Displaying 1 - 10 of 14
In 2019, the Government of Lesotho launched the Violence Against Children Survey (VACS) with support from ICAP, PEPFAR, CDC, UNICEF and other partners. The Lesotho VACS Fact Sheet provides country-specific data on sexual and physical violence against children in Lesotho.
Abstract
Cash transfer programmes have been shown to have positive effects on a variety of outcomes. While much of the literature focuses on the role of conditionality in achieving desired impact, this paper focuses on the role of ‘soft conditionality’ implemented through both ‘labelling’ and ‘messaging’ in evaluating the impact of the Child Grants Program in Lesotho, an unconditional cash transfer programme targeting poor households with orphans and vulnerable children. Beneficiary households received a clear message that the transfer should be spent on the interest and…
In this video, Kick4Life demonstrates how the organization works to give vulnerable children in Lesotho a life with dignity. It shares the story of Stanam Mokomo, a young girl who was left homeless after her parents died. This video also highlights Kick4Life's social entreneurship model, which helps children like Stanam have a more secure life.
ABSTRACT
Care for AIDS orphans in southern Africa is frequently characterized as a “crisis”, where kin-based networks of care are thought to be on the edge of collapse. Yet these care networks, though strained by AIDS, are still the primary mechanisms for orphan care, in large part because of the essential role grandmothers play in responding to the needs of orphans. Ongoing demographic shifts as a result of HIV/AIDS and an increasingly feminized labor market continue to disrupt and alter networks of care for orphans and vulnerable children. This paper examines the emergence of a small but…
This document presents the Kingdom of Lesotho's National Multisectoral Child Protection Strategy 2014–2018 and a Costed Plan of Action for 2014-2016. The document is a more detailed operational document, setting out a road map for actions from July 2014 through to March 2017.
Child protection is the protection of boys and girls from 0-17 years from abuse, violence, exploitation and neglect and abandonment. Abuse can be physical, sexual, emotional or related to stigma, including disability and HIV-related stigma. Child protection violations can…
ABSTRACT
Abandonment creates risks for the wellbeing of children, while compromising their prospects for social adjustment and advancement. This implies pressure on a country's fiscal base through probable lifelong dependence on public resources. The need for prevention of child abandonment in Lesotho and elsewhere can therefore not be overstated. This article, based on research in progress, discusses possible dangers of child abandonment and neglect, using attachment theory as its theoretical grounding. It considers findings based on two samples (professionals and adoptive mothers) 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…
This study sought to assess, analyse and inform the different forms of vulnerabilities affecting children and youth, and their effects and existing strategies and programmes addressing the challenges and vulnerabilities facing orphans, vulnerable children and youth (OVCY) in the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) region. The study also sought to propose recommendations for improvement, and development of minimum standards for OVCY and the finalisation of the SADC OVCY Strategic Framework.
ABSTRACT
Research pertaining to children’s geographies has mainly focused on children’s physical experiences of space, with their ‘imagined geographies’ receiving far less attention. The few studies of children’s imagined geographies that exist tend to focus on children’s national identities and their understanding of distant places. However, children’s lives are not necessarily static and they often move between places. Research has not so far considered children’s images of these transitional spaces or how such images are constructed. Through an examination of over 800 thematic drawings…