Community orphan & vulnerable children care

1. By
Olashore Emmanuel Abiodun

2. In Nigeria, a child can be referred to as person
that is below 18 years old.
An Orphan is a child who have lost either one or
both parents.
A vulnerable child is one whose parent(s) do not
have the capability to care for due to health,
physical, social or economic reasons.

3. “UNAIDS 2007 report showed that
everyday 1,800 new HIV infection
and 1,400 deaths from AIDS-related
illness among children below the
age of 15”
“According to the last
national survey (2008) there
are 17.5million OVC in
Nigeria”

4. Institutional care
Adoption
Foster care
Extended family care
Community based care

5. •Interventions to assist orphans should be based in
and owned by the affected community - (General
consensus)
•Members of the community are in the best
position to know which orphan households are
most severely affected and what sort of help is
appropriate in the local culture
•The role of outside organizations is to assist
communities by capacity building

6. 1.Raising awareness about the problem
2.Documenting the extent of the problem
3.Mobilizing the community for action
4.Making ends meet
5.Helping to educate and train children
6.Improving legal system to help children

7. “Knowledge in time results in changed
attitude”
Helping individuals and communities to become
aware of children’s needs for family love and care,
irrespective of their health, physical, and social
status.
As many people as possible should be involved in
awareness raising activities

8. Assessing the needs of both caregivers and
children – (community members must be fully
involved)
Keeping a register of OVC
Finding out what community can do for
themselves (identifying gaps between needs and
resources)
Checking on progress

9. “Consider the role of outside organizations
existing resources and community
members”
Developing partnership with outside
organizations
Networking all the helping systems e.g. state,
traditional, religious, educational, NGO, CBO,
volunteer e.t.c.
Mobilizing volunteers - (Recruiting, Selecting,
Organizing, Training, and Acknowledging the
efforts of volunteers)

10. “The greatest challenge of communities is
to become more productive so that fewer
adults can care for more children”
•Saving labour
•Directly increasing household income
•Relieving the burden – (food aid, school fees,
cash grants e.t.c.)
•Indirect measures – (protecting property and
inheritance rights of women and children)

11. “Enabling children to stay in school or
to have vocational training improves their
ability to provide for their needs now and
in future”
NGO
Wealthier families
Exception from fees

12. “Orphans lack the protection normally
provided by their parents and can be
exploited”
Advocacies
Changes of legislation (long term)
Free legal system
Protecting the child's right

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