NGOs fuel child-headed families
NON-governmental organizations (NGOs) might need to rethink their strategy in supporting child-headed homes.
By John Eremu in Asmara
NON-governmental organizations (NGOs) might need to rethink their strategy in supporting child-headed homes.
New findings have shown that careless interventions by NGOs have destroyed the community social support systems of orphans and actually contributed to the proliferation of child-headed families.
Frederick Luzze, a former programme officer with the World Vision in Uganda said NGO interventions have at times made the orphans more vulnerable.
“When NGOs move in, they improve the affluence of these child-headed families and the communities start perceiving them as favoured groups rather than very vulnerable members of society,†Luzze told the on-going Early Childhood Development (ECD) conference in the Eritrean capital - Asmara.
Uganda has an orphan population of 2.3 million with 20% below the age of 15. Of these 1.7 million were orphaned due to HIV/AIDS.
Luzze said the failure of the conventional orphan care systems to cope with the increasing number of orphans led to the emergence of NGOs to offer support.
While hailing World Vision for its interventions in Rakai, Luzze said child-headed homes have tended to emerge more where NGOs supporting them operate.
“If NGOs stopped supporting child-headed households in Rakai for instance, the number of child-headed households would drastically drop and the orphans look for other survival methods within the community setting,†Luzze said.
The conference was organised by Eritrea in conjunction with the World Bank.
NON-governmental organizations (NGOs) might need to rethink their strategy in supporting child-headed homes.
New findings have shown that careless interventions by NGOs have destroyed the community social support systems of orphans and actually contributed to the proliferation of child-headed families.
Frederick Luzze, a former programme officer with the World Vision in Uganda said NGO interventions have at times made the orphans more vulnerable.
“When NGOs move in, they improve the affluence of these child-headed families and the communities start perceiving them as favoured groups rather than very vulnerable members of society,†Luzze told the on-going Early Childhood Development (ECD) conference in the Eritrean capital - Asmara.
Uganda has an orphan population of 2.3 million with 20% below the age of 15. Of these 1.7 million were orphaned due to HIV/AIDS.
Luzze said the failure of the conventional orphan care systems to cope with the increasing number of orphans led to the emergence of NGOs to offer support.
While hailing World Vision for its interventions in Rakai, Luzze said child-headed homes have tended to emerge more where NGOs supporting them operate.
“If NGOs stopped supporting child-headed households in Rakai for instance, the number of child-headed households would drastically drop and the orphans look for other survival methods within the community setting,†Luzze said.
The conference was organised by Eritrea in conjunction with the World Bank.