Who are the most vulnerable? Disaggregating orphan categories and identifying child outcome status in Tanzania

Abstract

In 2005, UNICEF Tanzania commissioned the National Institute of Medical Research (NIMR) in Mwanza to analyse data collected regarding the circumstances of orphan and non-orphan children and their care providers in Kisesa ward in Magu district in north Tanzania. The large sample (n = 1,960) of children aged 6–19 years has made an analysis of disaggregated data possible. This article builds on the analysis from the report Circumstances of Orphan and Non-orphan Children and their Care Providers in Mwanza, Tanzania with a focus on vulnerability indicators in children's living arrangements, education, paid work and psychosocial well-being. The analysis draws particular attention to the vulnerable girl child. Other studies in eastern and southern Africa have also identified the particular vulnerabilities of the girl child such as dropping out of school and early marriage. The findings from Magu suggest further that in many situations, the most vulnerable child is the girl who has an absent or deceased mother. Fine-grained analysis allows the policy maker or decision maker on targeting service provision to ascertain the multiple variations of vulnerability. Particular emphasis on the girl within situation analyses should inform the work of community-based service provision organizations and public sector social workers and educationalists. Finally, vulnerabilities associated with widespread and chronic poverty underlay and in some instances will be ‘hidden’ to the observer looking for vulnerabilities related to demographic factors and household restructuring. Their complex interplay reiterates the need for AIDS impact mitigation measures to be built upon a comprehensive and robust social protection programme driven itself by poverty reduction objectives.

Keywords:

• Orphans
• vulnerability
• AIDS
• family
• Tanzania
• poverty

Notes

1. The ratio of orphans to non-orphans reflects national data collected in households surveys (0.82 in DHS 2005/6).