Orphans and future livelihoods in Mozambique? The role of the Junior Farmer Field and Life School Programme

The Junior Farmer Field and Life School (JFFLS) Programme, a joint venture of the Government of Mozambique and the Food and Agriculture Organisation and the World Food Programme, was piloted in Mozambique in 2003 to support orphans to gain farming skills. In this article, based on fieldwork in Mozambique in 2006, the impact of the JFFLS programme is examined in four different communities. The findings show that JFFLS graduates from rural communities, who anticipated that their livelihoods would continue to depend on farming, did value the skills that they had learnt but in places where other livelihood options existed, or land was scarce, the new skills went unused. The family context determined whether graduates could use the programme as a stepping stone to build livelihoods, as it facilitated access to other vital assets. The findings suggest that a thorough needs assessment is required before the implementation of such programmes to ensure that resources are used effectively.

Keywords:

• HIV and AIDS
• orphans
• agricultural knowledge
• skills
• education

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to FAO staff in Mozambique for all their help and assistance with fieldwork and the participants for sharing their time and information.

Notes

1. The Mozambique National Plan of Action for Orphans and Vulnerable Children defines an orphan as a child between 0 and 18 years who has lost one or both parents.

2. Only the agricultural component will be examined here.

3. These orphans were not included in the programme because of the fact that they did not attend school or were not connected to the actors who were linked to the programme. Most of the orphans interviewed in this category were also by coincidence heads of households.