Red Cross hopes to extend OVC project

Red Cross-Rwanda (RCR) is set to advocate for the expansion of the Orphan and other Vulnerable Children (OVC) project so that it can reach out to children in the entire country. This was revealed Thursday by Marie Antoinette Uwimana, the head of the technical support department at RCR.

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Red Cross-Rwanda (RCR) is set to advocate for the expansion of the Orphan and other Vulnerable Children (OVC) project so that it can reach out to children in the entire country.

This was revealed Thursday by Marie Antoinette Uwimana, the head of the technical support department at RCR.

Uwimana disclosed the plan at the closure of the annual four-day OVC solidarity camp that attracted 200 children from eight districts.

She added that the project only operates in eight districts but reports indicate that the number children who need to be supported is over and above the estimated budget.

In an interview with The New Times, Robert Muyenzi, the OVC project coordinator in Gisagara district, Southern Province, said the number of children coming from one cell by far exceeds what they had planned for.

"Currently, the project can support over 2,500 children in the district, but because the service is needed the in the area, we can get over 6,000,” Muyenzi said.

He explained that the number of children seeking support increases day-by-day, even from districts were the programme has not yet been implemented.

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