Organizational Focus

1. Stable Home Life: It is the goal of Godfrey's Children for children affected and infected with HIV/AIDS to have a place to call 'home'. Preference is given for the children to live with immediate relatives. Godfrey's Children shall be involved in locating immediate relatives, maintaining close ties with the child and providing resources to the family so as to enable the child to have access to much needed healthcare and education.

In cases where an immediate family or neighbors/ foster family can not be found, Godfrey's Children shall provide for a home life for the child within a children's center until a more permanent home is found. During this time, the child shall continue to receive full access to medical treatment (whether HIV infected or not) and education. When a permanent home is available for the child, Godfrey's Children shall provide for at least material and financial resources to be available for the child to attend school and to medications. Godfrey's Children shall work with the caregivers of the child with income-generating projects to provide for extra financial resources to be available for the care of the child, and in family and individual counseling.

Godfrey's Children shall be involved in identifying, visiting and assisting sibling-headed households. Godfrey's Children shall also focus on the needs of households headed by one parent (which are often women) and with pregnant woman infected with HIV.

Orphans may also be denied property rights after the death of one or both parents. Godfrey's Children shall also be active in making sure that the children are not exploited and denied any rights.

Problems for children affected by HIV/AIDS really begins when a parent becomes ill. Godfrey's Children shall identify children at risk of becoming orphans and through home-based care, help parents plan ahead for their children's future.

Because of the stigma associated with the disease, Godfrey's Children shall provide public education about HIV/AIDS and on the plight of orphans.

2. Education: Research performed jointly by the World Bank and the University of Dar es Salaam showed that enrollment rates of 7 to 10 year-old orphans or higher economic status in Kagera, Tanzania was about the same as that of non-orphans of households with similar status, but enrollment was one fifth less in the poorer households.

Due to the importance of education as a foundation for the future, Godfrey's Children shall establish a well comprehensive Education Fund to assist in the education of orphaned children from economically challenged households.

3. Community Mobilization and Development:Community mobilization and development are critical in fighting HIV/AIDS. Godfrey's Children involves community forums as a way to assess the impact of AIDS and uses information gathered from the forums to work directly with communities in developing, implementing and evaluating projects created as a result of the forums.

4. Counseling: With the help of trained counselors,Godfrey's Children shall be able to provide counseling services for HIV/AIDS infected and affected children and their families.