CHALLENGES AND STRATEGIES FOR COPING WITH THE ORPHAN

AND VULNERABLE CHILDREN AT FOSTER HOMES  IN

RUBAGA DIVISION

CHAPTER ONE

• Introduction of the study

This chapter presents the general introduction of the study with particular focus on the background of the study, statement of the problem, research questions, study objectives, study scope, significance , conceptual frame work as well as the definitions of key concepts.

1.1 Background of the study

The Uganda Demographic and Health Survey (2006) defined an orphan as a child below the age of 18 or below age 15 with one or both parents deceased. The UDHS (2006) further defined a vulnerable child as one below the age of 18 or below age 15 who has a chronically ill parent or who lives in household where an adult has been chronically ill or has died in the 12 months preceding the survey. However, conventionally a vulnerable child is one who , when compared to other children using a selected set of criteria, is at a great risk of suffering significant physical, emotional or mental harm that may result in the child’s  human rights not being fulfilled. Based on this definition, almost all children in Uganda are vulnerable.

Over the last three decades, the world has witnessed unprecedented upheavals manifesting through civil conflicts, epidemics and natural calamities of varying intensity and scale. As a result, many lives have been lost and maimed, leaving behind thousands of helpless dependants. Children in particular, have become susceptible to social and economic hardships due to loss of parents, illness in the home, displacement and often involuntary neglect. At the end of 2003, there were an estimated 143 million orphans in the world (UNAIDS, 2004). A major contributing factor to these figures is considered to be HIV and AIDS, without which the global number would be declining. In Sub-Saharan Africa, AIDS is said to have increased the number of children orphaned from all causes from 30.9 million in 1990 to 48.3 million by the end of 2005 (UNICEF, 2006).

Uganda has been prone to wars, civil unrest and disasters including road accidents, drought and famine. Uganda has also been severely affected by the HIV and AIDS epidemic, which has exceeded, in terms of cumulative deaths, morbidity and social disintegration, any major war or epidemic in its history. These calamities have together claimed thousands of people, most of them dying in their prime productive ages. Since its recognition in the early 1980‟s, AIDS alone has killed over 800,000 people and over 940,000 others are estimated to be infected (GOU – Ministry of Health, 2006). In the context of a country with high fertility, high adult mortality translates into a high orphan burden. In 2002, the number of orphans in Uganda was 1.8 million, representing 11.5% of all children in the country (GOU-UBOS, 2002). In 2006, there were an estimated 2.3 million orphans in Uganda, representing 14.8% of all children in the country (GOU – National Household Survey, 2006). This implies that the number of orphans had increased by 3.3% over the four years.

The orphans and vulnerable children face increasing challenges in accessing socio-economic and educational services because some of them in forster homes. The government is not able to fund the forster homes due to limited resources from the government. According to the situational analysis of OVCS in Uganda conducted in 2009 by the Ministry of Gender, Labor and Social Development, 96% of the children are vulnerable due to mostly orphanage as well as the un conducive social, economic and political environment in which they are growing. Within this environment, the rights of the OVCS are grossly abused and seeking redress is particularly hard given their level of vulnerability. Striking poverty, disease burden especially HIV/AIDS and the political unrests worldwide continue to leave many children orphaned and greatly vulnerable.

Although there has been increased commitment on the side of the government and NGOs to protect the rights of OVCS as explicitly indicated in the National Orphans and other vulnerable children policy (2004) and the National Strategic Programme Plan of Interventions for Orphans and other Vulnerable children (2004) as well as increased efforts in the provision of basic needs in forster homes, little is known about how OVCS in kampala and particularly in rubaga division get the basice needs in forster homes. Furthermore, the rights of children are internationally, regionally and nationally recognized as indicated by the various legal and policy instruments like the Convention on the rights of a child (UN 1989), the African Charter on the rights and welfare of the child (1999) as well as the various national constitutions and Acts of parliaments worldwide. Besides being entitled to the whole set of rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) as well as other international, regional conventions and treaties, children need to be accorded special rights to facilitate their proper growth and development in all aspects of life (UNICEF, 2004).

Although the above legal instruments provide a universal guide to the protection and advancement of the rights of the children in general, there has been great realization for the need to enhance the protection of the rights of orphans and other vulnerable children at all levels of socio-economic and political organization (UNDP, 2008). With several studies done all around the globe showing the increasing number of OVCS due to striking poverty, diseases especially HIV/AIDS as well as armed conflicts, putting up special avenues through which the rights of OVCS can be advanced is of paramount importance (International AIDS Alliance, 2008).

Children in the foster care system are usually removed from their parent’s care due to parental neglect, abuse, and abandonment. Since the beginning of the foster care system there has been a dramatic increase in the number of children in foster care (Canton, 2009). Due to their past history, many foster children suffer from physical, mental, and behavioral issues; this makes it vital that they be placed with a stable foster home (Newton, Litronwnik, & Landsverk, 2000). According to the latest Administration for Children and Families (AFCARS, 2010) report, there were over 400,000 children in the United States living in foster care, yet there were only 170,000 foster homes. Over the past 60 years the trend has shown an ever increasing demand for foster homes, however over the past 10 years, the number of available foster homes in California has dropped 30% (Bell, 2010).

Due to the rising number of orphans & vulnerable children in rubaga division kampala. This study intends to investigate into the challenges and strategies for coping with the orphan and vulnerable children at foster homes  in rubaga division.

1.2 Statement of the problem                                                                                                       

Over the last three decades, the world has witnessed unprecedented upheavals manifesting through civil conflicts, epidemics and natural calamities of varying intensity and scale. As a result, many lives have been lost and maimed, leaving behind thousands of helpless dependants. At the end of 2003, there were an estimated 143 million orphans in the world (UNAIDS, 2004), this has thus increased on the need for foster homes.

Uganda as a country has been prone to wars, civil unrest and disasters including road accidents, drought and famine, family break down, HIV and AIDS epidemic, which has exceeded, in terms of cumulative deaths, morbidity and social disintegration, all these calamities has increased on the suffering leading to the need for the development of forster homes to be in position to take care of orphans and vulnerable children.

Forster homes in Uganda has not been given much priority by the government as a result Uganda has only 82 approved foster homes as of march, 2019, thought there are many orphans and vulnerable children in Uganda who stay in the streets of Kampala and some in the villages who live in despicable conditions and as a result foster homes which exist have very few facilities which are not able to provide suitable facilities to enhance better quality of life for these children .

Its against this background that this research intends to investigate into the challenges and strategies for coping with the orphan and vulnerable children at foster homes in Rubaga Division, Kampala .

1.3 Research Questions

1. What are the challenges orphans and vulnerable children face in forster homes?
2. What are the strategies for coping with the orphan and vulnerable children at forster homes?

• What are the benefits of forster homes to orphans and vulnerable children?

1.4 Objectives of the Study

1. To examine the challenges orphans and vulnerable children face in forster homes
2. To investigate the strategies for coping with the orphan and vulnerable children at forster homes.

• To investiaget the benefits of forster homes to orphans and vulnerable children.

1.5 Hypothesis of the study

1. Orphans and vulnerable children face challenges in forster homes.
2. It is possible for forster homes to overcome the challenges they face.

• There are benefits of forster homes to orphans and vulnerable children.

1.6 Scope and limitations of the study

1.6.1 Geographical scope

The study will be carried out from the forster homes in Rubaga division.

1.6.2 Content Scope

The study will include the following;the challenges orphans and vulnerable children face in forster homes, the strategies for coping with the orphan and vulnerable children at forster homes and the benefits of forster homes to orphans and vulnerable children.

1.6.3Time scope

The study will be carried from November 2019 to August 2020. This time period has been chosen because the study seeks to be in position to review documents relating ophans and vulnerable children for some time to enable the information reported to be comperehensive.

1.7 locale of the study

The study wikll be carried out in Rubaga division specifically in forster in the division. The study also will choose the sample size purposively and this will include the care givers and the children in the forster homes.

This population has been chosen because they have enough knowledge reguarding the subject under investigation.

1.8 Significance of the study

1. The study will enable future researcher have information on the challenges orphans and vulnerable children face in forster homes
2. The study will also provide relevant infortion on the strategies for coping with the orphan and vulnerable children at forster homes.

• The study will enable the government of Uganda have information on the benefits of forster homes to orphans and vulnerable children.

1.9 Theoretical

This study will be guided by Maslow’s theory of Motivation as cited in Okumbe (2012) which argues that individuals (in these case students) grow well better when all physiological needs are gratified. Maslow further elaborated the theory in Okumbe (2012) and lists the physiological needs like hunger, thirst, sleep and other needs. Kasenene (2016) citing Maslow (1972) emphasized that students cannot expend energy , grow well and learn if they are hungry and malnourished. However, in developing countries like Uganda, these needs may not be given priority in poor forster homes yet are likely to affect a child’s personal development and this has driven the researcher to use this theory in order to examine the challenges and strategies for coping with the orphan and vulnerable children at foster homes.

1.10 Conceptual frame work

Adopted from Abraham maslows hierarchy of needs

1.11 Definition of key Concepts

Orphan:                     Any person who is below the age of 18 years, who has lost one or both parents due to death (MoGL&SD, 2009).

: Any child below the age of 18 years who has lost one or both parents to any cause (World vision 2000).

Violence against children:    All actions or omissions/inactions that harm children’s physical and emotional wellbeing. It includes sexual, physical, emotional abuse, child neglect and abandonment, subjection of children to hazardous work, conscription in armed conflict and child sacrifice (Hunter & Williamson, 2000).

Vulnerable child:                  A child who is suffering and/or is likely to suffer any form of abuse or deprivation and is therefore in need of care and protection;

This is a child who, based on a set of criteria when compared to other children, bears a substantive risk of suffering significant physical, emotional or mental harm.

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.0 Introduction

This chapter will deal with the literature review. Different themes will be reviewed in order to synthesize what is known and not known about the topic. The literature will be reviewed according to the specific objectives: the challenges orphans and vulnerable children face in forster homes, the strategies for coping with the orphan and vulnerable children at forster homes and the benefits of forster homes to orphans and vulnerable children.

2.1 Challenges orphans and vulnerable children face

Food and Nutrition In order to cope with food shortages, households react by reducing food intake, for instance by cutting the number of meals per day, which in the long term may lead to chronic malnutrition. Wakhweya et al (2002) noted that a significant portion of orphan households were not able to provide the three meals required in a day. Topouzis (1994) further noted that in Kabarole, the number of meals was in some cases reduced from three to two and in Tororo and in Gulu from two to one. Young widows reported regularly skipping meals (especially lunch) thereby jeopardizing their health and their ability to take care of their families. Cutting meals in effect allows families enough food just to survive and remain alive. However, it does not guarantee the required nutrition for normal growth in case of children or optimum physical and mental functioning for adults.

In families headed by elderly caretakers, children must assume greater roles in farming in a bid to sustain food security. Topouzis (1994) noted that older children aged ten years and above worked longer hours to assist single parents and their contribution to agricultural activities increased significantly. Children who lost both parents and were living with relatives were more likely to work longer hours than children who had only lost one parent and remained in the nuclear home. De Waal and Tumushabe (2003) further note that as food insecurity mounts, families resort to labour provided by children (implying they either have to combine school and work or drop out altogether) as the families struggle to maintain their traditional cropping patterns. However, Topouzis (2003) notes that in the contemporary situation, child labour may not ensure long term food security for households, because children may not live with their original families when they eventually grow, and more importantly, they may not have had sufficient exposure to farm work to gain the skills and experience to sustain the farming patterns. She asserts that the death of one or both parents deprives the family of the necessary knowledge, experience or skills to run the household farm. The surviving parent or children may not have the skills and experience required to sustain certain crops or animals. The net effect is that affected families gradually but steadily descend into vulnerability since their traditional sources of food and income cannot be sustained. De Waal and Tumushabe (2003) indicate that in pursuit of rationalising the remaining labour for agricultural production, some families switch to growing crops that need less labour, often at the expense of labour intensive but highly nutritious crops. Rendering further credence to this finding, Topouzis (1994) found out that widows in Kabarole gave up growing tomatoes, a major cash crop, which they previously grew jointly with their husbands due to lack of money for fungicides. In Tororo district, rice and millet, which are labour-intensive, were also often abandoned in favour of maize and cassava which require less labour. All studies note that alterations in food composition can compromise dietary quality even when the quantity of food produced may remain stable

Shelter

One common coping strategy adopted by the families is sharing whatever facilities and resources are available across all the children in the household, regardless of whether they are biological or not. In their study on orphan care in Ethiopia, Abebe and Aase (2007) found that caretakers were keen at being unbiased in as they offered care and emphasized the importance of being fair when buying clothes for or feeding children in the household. Similarly, a study of intra-household differences in health seeking behaviour for orphans and non-orphans in Uganda found no differences in the way orphans and non orphans were cared for at household level (Muhwezi, Muhangi and Mugumya, 2009). In order to balance the burden of care across different members of the extended family, families where both parents have passed away are reconfigured and children distributed among different households. This practice has been part of the African culture even before the escalation of the orphan problem. As noted by Mathambo and Gibbs (2009), children have always purposively migrated between a fixed set of relatives for a number of reasons ranging from strengthening relationships, facilitating access to better educational facilities, offering companionship to childless couples or grandparents, instilling discipline in a difficult child or to alleviate pressure on a household facing economic difficulties. However, while this practice passes as normal African practice and as a viable survival strategy, studies have found out that children confront uphill challenges in receiving families and social and psychological costs of adjustment have been high. For instance, they get removed from their acquaintances and long known circles of friendship and solace, they often get resented in poor households that take them out of obligation and sometimes get allocated more household work due to lack of political or social power in the new settings. In other instances, children brought up in urban areas often find it hard to adjust to rural life and vice versa (Abebe, Aase, 2007; Mathambo, Gibbs, 2009; Nyambedha, Wandibba, Aagaard-Hansen, 2003). 34 Shelter is closely linked to household income and consequently many other strategies adopted to address shelter relate to efforts made by families to raise income. Micro enterprising such as selling charcoal, brewing local alcohol, handicrafts, and grocery selling are common prominent strategies adopted as a means of generating income (Rugalema, 1998, Sauerborn et al, 1996). Women, especially surviving parents of orphans also engage in wage labour as a means of earning income (Wakhweya et al, 2002). In some cases, household members, including children migrate to urban areas in search of employment. With support from local and international organizations, many families engage in various forms of income-generating activities (IGAs) to elevate their levels of income. However, in most instances these IGAs have been designed along external stereotypes and hence reflect very little originality or relevance to local circumstances. For instance, ideas for IGAs are often applied to many communities without proper market or skills assessments. Therefore, in many cases the effort expended on these IGAs is quite out of proportion to the financial returns. Ultimately, IGAs as a strategy for empowering households to meet the needs of orphans has generated mixed results. For instance, in their review of HIV and AIDS community based care interventions, Asingwirie and Muhangi (1998) found that although IGAs were effective in leveraging local resources and keeping foster families together, most agricultural projects were not worthwhile as the returns on labour were found to be too low. Seeking assistance from external sources is also a dominant strategy used by families to plug the holes in delivery of care and support to orphans. The most popular response in this regard is from NGOs and to some extent faithbased organizations. NGOs have largely responded to the plight of orphans by providing information, vocational training, basic education, medical care and micro-credit services. However, as Mukasa, 2004 (cited in MOGLSD, 2004) notes, these interventions remain limited in scope, coverage, impact, comprehensiveness and coordination. 35 Mangoma, Chimbari and Dhlombo (2008) further note that as a result of poor coordination, NGO services overlap and duplication of services is often apparent. They further indicate that NGO services do not achieve much impact as they often operate with little and inflexible resources. The ultimate impact is that NGO services do not achieve optimum reach and coverage. Transfer payments, usually in form of money and physical goods from employed relatives is also a common form of external support that assists some extended families to provide care for orphans. Kalibala and Elson (2009) note that in many households caring for orphans, some relatives living and working in the cities and abroad do send remittances to the caregivers, which were reported to have made a difference in that they improved the care provided to the vulnerable children. However, it is acknowledged that the proportion of families with opportunities of accessing transfer earnings still remains paltry currently accounting for only five percent of all households in Uganda (UBOS 2006). Kalibala and Elson (ibid) also note that the money sent is often not adequate and often it intended to cover only education and not the other needs of the vulnerable children. With limited external support, it is apparent that households are struggling to shoulder the burden of care for orphans using the paltry resources at their disposal. For example, a Wakhweya et al. (2002), indicated that eighty four percent of orphan households in Uganda were not receiving any form of assistance from government, community or other external agency, even though the vast majority of these households were living in poverty. Similarly, UBOS/Macro International Inc. (2006) further found out that as many as nine in ten orphans in Uganda lived in households that had not received any type of external support. With numerous demands placed on them, and as the crisis deepens, some households resort to liquidation of savings or selling off assets to raise funds for immediate survival needs. As noted by Salaam (2005), some of these strategies may yield short term solutions but also serious long term implications. 36 For instance, the consequences of depleting family assets are difficult to reverse because future household capacity to generate income and reinstate the property becomes seriously undermined, leading to perpetual destitution of the household.

Education With limited resources,

parents and caretakers usually strive to keep children in schools where fees are lower or where there are no fees at all. However, it is recognized that in many instances, such opportunities where there are no fees are rare. With the help of government and civil society organizations, caretakers have lobbied schools to drop charges for orphans or to accept part payment of school fees. For instance, in a situational analysis of orphans and vulnerable children in Zambia (1999), it was noted that one method of dealing with the shortage of funds to pay for school fees was to lobby schools to waive school fees for orphans. This was seen to work in one district, where waiver of fees increased enrollment dramatically (Government of Zambia, 1999). However, the flip side of this initiative as noted in the same report was that where children were allowed to attend school without paying fees, the parents who are paying felt undermined, and it placed the viability of the school in jeopardy. It was also seen to have potential for creating disharmony and tension in communities and setting people apart from one another. Combining school and work especially for older children is another prominent strategy used by orphan caretaker families to meet the costs of education. Older children, especially boys engage in various activities in order to earn income to pay fees and also to sustain livelihoods of the families. However, some of these activities are often inappropriate for their age. In their study on problems and wishes of orphans in Zimbabwe, Mangoma, Chimbari and Dhlomo (2008) note that some orphans, particularly the older ones, were involved in income-generating activities like selling of vegetables, fruits, and pan cakes. 37 Others were involved in making mats out of reeds and grass for sale locally while others bought and sold fish heads and belly flaps from a local fish factory. Faced with limited resources, parents and caretakers often exercise gender segregation in regard to education, preferring to keep boys rather than girls in school, especially in higher classes. Oleke et al (2007) note that the propensity for female orphans to be removed from school was higher than that of boys. Girls, more than boys were more likely to be removed to provide care for ill parents or close relatives and to provide labour, particularly in agriculture. A study on improving access to secondary education in Kenya similarly revealed that being male increases the probability of secondary education participation (Ngware, Onsomu, Muthaka, Manda, 2006). According to the study, intuitively, parents value the education of male children more than that of females based on the cultural perception that the expected future returns from educating female children are less for boys as it is perceived that female children will be married and, therefore, join the marital household. However, in their study on extended family‟s and women‟s role in orphan education in Zimbabwe, Nyamukapa and Gregson (2005) show contradictory findings where more orphaned girls than boys had completed primary education. Given the costs associated with formal basic education and the unpredictable returns, many parents, caretakers and orphans tend to prefer vocational training to formal education. Consequently, vocational education pursued through informal community schools and apprenticeship mechanisms has evolved as a prominent mechanism for orphan education. These schools condense the formal government curricula into shorter durations (six months to one year), and because they are usually supported by NGOs, do not charge fees or require their pupils to wear uniforms (Government of Zambia, 1999). The teachers are usually community volunteers although it is also recognized that they are unreliable and have high attrition rates compared to paid teachers.

Healthcare For many orphan caretakers,

Access to medical care is strenuous as they have no disposable income to pay bills. Therefore, their main source of health care is the public health facility that is within proximal distance. Some studies (Hailu and Gezahegne, 2002) indicate that families also seek financial assistance from relatives and friends to meet their healthcare needs. The support from relatives is critically important to procure private healthcare services in common situations when public health facilities fail. Pressed by the high cost of seeking medical care, many poor households postpone seeking health care and resort to self-treatment or visit a traditional healer. Wakhweya et al (2002) found out that 15% of the orphans reported that they were not receiving medical care citing caretakers‟ failure to find the money to seek care. It is only after the health condition worsens that they are forced to visit a formal health facility at the last hour.

Psychosocial Support

Current literature on this dimension of care and support for orphans seems to highlight the need for psychosocial support for orphans and their caretakers, much more than the strategies to address the problem. Therefore, strategies for coping with stress and emotional needs remain scanty and in most cases in form of generic recommendations. Mangoma, Chimbari and Dhlombo (2008) highlight the role of the church and community based organizations as critical to addressing the psychosocial needs of orphans and their caretakers. Similarly, in their study on the stresses and strengths of HIV-affected Ugandan grandmothers, Kamya and Poindexter (2009) noted that spirituality was a key mechanism caretakers used in mitigating stress. In the study, more than seventy percent of the respondents referred to spirituality as a key source of their strength and resilience. In his study on social adjustment of orphaned grandchildren and the perceived care giving stresses in Kenya.

Odhiambo-Oburu (2004) noted that poor access to instrumental support in form of economic transfers was the most significant cause of stress for caring grandmothers. He contends that stress was heightened by failure to meet basic needs. Consequently, he observed that capacity building programs and instrumental support should be extended to these caretakers, which would in the long run make fostering grandmothers to be able to overcome economic handicaps that predispose them to experience elevated levels of stress. In a related study, Muthoni Kimemia (2006) indicated that emotional and instrumental support were significant strategies for coping with stress among caregivers. She notes that as caregivers struggle to provide the care recipients with medication, dietary requirements and at the same time meet their own needs as well as those of other family members, instrumental support is vital for survival. Muthoni Kimemia (2006) further points out hope as an important strategy for coping with psychosocial and emotional challenges among caretakers. She points out that in light of the increasing burden for care, it important that caregivers maintain a sense of optimism and don‟t give up. In many instances, orphan caregivers have approached their roles with incredible optimism and some are actually motivated to do it. For instance, in their study on orphan care in Ethiopia, Abebe and Aase (2007) found that despite the challenges faced, grandparents expressed satisfaction they had from being care providers and some emphasized spiritual reasons for doing it. Kamya and Poindexter (2009) similarly found the same optimism in Uganda where caretakers described the love between them and their grandchildren and the joy of being able to meet the grandchildren‟s needs as a source of their own strengthen and satisfaction. They argued that orphans were mirror images and a constant reminder of their (grandparents‟) deceased children. The foregoing literature on coping strategies highlights a situation where against all odds, caretakers are trying to nurture and raise their children. Despite the hardships, many have approached the challenge with optimism, some viewing it through the lens of spirituality. They have consequently demonstrated hope, wisdom, and generosity.

2.2 Strategies for coping with the orphan and vulnerable children at forster

In the context of OVC, Masuka et.al. (2012) points out that due to urbanization, traditional community structures for child protection have been decimated, resulting in the emergence of social problems such as the street children phenomenon. According to NAC (2011) the government and NGOs intervened to support the strained traditional strategies in coping with OVC due to the HIV/AIDS pandemic. NAP for OVC (2009) and NAC (2011) argue that the foregoing discussion precipitated the state taking a leading role in addressing the issues of child protection while submerging the traditional protection systems such as the family and the community. NAP for OVC (2009), Chizororo (2008) and Masuka et.al. (2012) indicate the following as contemporary OVC coping strategies brought in by the government and henceforth constituted the NGO framework of implementing their programmes in a co-ordinated governance approach: (1) Legislative; (2) Child social programmes; (3) Institutional care; (4) National Action Plan (NAP) for OVC; and (5) Basic Education Assistance Model (BEAM). However, two of the above were conceptualized in detail in this as being government OVC legislative and policy frameworks because they are fundamental and entrench other contemporary strategy.

The concept of community is based on three or four elements, namely community as people, community as a geographical area or territory, and community representing shared norms and values (Maxwell, 1999). Two elements that are critical for this study are community as people and as shared norms and values. Community as people refers to a group of individuals who live together and are 33 defined as such. Community as shared norms denotes a group of people whose life is regulated by similar codes of conduct and sharing a similar ethos and cultural values. Thus, every community has coping strategies entrenched within its culture and traditions. A coping strategy refers to means of livelihoods or methods employed to mitigate and improve the capacity level of the local community. It is an adaptive mechanism to impending or experienced calamity (CARE, 2010; Biemba, 2010). Local communities have over the years developed mechanisms to cope with circumstances perceived as bedeviling their continued survival. These coping strategies are locally based. Hence, the nomenclature community-based coping strategy is used to refer to the locally based survival mechanisms. In this study, these coping strategies are connected with OVC and their overall goal is to mitigate and improve the livelihoods of OVC (Biemba, 2010). The concept of ‘community-based’ was first used by the World Bank (WB) in the late 1970s and early 1980s. In its policy framework, the Bank described community-based as being a locally-based knowledge framework (grassroots) that is aimed at addressing social problems (such as deviant behaviours) experienced by the host community (Cloke, Grang & Godwin, 2009). Community-based coping strategies are aimed at addressing social problems experienced by people at community level and they are derived from the knowledge systems of the local people (Chambers, 1987). The sustainability of community-based coping strategies lies in the fact that they derive their strength from the host culture. Schwartz, Luycks, Kilmstra and Duriez (2012) emphasize that community-based coping strategies are an OVC in-built care system. In recent years; the term ‘communitybased’ has come to mean both traditional and contemporary coping strategies. The former emphasizes grassroots (bottom-up) while the latter emphasizes state-driven approaches (World Bank, 2012).

In general terms, traditional/indigenous coping strategies are considered the same as community initiated approaches to mitigate problems associated with OVC (Biemba, 2010; CARE, 2010). However, the concept of indigenous coping strategies is a contested terrain. Chizororo (2008) makes the point that there is no agreed definition of the concept of traditional coping strategies. Another problem associated with the unavailability of a precise definition of traditional coping strategies was noted by Kugler, Togarasei and Gunda (2011) who observe that writings on traditional coping strategies have been produced mostly by foreigners, some of whom may not do justice to traditional coping strategies frameworks. These writings are more likely to misrepresent traditional values (Mbiti, 1986; Gelfand, 1973; Holleman, 1951; Kebsy, 1996). The challenges related to definition are compounded by the fact that few African writers have attempted to define traditional coping strategies and this has allowed for non-African writers to develop their own definitions. Kugler et.al. (2011) postulates that the custodians of the information in African communities were elderly people and traditional leaders. However, a small number of indigenous scholars such as Mbiti (1976), Letseka (2004) and Samkange (1980) have established that African traditional societies have various mechanisms to mitigate challenges faced by vulnerable groups of people within their communities. Vulnerable groups in African societies include poor people, orphans, widows, the elderly and strangers. According to Lassister (1983), child protection in the traditional society was well guarded and enshrined in the informal arrangements that existed. For example, rearing a child within the African societies was not individualistic but a communal task. Muronda (2009) and Roby (2011) concur that raising children was a collective responsibility. Samkange (1980) reveals that an achievement by a child was celebrated by the whole community and it was the pride of the whole community and not of a single family. Machingura (2012) emphasizes that traditionally, the community was known as the foundation of life and members of the society were to be moulded with the cultural values and traditions of their society. 36 Masuka et.al. (2012) and NAC (2011) suggest that these traditional coping strategies for OVC in Zimbabwe include extended family and village structures. Ngwerume (2006) argues that if the extended family fails to adequately mitigate OVC problems, village structures would come in to assist. Machingura (2012) emphasises that African societies were so organized within their informal structures that they had procedures and protocols to guide them in their cultural dealings. Thus, in the same order, when the village level is overburdened, the chief and his subjects would come in to assist. Muronda (2009) points out that it was the obligation of the rich to assist their poor relatives either by giving them free assistance, borrowing or lending money or cattle. Letseka (2004) observes that it was a shame for a rich person when his relative fails to plough his field in his presence. Such practice was regarded as witchcraft, evil and irresponsible. Thus, the wealthy members of the extended family had the obligation to loan out to their poor relatives’ cattle “kurodzerwa mombe (cattle lending) or to the non-relatives of the society for draught power in the fields. This concept of ‘kurodzera mombe” was a benevolent gesture by the richer people of the society to mitigate poverty and vulnerability. In return, the poor people were obliged to take care of the cattle as if they were his or her own property. The poor, according to Mararike (2004), would milk cows and use the cattle for draught power and thereby improve their own situation. At the extended family level, there was the chief level of safety net to the OVC and the poor people of the community. At this level, there are several support and social security mechanisms. Different village heads at this level would come together with their resources to assist the poor. Letseka (2004) and Mararike (2004) note the corporate farming (nhimbe) where people would come together to assist poor people in farming and co-operative cattle herding (madzoro/majana). Sithole (2014:1) revealed that nhimbe is a community collective action mechanism that is used carefully to assist households in both short-term emergency and longer-term developmental situations. Nhimbe draws on social capital underpinned by community cultural values found among members of the community, particularly inter-household bonds, reciprocity, trust, solidarity, respect and peace. 37 At the societal level, the chief had a mechanism of support to OVC. One major example of the chief/king/mambo approach was the Zunde ramambo (King’s granary). The Zunde ramambo is explained in detail below together with the extended family as major traditional OVC coping strategies. Although Zunde ramambo and extended family appear to have been weakened by factors such as modernization, urbanization, industrialization and economic crisis in Zimbabwe, the concepts and model of child rearing are important in the context of African cultural heritage in OVC care and support. According to Muronda (2009), these two traditional mechanisms were predominantly used in Zimbabwe and other African countries in the pre-colonial and independence era. In the one hand, Kaseke (1987) argues that the traditional OVC coping strategies can be identified as pre-independence or colonial strategies because social welfare services were established for the white population. On the other hand, he notes that the contemporary strategies can be referred to as post-independence mechanisms because that is when most African governments took it over from the various white governments.

Extended Family Safety Net System Extended family refers to the group of blood relatives comprising grandparents, father, mother, children and relatives of parents, all of which share food, residence and resources from a common pool. These extended family relationships were maintained through visiting, economic support and ritualism (Chizororo, 2008). Extended family is different from a nuclear family in that the latter involves only parents and children (Bourdillon, 1990; Nyamukapa & Gregson; 2005). Mudenge (1988) and Gelfand (1997) postulate that during the pre-colonial era, the Shona rural communities were largely organized along extended family system lines (musha).

In traditional Shona communities, the desire for children permeates the entire community. Masuka et al (2012:2) observed that: “traditionally children have been viewed as central to the society; hence their protection has been rendered an issue of particular concern to the whole community.” Mbiti (1976; 1991) adds that the main purpose of African marriages was to bear children for continuity of the lineage. Thus, children were considered as a heritage and a symbol of wealth and security of the society. In this regard, Samkange (1980) argues that that is the reason why barrenness or infertility was an unacceptable event in African societies. Remedially, Africans had their own ways and mechanisms of making sure that an infertile family would still have a child or children. However, while not condoning practices such as the young brother to the wife’s husband engaging in relations with the sister-in law (maiguru) or the young sister (mainini) of the wife engaging in relations with the brother-in law (babamukuru) to bear children, the idea behind the concept points to the value African societies attach to children. These activities would be secretive in that no-one outside neither the family circle nor the children themselves would know about it to maintain the integrity of the family.

A Critique of the Traditional OVC Coping Strategies; Traditional OVC coping strategies are a product of moral traditionalism school of thought according to Huller (2001). Huller (2001) defines moral traditionalism as a view regarding the moral justification of social rules that binds the community together. It holds that neither reason nor approved conventions such as policies and constitutions can legitimize the way on which the society should live. In the context of this study, the traditional OVC coping strategies such as the extended family safety nets and the Zunde Ramambo conceptualized above are entrenched in moral traditionalism. The stregths of these traditional coping strategies are anchored in the collective ability of moral traditionalism to create peace, togetherness and stability in the socities as alluded to in the previous sections. Whilst these traditional approaches helped a lot in the past, it begun to face various challenges in sustaining the communities because of external transformational forces that comes with globalization and modernity.

2.3 Benefits of forster homes to orphans and vulnerable children

The orphanhood issue in Africa predates the AIDS epidemic, but the traditional systems took care of orphans through complex mechanisms including child fosterage, exchanges of children between families, remarriage customs like levirate and sororate, and so forth.(Audemard, Vignikin, and Desgre´es du Louˆ 2006; Verhoef 2005). During the last decades, the number of orphans has increased due to HIV/AIDS while high rates of adult mortality,economic crisis, cultural transition, and other social challenges have negatively affected family solidarity (Abebe and Aase 2007; Oleke, Blystad, and Rekdal 2005; Foster, Drew, and Makufa 1995). Many caregivers are either too old or too young to adequately care for orphaned children, and many orphans leave their foster families to become street children.

Strategic thinkers are sending alarming messages that the traditional system is collapsing and will no longer be able to care for all the children (Foster 2000). Institutional care is an alternative to provide care for orphans when kinship care is  unavailable. But several studies suggest that early institutionalization increases the risk for psychosocial and developmental problems, including attachment disorders and deficits in cognitive functioning (Sigal et al. 2003; Makame, Ani, and Grantham-McGregor 2002;  Castle et al. 1999). Such adverse outcomes, together with scandals concerning the coercion  of biological parents and child abuse, motivated industrialized countries to close down  orphanages after World War II (McKenzie 1999; Wiener 1998) while in Africa, institutional care is still common. Nowadays, there are two trends of thought about institutional care.