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Orphans and vulnerable youth in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe : an exploratory study of psychosocial well-being and psychosocial support programs

GILBORN, Laeila
et al
February 2006

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This is the report of a study to develop a better understanding of psychosocial well-being among vulnerable adolescents and how to measure it, and to explore the effects of participation in psychosocial support programmes on adolescents’ psychosocial well-being. The study focuses on adolescents because of the presence of psychosocial support programmes for this age group in the study area. Adolescence is a distinct stage in psychological development, and vulnerable adolescents, especially those affected by HIV & AIDS, face unique responsibilities and challenges, such as earning wages, managing households, and caring for younger children and sick adults

Can communities influence national health research agendas? A learning process leading to a framework for community engagement in shaping health research policy

BATISTA, Ricardo
et al
2006

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This paper is a record of a consultation on 'Communities Matter' which reviewed case studies of successes and failures of community and civil society engagement, participation and action in health research. The group discussion focused on opportunities and obstacles for communities to engage in health research. It analysed strategies that can be applied to increase a community’s voice in health research, and looked at the concepts, definitions and frameworks that can be used for promoting, advocating and supporting community engagement in health research

The concept of reasonable accommodation in selected national disability legislation

DEPARTMENT FOR ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL AFFAIRS (DESA), UNITED NATIONS
December 2005

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This paper describes how national legislation in selected countries has managed to incorporate the concept of reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. It utilises case studies from the following selected countries: Australia, Canada, European Union, Ireland, Israel, New Zealand, the Philippines, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, United States and Zimbabwe

Civil society involvement in rapid assessment, analysis and action planning (RAAAP) for orphans and vulnerable children : an independent review

GOSLING, Louisa
July 2005

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This review explores civil society organisations' experiences of the Rapid Assessement, Analysis and Action Planning (RAAAP) process - an initiative launched by USAID, UNICEF, UNAIDS, and the World Food Program - for orphans and other vulnerable children in November 2003. It comprises of a review of where civil society organisations were involved and where they were not and an overview of the process of their invovlement. It also offers recommendations for existing and future RAAAPs to ensure greater invovlement of civil society organisations, and includes individual reports on the 16 sub-Saharan African countries invovled in the first round of RAAAP in 2004

Are disabled peoples’ voices from both south and north being heard in the development process?|A comparative analysis between the situation in South Africa, Zimbabwe, United Kingdom and Northern Europe

DUBE, A K
CHAROWA, Gladys
May 2005

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This study reveals that there are major differences between the South and the North regarding issues involving persons with disabilities. It shows that the North provides devices for disabled persons and maintains high standards in disability; whereas countries in the South have weak acts of parliament, in addition to the fact that much of the South does not have social security benefits

USAID project profiles : children affected by HIV/AIDS

UNITED STATES AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT (USAID)
January 2005

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This document presents profiles of 114 projects (90 country-specific, 12 regional, and 12 global) funded by USAID. It includes a section on USAID projects that support access to education in Africa. The project profiles include the names of implementing organisations, funding periods and amounts, objectives, strategies, key accomplishments, priority activities for the year ahead, and materials and tools available to other projects that can help meet the needs of children and youth affected by HIV and AIDS. The diversity of these projects demonstrates the US government's efforts to meet the wide variety of needs of children and youth affected by HIV and AIDS. Approaches vary in both strategy and scale. The vast majority of projects work with communities to identify opportunities that strengthen existing resources without undermining local ownership. In many places, communities are already mobilised and have systems in place to identify, protect, and provide basic necessities to the most vulnerable children. USAID supports the strengthening and monitoring of these existing activities

Psychosocial support training manual

WALKER, Lynn
2005

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This document recognises that psychosocial support for children affected by HIV and AIDS is as important as responding to their material needs. It explores children's experience of loss and grief, and suggests ways to deal with aggressive behaviour and to overcome stigma and discrimination. Some of the topics discussed are accompanied by useful handouts. It is designed as a training tool for professionals working directly with children or in community building projects

Mapping malaria risk in Africa

MAPPING MALARIA RISK IN AFRICA / ATLAS DU RISKE DE LA MALARIA EN AFRIQUE (MARA/ARMA)
December 2004

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This site presents maps of malaria risk and endemicity (the presence of malaria) in Africa, drawing on published and unpublished data, and through spatial modelling of malaria distribution, seasonality and endemicity. Many factors, especially endemicity, affect the choice of control methods. In the absence of such data it is impossible to rationalize the allocation of limited resources for malaria control. This site presents an opportunity to rethink endemicity and how we may map malaria risk in order to better support planning and programming of malaria control

Disability and rehabilitation status : review of disability issues and rehabilitation services in 29 African countries

GIANNELLLI, Massimo
DEEPAK, Sunil
Eds
December 2004

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This report provides information related to disability issues and rehabilitation services, provided by 29 countries of Africa, and includes demographics, the presence of national policies and NGOs. The report is divided into the following three parts: a global review of information, the country profiles and a summary table of the information provided in individual countries. This report is useful for people interested in disability and rehabilitation services in Africa

Young children's participation : rhetoric or growing reality?

November 2004

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This special issue of Early Childhood Matters explores the topic of participation of young children. Some key articles present the analytical framework, exploring the relationship between child development and child participation. It is suggested that participation is not only a right but also an essential component of the development process, enabling children to learn to make informed decisions. Practical examples and field experiences from Mexico, Zimbabwe, The Netherlands, South Africa and Scotland are also included

Hygiene promotion in Burkina Faso and Zimbabwe : new approaches to behaviour change

SIDIBE, Mynam
CURTIS, Val
August 2004

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After years of debate, most people working in water and sanitation now agree that hygiene promotion is vitally important. But even now, many programmes either ignore it or do it badly. This field note describes two African hygiene promotion programmes that have successfully used new approaches: Saniya in burkina Faso and ZimAHEAD in Zimbabwe. Both programmes concentrated on understanding how people actually hehave and hence hot to change that behaviour. Both programmes demonstrated ideas that can be applied at a larger scale. Changin human hygiene behaviour is a long process that is difficult to measure and both of these programmes still have obstacles to overcome. However, this work indicates that systematic and carefully managed hygiene promotion programmes can achieve improvement in hygiene behaviour and hence reduction in diarrhoeal diseases

The use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in African public library services

ROSENBURG, Diana
July 2004

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This article concerns the use of computers in public libraries in developing countries. To investigate the current level of use of ICTs and plans for the future within the public library environment, a survey was undertaken of 22 public library services in ten English-speaking African countries. The results indicate great disparities in the level of access to computers between the countries, and within country, and indicate a need for more funding and appropriate training

Community group participation : can it help young women to avoid HIV? An exploratory study of social capital and school education in rural Zimbabwe

GREGSON, Simon
et al
June 2004

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Evidence shows that young people remain at risk of contracting HIV despite high levels of knowledge about HIV/AIDS. This paper argues that membership of local community groups in rural Zimbabwe is associated with greater avoidance of HIV and safer sexual behaviour. Group membership facilitates access to health information, supports informed hehavioural changes and connects young people to powerful and resourced groupings or institutions. It also looks at factors determining greater participation in community groups and efficient use of community social capital. It finds that young women with secondary education are disproportionately more represented in local groups and more likely to avoid HIV, concluding that there may be a synergistic relationship between school education and social capital

Emerging challenges and opportunities in drug registration and regulation in developing countries

HILL, Suzanne
JOHNSON, Kent
May 2004

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This study describes current drug regulation and registration processes in selected countries, in order to understand how they affect the quality and availability of medicines in developing countries. It puts forward policy recommendations as to how systems can more efficiently allow appropriate quality drugs to be marketed and examines the emerging challenges and requirements posed by compulsory licensing, drugs for neglected diseases, anti-retroviral (ARV) and anti-tuberculosis (TB) drugs

Empowered to differ : stakeholders' influences in community-based rehabilitation

FINKENFLÜGEL, Harry
2004

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'Empowered to differ' equally addresses researchers and CBR professionals. The book gives an overview about the developments in the field of community-based rehabilitation since 1978, using the examples of CBR projects in Southern Africa. Finkenflügel asks for the knowledge and the evidence for CBR and to what extent the roles, interests and powers of stakeholders can contribute to this knowledge and evidence

Disability and HIV & AIDS : a participatory rapid assessment of the vulnerability, impact and coping mechanisms of the disabled people on HIV/AIDS

NGANZI, Patrick
MATONHODZE, George
2004

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This study assesses the vulnerability, impact and coping mechanisms of disabled people on HIV and AIDS, and suggests strategies for developing an HIV and AIDS programme for disabled people’s organisations. Using participatory methodologies of inquiry, the study found that disabled people perceive themselves to be at higher risk of HIV infection due to their disability, regardless of their awareness levels. Their social exclusion from the mainstream HIV/AIDS services makes the situation worse. The study revealed that the many myths and misconceptions around HIV and disability increase the vulnerability of disabled people to HIV/AIDS, such as the belief that sex with a disabled person cleanses a person of HIV/AIDS. It also revealed that disabled people have limited access to HIV/AIDS information and limited use of HIV/AIDS services mainly because of the nature of their disability, the location of the facilities and the attitudes of service providers. In conclusion, the study revealed that disabled people are at a higher risk of infection by sexually transmitted infections and HIV/AIDS due to their exclusion from mainstream HIV interventions. This situation is further exacerbated by the lack of policy framework on disability and HIV and AIDS

Disability and HIV & AIDS : a participatory rapid assessment of the vulnerability, impact, and coping mechanisms of parents of disabled children on HIV & AIDS

NGANZI, Patrick
MATONHODZE, George
2004

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This study assesses the vulnerability, impact and coping mechanisms of parents of disabled children on HIV/AIDS and suggests strategies for developing an HIV and AIDS programme. Using participatory methodologies of inquiry, the study found that the parents of disabled children are at a higher risk of infection to sexually transmitted infections (STI) and/or HIV and that the risk increases as the parents try to cope with having a disabled child. Therefore, a disabled child in a family acts as one of the pre-disposing factors to the parents' infection and when an infection happens in a home, the quality of care for the very disabled child is compromised causing a vicious cycle of disability and HIV/AIDS at the household level.The study recommends that target-specific interventions should be designed and implemented for the parents of disabled children to address issues of HIV/AIDS and disability, empowerment and gender issues as well as sexual reproductive health

The development, implementation and evaluation of interventions for the care of orphans and vulnerable children in Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe : a literature review of evidence-based interventions for home-based child-centred development

STREBEL, Anna
2004

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This short paper gives a literature review of many programmes aimed at supporting orphans and vulnerable groups in the southern Africa region. It is not an in-depth survey, but provides a compact and accessible guide to the many different community initiatives that have been undertaken. It finishes with a short section on the lessons to be learned from care programmes

A description of the selected interventions for the care of orphans and vulnerable children in Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe

DLAMINI, Phetsile K
2004

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This report contributes to phase one of a research programme which explores the social, political, economic and systemic determinants that affect vulnerability to HIV. This report documents existing interventions to gain more in-depth knowledge of interventions at grassroots level, identify their strengths and weaknesses, and consider opportunities and threats; analyse and assess the outcomes of such interventions and whether objectives were met, including the impact on vulnerable children, their families and communities, considering nutritional and education status, and psychosocial well-being; ascertain the level of awareness around HIV and AIDS, and especially of prevention strategies and care

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