Community Projects

FAMSA is determined to reach people in need in disadvantaged communities in the Western Cape.  Our community outreach is growing from strength to strength with the implementation of flagship projects designed to fill the gap in counselling and support services that commonly exists in deprived communities.  Our main programmes include:

  1. HIV/AIDS Project - Our 29 HIV lay counsellors offer effective Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT), Preventing Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT), and Adherence support services at 10 facilities/clinics in the Western Cape.  We reached 20807 people with this project last year.
  2. Poverty Alleviation for HIV-affected People – Emergency food relief is provided to HIV and AIDS affected clients who, on assessment, are found to be destitute.  Food parcels are distributed monthly to clients for a period of three months in which time the counsellor assists the client with their grant application or refers them to an income generation project.  We are currently delivering 80 food parcels per month.  FAMSA has recently employed 4 community home based carers to offer supportive counselling to recipients of food parcels in their homes.
  3. Family Foundation Lay Counselling Project – This project involves training of lay volunteers to provide an interim counselling and referral service in disadvantaged communities including Khayelitsha, Mitchell’s Plain, Dunoon, Factreton and Elsies River.  Volunteers also carry out counselling in schools and some volunteers are further trained to offer Life Skills programmes in schools.
  4. Men Stopping Violence Project –This project comprises group therapy aimed at rehabilitation of perpetrators of domestic violence.  The group members are either court -referred as an alternative to sentencing, or they attend the group voluntarily.   
  5. Youth Empowerment Project – FAMSA’s youth outreach forms part of the above-listed projects and comprises educational, awareness and preventative programmes including the presentation of Life Skills, HIV/AIDS education, Violence Awareness Programme, Male Identity Workshops, as well as counselling of vulnerable youth in schools situated in disadvantaged areas of the Western Cape. 
  6. After-care for children in Khayelitsha – This is a new project that aims to keep children safe and ‘off the streets’ while their parents are at work.  They receive a nutritious meal as well as age-appropriate Life Skills education.

FAMSA staff members are continually looking for new ways to make a difference.  We are currently investigating new income generation ideas for Khayelitsha.