Kgolo Mmogo Booklet | Page 3

FOREWORD: Kgolo Mmogo, means "building together" in the Sepedi language of South Africa. The Kgolo Mmogo intervention was designed to promote resilience in young children living with their HIV-positive mothers and in research, supported by the United States National Institutes of Health and conducted by a team of researchers from the University of Pretoria and Yale University, the Kgolo Mmogo intervention has been shown to significantly decrease behavior problems among HIV-affected young children and improve their communication and daily living skills. The intervention is provided through 24 weekly group sessions and uniquely has mothers and children in separate groups addressing their own issues, before coming together in a single group in which the focus is on parent-child communication and parenting. The intervention was designed to be used in areas where resources are limited: group sessions are led by community care workers, who receive initial training from a social worker, but then use this manual to guide each session. The manual identifies specific objectives for each session, suggests ideas for ice-breakers and provides an outline of experiential learning activities, group discussions and behavioural modeling. The Kgolo Mmogo study is the first study to provide empirical evidence of the benefits of an intervention for young children affected by parental HIV infection. It is hoped that this manual will help others to intervene for those children who are most vulnerable. Irma Eloff & Brian Forsyth Children The KGOLO-MMOGO PROJECT