Displaying 1 - 10 of 13
Abstract
Children's needs in Botswana received considerable attention in the past three decades owing to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the country. These decades of legal and policy practice processes focused on orphan and vulnerable children (OVC), ensured that the needs of the general population of Botswana children are grossly understudied, underestimated, and therefore, remain unaddressed. This study sought to determine the needs of the general population of children. Fifty-two visual arts, six semi-structured interviews, twenty-six in-depth interviews and two focus group discussions were…
Abstract
Family constitutes more than simple living arrangements, and these systems are of pivotal development importance in sub-Saharan Africa. The diversity of family structures and types in sub-Saharan Africa has warranted an examination of the various policies and laws in the region. This paper examines all policy and laws related to families in the South, West, East and Central regions of sub-Saharan Africa. The paper highlights the sundry of policies and laws that are influenced by cultural and religious differences within and across regions. Issues relating to patriarchy and…
This country care review includes the care-related Concluding Observations adopted by the Committee on the Rights of the Child. The Committee's recommendations on the issues relevant to children's care are highlighted, as well as other care-related concluding observations, ratification dates, and links to the Universal Periodic Review and Hague Intercountry Adoption Country Profile.
ABSTRACT
With the orphan population escalating, communities continue to rely on relatives to provide care to orphans. Therefore, there is a need to explore the role of caregivers with regard to the well‐being of orphans, the challenges they face, as well as how they could be empowered to be more responsive to children's needs. The paper acknowledges that informal caregivers play an important role in the lives of orphans. The paper also concedes that, in the process, caregivers are faced with challenges which make it difficult for them to fulfil their responsibilities and roles. As a result…
ABSTRACT
Globally, regionally and in national contexts, institutionalised care has been receiving wide scholarship, debates, discourses and criticisms, with some various scholars questioning the relevance, appropriateness and effectiveness of this option to children’s care and protection. South Africa and Botswana are perceived as two success stories in Southern African region in terms of championing children’s rights, especially those relating to the care and protection of OVCs. This study has, through an immense literature review analysis explored: the role of OVC care…
Families play central roles in the HIV/AIDS pandemic, caring for both orphaned children and the ill. This extra caregiving depletes two family resources essential for supporting children: time and money. We use recent data from published studies in sub-Saharan Africa to illustrate deficits and document community responses. In
Botswana, parents caring for the chronically ill had less time for their preschool children (74 versus 96 hours per month) and were almost twice as likely to leave children home alone (53% versus 27%); these children experienced greater health and…
The Minimum Package is a guide to encourage the harmonizing of service delivery for Orphans and Other Vulnerable Children and Youth (OVCY) across the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region. Member States can adopt or adapt these standards and guidelines at the national level. The Minimum Package identifies the basic needs of children and youth and the services they require as well as complementing services needed to deliver basic services. It also identifies the primary and secondary sectors and actors that can respond and how their services can be delivered in a coordinated,…
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The SADC region has an estimated 250 million people among the Member States. In each Member State more than 50% of the population is under the age of 18. These children need care, protection and support. Unfortunately for many, vulnerability does not end when they leave childhood. Many youth continue to be at risk. Poverty is endemic and employment scant. Many youth have limited training, are unable to find work, and potentially engage in risky coping strategies to survive. Certain groups are even more vulnerable. Young women aged 15-24 are three to four…
While the articles presented here bring together research and reflections on children’s issues in Botswana the issues themselves are not unique to Botswana and thus the findings reported in this publication will also benefit children in other countries. The articles in the various chapters of the publication have been structured to follow the life cycle of the child as she or he grows and is faced with different issues that need to be addressed. As such the publication is divided into 5 sections. These are:
- Young Child Survival
- Child Development
- Child…
The papers presented here bring together research and reflections on children’s issues in
Botswana. To complement the analytical papers, the book also highlights a compendium of the most current data available on a wide range of indicators of child wellbeing, drawing mostly from recent household surveys conducted by the Central Statistics Office.
Most particular to alternative care are the child protection related articles, including:
- Seen but not heard: a call for orphans’ voices to be heard in Botswana.
- The urban orphan in Botswana: discarding the homogeneity…