Displaying 31 - 40 of 311
Abstract
In response to the orphan crisis, a number of community initiatives have proliferated to enhance service delivery to OVCs (Orphans and other Vulnerable Children). Part of the literature paints a bleak and pessimistic picture: it believes that community based support interventions anchored on the family are faltering under the weight of increasing number of orphans; while others argue that communities are innovative and resilient to the extent that they have devised new coping strategies. The paper shows how OVC community responses in Northern Uganda are under severe pressure from…
Abstract
Despite the predominant contemporary and traditional coping strategies adopted in Zimbabwe in the past three decades and beyond, challenges and issues related to inheritance continued to affect the livelihood of both orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) and their caregivers. This article is a qualitative phenomenological study seeking to examine the perceptions, views, and feelings of the OVC and their caregivers on their lived experiences in OVC care and support in Zimbabwe. The study focusses on the caregivers' perspectives of the impact of the inheritance experiences in OVC…
Prepared over a period of one year from September 2015 to September 2016, UNICEF, in partnership with relevant agencies and governments, presents feedback and lessons learned from the Child Protection Programme during the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) epidemic response in West Africa from August 2014 to December 2015.
The report examines three affected countries – Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea – to analyse the degree to which the response was successful in addressing the scale and unique nature of the child protection situation that arose due to the epidemic. Key lessons learned and…
This video series from Better Care Network, in partnership with Child's i Foundation, highlights promising practices in children's care in Uganda. The series of six videos captures practice-based learning and each video in the series is accompanied by a one-page discussion paper.
Videos in the series include:
Abstract
Background: Care of children affected by AIDS in Swaziland is predominately provided by families, with support from ‘community-based responses’. This approach is consistent with United Nations International Children’s Fund’s (UNICEF) framework for the protection, care and support of children affected by AIDS. However, the framework relies heavily on voluntary caregiving which is highly gendered. It pays limited attention to caregivers’ well-being or sustainable community development which enables more effective caregiving. As a result, the framework is incompatible with the social…
Abstract
Given the narrow scope and conceptualisation of inclusion for young children with disabilities in research within low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) contexts, we draw on a bioecological systems perspective to propose the parameters for a broader unit of analysis. This perspective situates human development within a specific cultural context in which family, peers and schooling are regarded as key in responding to young children with disabilities in a given setting. We outline a new bioecological model to illustrate the proximal and distal factors that can influence inclusive…
A better understanding of community concerns and community-based child protection mechanisms can inform the development of national child protection systems in terms of identifying strategies for improved information systems, surveillance and response. The study described in this report set out to identify and systematically learn about the functioning of existing community-based child protection mechanisms in Aceh, Indonesia. For purposes of this research, the goal was to learn deeply about how local people understand children, harms to children, and existing community mechanisms for…
This final report presents key learning, findings, and results of the “Children in Moldova are Cared for in Safe and Secure Families” (Children in Moldova) project. The Children in Moldova project's goal was to improve the safety, wellbeing, and development of highly vulnerable children, particularly those who were living without adequate family care. The project worked to ensure that:
1) across Moldova, 100,000 children who were at risk of losing family care, living with seriously inadequate family care, or outside family care had increased chances to stay with their strengthened…
The objective of this evaluation is to assess the performance of the “Deinstitutionalization of Orphans and Vulnerable Children Project in Uganda” (DOVCU) with regards to the creation of sustainable changes in the lives of two beneficiary groups, namely 43,000 vulnerable children living in targeted households and 2,000 children at risk as a result of an integrated package of support. A second objective was to assess how and if these results came about from systems changes and identify which strategies and approaches were the most effective for achieving the change in children’s lives. The…
Summary
CARE Rwanda’s Nkundabana (Kinyarwanda for “I love children,”) approach provides a community-based solution to the overwhelming problem of child-headed households (CHHs) and households in which adults are unable to provide adequate care for children. Challenged by the impact of civil war, genocide and HIV/AIDS, Rwanda is confronted with one of the highest percentages of orphans in the world. Communities already overburdened by social fragmentation, loss of labor from the HIV/AIDS pandemic, and crippling poverty are unprepared to care for the children left behind. Even the…