Community Response to Provision of Care and Support for Orphans and Vulnerable Children, Constraints, Challenges and Opportunities: The Case of Chagni Town, Guangua Woreda
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Date
2006-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
The impact of HIV/AIDS on orphan and vulnerable children is one of the challenges that
communities in sub-Saharan countries encounter. Yet, in countries such as Ethiopia, the effort that
communities exert to combat and address the problem and extent of the response has not been fully
documented. This thesis begins to address this gap in existing scholarship by presenting a case study
of one community’s response to the care of orphan and vulnerable children (OVC). Its purpose is to
come up with inputs for designing community-based programs and strategies to address the problem in
the study area. The study was conducted in Guangua woreda, Awi Zone, Amhara National Regional
state. The methods employed are qualitative, utilizing data collection techniques such as interviews
with OVC caregivers, service providers, community-based organizations (CBOs), civil society
associations, and faith-based organizations (FBOs). The research methods also include three case
interviews with OVC and field observation. The main findings suggest that community awareness to
the problem of OVC is relatively high in Chagni- town, but response to the problem is low. HIV/AIDS
and poverty are the main factors that attribute to the vulnerability and problems of OVC and their
caregivers. Almost all OVC and their caregivers live in abject poverty and are unable to meet their
basic needs. The extended family and local HIV/AIDS projects are the main providers of care and
support to OVC in the community. Nevertheless, some community initiatives exist. These include
Egna-Legna Orphan and Street Children Association (ELOSCA), an OVC association, and care and
support by community iddirs. The types of care and support provisions are mainly financial and
material; medical, legal support and psychosocial support are generally non-existent. The main
challenges that the community encounters in OVC care and support are stigma and discrimination,
poverty and lack of OVC policy and guidelines on community-based care and support. Policy and
practice implications of the study include the need for more extensive community assessments of the
situation of OVC and their caregivers. There is also a need to build the capacity of local communities
to respond to OVC, including advocating and lobbying for adoption and foster care, as well as
resource mobilization for comprehensive care and support for OVC living in the community.
Moreover, there is a need for the endorsement of OVC policy as guidelines for implementing
community care and support. The study also suggests the need for more comprehensive communitybased,
integrative approaches that incorporate the prevention of HIV/AIDS in the community and
poverty alleviation programs for children and families
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Social Work