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The sheer number of orphaned and vulnerable children is overwhelming. Many well-meaning donors are funding orphanages as a solution to the problem. However, orphanages are expensive and can only reach small numbers of children. Research by the World Bank in Tanzania, for example, found the cost of operating orphanages to be six times higher than the cost of caring for children in the community. Most importantly, orphanages separate children from family and community life. They often fail to meet children’s developmental needs and do not prepare them for adult life in the larger society. While…
All children should be cared for in a family environment by their parents, relatives or other loving adults. But there are growing numbers of children who do not enjoy this most basic right and suffer from neglect and extreme vulnerability.
Children’s lives become precarious when they lose a parent because of illness, accident or conflict. The emotional, educational, spiritual and physical needs of children who live without parental care are often neglected and they may resort to dangerous activities to survive.
This handbook describes some innovative examples of how many faith-based…
In the African continent, 99.5 per cent of people claim a ‘religious connection’: there are 2 million congregations of different faiths and more than half of these are Christian. In some churches, every single member is involved in caring for orphans and vulnerable children.
With proper resourcing the potential of churches is huge:
- Prevention: churches have unparalleled influence and a long reach into remote areas. They have captive audiences and wide communication networks for spreading messages about AIDS.
- Care: church volunteers could move beyond offering…
Eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, reducing child mortality and achieving all the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) related to health and education are largely dependent on progress in nutrition. If undernutrition is not successfully addressed, it will be difficult to reach the other MDGs. Every year, it is estimated that undernutrition contributes to the deaths of about 5.6 million children under the age of fi ve. One out of every four children under five – or 146 million children in the developing world – is underweight for his or her age, and at increased risk of an early death.…
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 capacity of extended…
Incidents of communal violence, rioting and civil conflict displace hundreds and thousands of Nigerians yearly, with children constituting over half of those affected by such emergencies. Children in populations hit by conflict may be exposed to physical violence, deprived of access to school and other basic services, and be vulnerable to spontaneous recruitment in armed gangs. Vulnerability to abuse and exploitation is increased when children become separated from their families as they flee to escape the violence.
Despite the problems faced by children in…
In many communities, the extended family system and other traditional safety nets responsible for orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) are being severely strained by the multiple, mutually reinforcing impacts of HIV and AIDS. Building on proven strategies, World Vision continues to seek cost effective ways to help communities provide care for the unprecedented number of children and families made vulnerable by the pandemic. Through the Models of Learning programme, World Vision has developed a strategy that interlinks three core programming models to address the needs of children and others…
This brief report addresses the devastating impact of HIV/AIDS on children and families in Sub-Saharan Africa, a region that is home to over 80% of the 15 million children under the age of 18 who have been orphaned by the pandemic worldwide. The health, education, safety, and survival of increasing numbers of children are particularly at risk in African countries that are heavily affected by HIV/AIDS, poverty and disease. The most promising solutions to this mounting crisis look beyond orphanages and institutional care to more sustainable, cost-effective, and developmentally appropriate…
Fighting Back looks at the experiences of children living in conflict situations, and focuses on strategies to prevent the recruitment of children into armed groups. Following interviews and discussion with around 300 children and 200 parents and carers in Ivory Coast, Liberia and Sierra Leone, it highlights a number of preventative strategies used by children, families and communities. These include moving to a safe place and avoiding family separation.
This report reveals the complexity of the issue of children’s recruitment into armed forces. It highlights the need for context-…
The phenomenon described as a “child-headed household” was first noted in the late 1980s in the Rakai district of Uganda. Up until this point it was assumed that ‘there is no such thing as an orphan in Africa’, as children without parents would be easily and naturally looked after within the households of their extended families which traditionally acted as the continent’s social security system - protecting vulnerable community members, caring for the poor and sick and transmitting traditional social values and education.
The recent magnitude of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, particularly in Sub-…