extending and creating the conditions for a third foster family and whilst we are exploring the possibility of this, we are also keen to look at other ways we can provide safety and protection to those children who need it.
Looking at the communities around us
One thing we have gained through our pilot programmes is a level of trust with the local Social Welfare department. This government team is made up of a small bunch of Social Workers and community activists who cover a large population of over 300,000 people in a district that encompasses some extremely poor neighbourhoods. Their operational budget is a shoestring and can accomplish very little on their own. The district they cover is called KaMavota (“Kamma-Voter”), shown in pink on the map of Maputo, it is one of the seven districts of the city.
Considering the trust we have built and the connections made over the past six years, not to mention the level of poverty and struggle that is all around us and the foster families, it seems really appropriate to consider ways we can better utilise our energies for the vulnerable families and children of this particular district.
This is an exciting prospect to enlarge our perspective and begin to think bigger.
The next five to ten years
Here is what I would love for Tutela to become during the next five to ten years - to be a locally led, vibrant change maker in the poorest areas of Maputo, facilitating transformation for many children and families who are struggling.
This is more than helping just a few children. This is a chance to get alongside numerous families who are lonely, overwhelmed, inundated, crushed and oppressed by life’s struggles in order to help them find a way out. It seems right to be enable families to do better at taking care of their own children. In doing so, we reach more children than by simply offering a form of foster care. The foster care is still definitely needed, but it can’t be the only offer of support we provide to the people who live in KaMavota. The experience of the past six years has clearly shown us this.
The kind of support I am referring to is along the lines of what we have already initiated - parenting courses and one-to-one listening, to help them resolve broken relationships and to think creatively for overcoming life's hurdles. We could also develop programmes for extra curricular activities for school aged children, including academic tuition, which helps them find positive outlets for their growing up. One pitfall that we intend to avoid is that of creating a sense of dependency where vulnerable families become dependent on the support they receive which effectively prevents them from being able to stand on their own two feet. It is really important that our presence in a community does not cause more layers of difficulty.
What would be amazing is to develop a hub in KaMavota where the Tutela team are working alongside the Social Welfare department to help them tackle some of the hardest situations of families in the area. This would need local leadership on Tutela’s part - Mozambicans who are skilled and who know well the culture and context they are working in.
To achieve such a goal, we will need all the help we can get. It includes partnering with other agencies in KaMavota as well as learning from our friends at Transform Alliance Africa who are already doing similar work on their turf.
I am very excited about seeing this unfold in the coming few years and to see numerous families transformed by our support.