Abstract:

In sub-Saharan Africa, a large proportion of children lack basic necessity and support for optimum development. In Nigeria, the estimated number of children who are orphans and vulnerable and in need of essential care is 17.5 million as of 2008. Major causes of orphaning and vulnerability include poverty, conflicts, HIV/AIDS, road accidents, communicable and non-communicable diseases, and harmful cultural practices. Hence, the Case management approach has been adopted as a community service delivery strategy for addressing the needs of orphans and vulnerable children at the household level. This study investigated vulnerable households in Enugu State who have been ever enrolled into Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) donor-funded programs and received services that are geared toward enhancing their socio-economic stability. The standard OVC custom indicators were used in measuring the results and outcomes of services provided to OVC and their caregivers. The results show significant effect and impact of the case management approach in OVC program service delivery as over 50,000 beneficiaries from over 14,000 households were served from four domains of Healthy, Safe, Schooled and Stable. Households received these services after enrolment and were moved from a state of vulnerability to self-resiliency. Also, results show strong collaboration between OVC implementing NGOs and government stakeholders in terms of capacity building and systems strengthening in addressing the need of OVC and their caregivers. Conversely, results indicated a week synergy between local and state government OVC officials – hampering on their oversight capabilities of OVC programs. This can be improved with increased funding and coordination.

References:

[1] Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, (2007). National Plan of Action on Orphans and Vulnerable Children in Nigeria.

[2] Ibeh, Esther Ngozi (2011), Services Available for Orphans and Vulnerable Children in Enugu State, Department of Social Work, University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

[3] Tom Lantos and Henry J. Hyde (2016), Civic Impulse H. R. 5501 –110th Congress: United States Global Leadership Against HIV and AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Reauthorization Act of 2008 Retrieved from https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/110/hr5501.

[4] Aften Beeler and Kelley Bunkers (2017), Pathways for Exiting Programs for Children Orphaned or Made Vulnerable by HIV, Coordinating Comprehensive Care for Children (4Children), Catholic Relief Services https://ovcsupport.org/resource/pathways-for-exiting-programs-for-children-orphaned-or-made-vulnerable-by-hiv-ovc/.

[5] The Report of the National Guidelines and Standards of Practice on Orphans and Vulnerable Children (2007). A Publication of the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, Abuja: The Child Development Unit.

[6] Catholic Relief Services, 2017, Good Practices in Case Management, 4 Children Project Site Improvement and Monitoring Systems; https://ovcsupport.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/17OS388-SIMS-case-management_FINAL_ONLINE.pdf.

[7] PEPFAR (2012). Guidance for Orphans and Vulnerable Children Programming: Section 3.2.1 Determining Program Beneficiaries. Retrieved from http://www.pepfar.gov/documents/organization/195702.pdf, pages 20-21.

[8] OVC Technical Working Group et al. (2017). Consensus Conference Technical Report on the Role of OVC Programs Supported by PEPFAR in Extending Access to HIV Testing Services: Rationale, General Considerations and Most Immediate Actions. Retrieved from: http://ovcsupport.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/2016-01-23-Consensus-conference-report-OVCHTS_Jan-23_FINALwformat.pdf.

[9]  The Girl Roster Toolkit, Population Council; used within DREAMS programming(2015): http://www.popcouncil.org/ uploads/pdfs/Girl_Roster_flyer.Popcouncil.2015.pdf.

[10] Orphans and Other Vulnerable Children Household Vulnerability Prioritization Toolkit (2017) -Republic of Uganda Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development / Measure Evaluation; https://www.measureevaluation.org/our-work/ovc/2022-orphans-and-other-vulnerable-children-household-vulnerability-prioritization-toolkit/identifying-households-needing-services-for-orphans-and-vulnerable-children-pdf/at_download/file.

[11] Vulnerability Assessment Methodologies: A Review of the Literature http://www.fhi360.org/sites/ default/files/media/documents/Vulnerability%20 Assessment%20Literature%20Review.pdf.

[12] Washington Group on Disability Statistics/UNICEF. Module on Child Functioning and Disability https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/washington_group/ meeting13/wg13_unicef_child_disability_background. pdf.

[13] Anthony S.F., 2016, Operational Considerations for Strengthened Targeting in PEPFAR OVC Program. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, https://differentiatedservicedelivery.org/Portals/0/adam/Content/Hdfg2kwHzEK8j343nxXI_A/File/252263.pdf.

[14] Catholic Relief Services, 2018, Good Practices in Case Management, 4 Children Project Site Improvement and Monitoring Systems; https://ovcsupport.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/17OS388-SIMS-case-management_FINAL_ONLINE.pdf.

[15] Catholic Relief Services, 2018, 4Children Project. Referral Mechanisms within OVC Programming. https://ovcsupport.org/resource/referral-mechanisms-for-children-orphaned-or-made-vulnerable-by-hiv/.

[16] MEASURE Evaluation (2014). Strengthening the Monitoring and Evaluation of Referral Systems. https://www.measureevaluation.org/resources/publications/ fs-14-117.

[17] Institute of Development Studies (2012). Responding to the needs of vulnerable children in Eastern and Southern Africa; https://www.ids.ac.uk/files/dmfile/inf29.pdf.

[18] Tegan George, 2021, An Introduction to Mixed Method Research

https://www.scribbr.com/methodology/mixed-methods-research/.

[19] Babbie, Earl R., 2010, The Practice of Social Research. Doing Quantitative Research in Education with SPSS, Belmont, CA: Wadsworth; London: Cengage Learning, London: Sage Publications. 12(2), https://www.worldcat.org/title/practice-of-social-research/oclc/662584565.

[20] Creswell, J. W. (2013). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approach. Sage publications.

[21] Allen, M. (2017). The SAGE encyclopedia of communication research methods (Vols. 1-4). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc doi: 10.4135/9781483381411.

[22] Collins K.J., du Plooy G.M., Globbelaar M.M., Puttergill C.H., Terre Blanche M.J., van Eeden R., van Rensburg G.H. and Wigston D.J., (2000). Research in the Social Sciences, University of South Africa: RSA.

[23] Durrheim K. & Terre Blanche M. (1999). Research in Practice: Applied Methods for the Social Sciences. 2nd Edition. Cape Town. UCT Press.

[24] Zilungile Pearl Mbatha (2015), Investigating the effectiveness of orphans and vulnerable children
(ovc) programmes in schools: a case of ntuzuma g-section in Durban, College of Humanities at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

[25] John Dudovskiy,2018, The Ultimate Guide to Writing a Dissertation in Business Studies: A Step-by-Step Assistance.

https://www.researchmethodology.net/about-us/ebook/.