Displaying 1 - 10 of 10
This brochure from UNICEF provides an overview of child marriage in the Sahel, a region spanning the northern portion of sub-Saharan Africa. The purpose of this publication is to offer a descriptive analysis of the practice of child marriage in the Sahel, covering: the proportion and number of girls and women affected; disparities in risk across different populations; a selection of key outcome measures for women who married in childhood; an evaluation of historical trends in prevalence; and projections through 2030. It relies on nationally representative survey data, namely from the…
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…
Abstract
Globalization of knowledge and scholarship raises the challenges of dialogue between Global North and South. Northern knowledge and voice remain privileged, while writing from the South often goes unread. This is true also in emerging adulthood and care-leaving scholarship. The special issue of Emerging Adulthood titled “Care-Leaving in Africa” is the first collection of essays on care-leaving by African scholars. It presents both care-leaving and emerging adulthood scholars from the Global North a unique opportunity to consider the implications of a rising…
This study seeks to improve understanding of the risks and types of sexual and gender-based violence faced by children who migrate on their own, as well as the unfortunate and widespread gaps in protection and assistance for these children. It looks closely at the situation in dangerous or remote locations – places that are fragile, conflict-ridden, underserved and hard to reach, where children may be particularly vulnerable.
The study also identifies actions that are urgently needed, by governments and humanitarian organizations, to better protect and assist children migrating on their…
Abstract
Background
Despite the building evidence on violence against children globally, almost nothing is known about the violence children with disabilities in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) experience. The prevalence of violence against children with disabilities can be expected to be higher in LMICs where there are greater stigmas associated with having a child with a disability, less resources for families who have children with disabilities, and wider acceptance of the use of corporal punishment to discipline children. This study explores violence experienced by children…
This article discusses the major population displacement that unfolded in Africa’s Lake Chad Basin. Local communities have offered shelter to 2.6 million people who were forced to leave their homes. This document discusses how the international community needs to act immediately to scale up humanitarian assistance in the Lake Chad Basin region.
Factors that have added to the complexity of the humanitarian crisis in the Lake Chad region include ongoing violence and conflict since 2013, poverty, and climate change. Many children have been reported to be a part of the conflict to the…
Children without appropriate care (CwAC) is a focus area for Save the Children’s child protection work for the period 2010-2015. The goal is that by 2015, 4.6 million children without appropriate care, and their families, including children affected by HIV and AIDS and those on the move, will benefit from good-quality interventions within an improved child protection system.
This report assesses the practice of kinship care within four research countries in the West and Central African region (Sierra Leone, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Niger), reflecting upon the…
“Children without Appropriate Care (CwAC) is a priority area for Save the Children’s child protection work for the period 2010-2015. In working toward this priority, Save the Children embarked on a multi-country participatory research initiative from 2012-2013. This was undertaken to build knowledge on alternative care practices, especially informal kinship care, prevalent in the West and Central Africa. Nigeria and three other countries were involved in this regional research; the other countries are Niger, Sierra Leone and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
This study finds that kinship…
This powerful chart illustrates preliminary research findings seeking to understand how orphan status affects the school attendance of children in Africa and the extent to which living in kinship care can act as a protective factor in this context. Although numerous studies have examined the effects of orphanhood on schooling outcomes, the results have been mixed, both in terms of whether orphans are significantly less likely to be enrolled in school but also, when they are found to be, whether it is orphan status or poverty that is responsible for this.…
We examine the impact of orphanhood on children’s school enrollment in 10 Sub-Saharan African countries. Although poorer children in Africa are less likely to attend school, the lower enrollment of orphans is not accounted for solely by their poverty. We find orphans are less likely to be enrolled than are non-orphans with whom they live. Consistent with Hamilton’s Rule, the theory that the closeness of biological ties governs altruistic behavior, outcomes for orphans depend on the relatedness of orphans to their household heads. The lower enrollment of orphans is largely explained caregivers…