- Village Hive
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.
Village Hive social workers use a non-paternalistic, strengths-based framework that places families in the driving seat, ensuring voices of all family members are heard in the case planning process.
Social workers use collaborative tools to help a family assess their own risks, identify solutions, build on their strengths and set their own goals. The case planning process involves assisting the family to cultivate an ongoing support network of trusted relatives, neighbours and friends. Social workers facilitate access to universal and family support services, such as education, housing, finance, healthcare, nutrition, and daycare. The ultimate goal is to foster long-term resilience in families who are empowered to meet and overcome challenges they encounter.
Over fourteen years working with vulnerable families in Cambodia, we’ve heard time and time again that a lack of access to education is a key driver in families entrusting their children to orphanages.
Village Hive social workers partner with vulnerable families to provide education-related needs and ensure the children are attending public school regularly. Social workers equip families with school uniforms, shoes, backpacks, textbooks and schoolbooks and will assist with transportation to and from public school. CCT social workers also facilitate tutoring classes with public school teachers, ensuring children do not fall behind their peers.
When physical or mental health issues are preventing a family from achieving their goals, Village Hive social workers will recruit the assistance of a Village Hive nurse.
Nurses conduct home visits to undertake basic health assessments, facilitate connection to hospitals and specialty health services and work with the families to create healthcare plans that address acute and chronic conditions. When nurses see health trends in a community, they conduct preventative health workshops. They also provide hygiene supplies, personal protective equipment and safety information throughout the COVID19 pandemic.
Families are coached in financial literacy aimed at overcoming the psychological phenomenon of the scarcity mindset.
The coaching teaches families how to track their spending, maintain a budget, develop a savings plan, and grow their income through child-sensitive livelihoods or access to employment. Families are empowered to look beyond their immediate needs and set long-term goals to achieve financial freedom. The coaching is mostly geared towards women who have proven to be the best poverty fighters, using income for the benefit of their families.
When safe and secure housing is preventing a family from achieving their goals, Village Hive social workers will recruit the assistance of the Village Hive housing team.
The Housing team work with families to repair, renovate and build homes, connect utilities, and find affordable rentals.
Village Hive youth centres operating from within public schools deliver nutritious meals, daycare and remedial tutoring to high-risk children.
While Village Hive social workers are helping their families work towards their long-term goals, youth centres prevent child-family separation as children don’t have to leave their communities to access their basic needs. The youth centres are essential services for cases in which carers are elderly, have a disability or a chronic physical or mental health condition.
