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Abstract
The paper describes the findings of a geographical mapping and analysis of residential care facilities in four regions of Ghana. The mapping exercise study identified 24 residential facilities with 944 children, amounting to 22% of residential facilities and 27% of children in residential facilities in Ghana. Most of the residential facilities were privately run with their budgets funded by international donors. Seventy-five percent of the residential facilities were unlicensed because they did not meet the national standards for residential care facilities. Most of the children…
The focus of this thesis is the position of orphans, vulnerable children and orphanages in Ghana in relation to the ‘help’ they receive from western volunteers and NGOs. This position is often viewed differently by NGOs, volunteers, and their ‘host’ communities. The author's main argument is that the western aid ‘industry’ (Crewe and Harrison 1998, 15) has played a major role in the proliferation of orphanages in Ghana. Ghanaians – adults and children – involved in orphanages in the Volta Region are active agents in this process of receiving aid from NGOs and western volunteers.…
Using a practice approach focused on interactions between foreign volunteers and local staff, this study examined the impact of volunteer tourism on Zion Primary School and Tamale Children’s Home (an orphanage), both in Tamale, Ghana. These two projects were selected because they represent two very common forms of volunteer tourism, and Ghana is one of the most popular destinations for volunteer tourism. Qualitative methods including participant observations and face-to-face interviews were used to identify consequences of the interactions among volunteers, local employees, and the children;…
This overview is intended to contribute to discussions on international volunteering in residential care centres as an anecdotal research piece on the situation in Ghana. Ghana was chosen as a focus country due to recommendations from a range of informants who raised concerns about extent of the practice in residential care centres in Ghana. Availability of research also contributed to the choice of Ghana as a country focus. This overview was informed by online resources, academic and institutional literature, and interviews with informants.
The dominant global perception that sub-Saharan Africa is experiencing an “AIDS orphan crisis”, coupled with growing trends in international voluntourism, has fostered a potentially high-risk situation for already vulnerable young children in the region. This article reviews the current discourse on what is being called a crisis of care for children, as well as literature on out-of-home/family care and its adverse impacts on child development. We also describe an emerging “AIDS orphan tourism”, and show how short-term attachments formed between children in group residential care and…