The Village Hive is an upstream model of child protection that mobilises entire communities to protect children and empower families.
Our Village Hive model prevents multidimensional poverty by bringing multi-sector services into villages and mobilises community-wide action to protect children, prevent child-family separation, reunite families and foster long-term resilience and self-sufficiency.
The Village Hive approach is:
Holistic – multi-sector services such as social, health, education, housing, finance work together to untangle the complex web of social issues that keep families trapped in a cycle of intergenerational poverty.
Preventative – an ‘upstream’ approach that prioritises prevention and early intervention ensures children are not subjected to trauma in early childhood.
Co-designed – the knowledge and wisdom required to solve complex social problems lives within local communities. All community stakeholders have seats at the decision-making table and are the architects of the Village Hive in their community.
Sustainable – to create systemic change, we integrate Village Hive programs and services into the public systems and facilities in each community. Under a framework of integrated governance, the Village Hive is then owned, controlled and operated by the community itself.
Cost-effective – due to the emphasis on prevention and early intervention, the Village Hive costs just USD$10 per person, per annum for each member of the community. The Village Hive also results in a long-term cost-saving to society, with less burden placed on the healthcare, social welfare and justice systems.
The Village Hive brings prevention and early intervention services into villages creating a robust social protection system for whole communities. Families and their social workers are then able to draw on a holistic suite of services to tangle the complex web of challenges that keep families trapped in poverty such as poor health or malnutrition, a lack of access to schooling, low earning capacity or lack of safe housing or electricity. The services are effective because they are delivered in a holistic way, alongside the other essential services in the Village Hive.
At the heart of the model and its success is the power of community and family support networks. By mobilising community-wide action, networks of community members tailor the Village Hive to their community. Trusted networks of relatives, neighbours and friends provide practical support for families to help them meet their goals and address issues of social isolation. These networks of extended family and voluntary kin are central to creating a robust system of safety for children and also serve important life functions, such as providing a sense of belonging and connection as well as practical support and emotional relief.