Impact of a Community-Based Response to the Needs of Orphaned and Vulnerable Children

With support from the Rockefeller Foundation, DAL led an international effort to develop a research protocol for assessing the effectiveness of aid programs targeting orphaned and vulnerable children (OVC) in East Africa. DAL facilitated the development and testing of 17 quantitative and qualitative survey tools; provided project management for the collection of data in an East African village; wrote and published a final report; and disseminated the results among domestic and international government entities, nonprofit and for-profit organizations (such as the World Health Organization), and major funders in the area of OVC care.

Findings from the evaluation of the Godfrey’s Children Center suggest that at least in the short term, children living at the center were doing as well as or better on measures of psychological, social, nutritional and educational well-being compared with other children living in Idweli (orphans living with extended families and non-orphaned children living with their parents).

Key findings include:

• On a standardized measure of depression, orphans living at the center were about half as depressed as orphans living in the village, and center orphans were also less depressed than children living with both parents.

• Interviews with caregivers indicate that center orphans appeared to be better taken care of than village orphans, but the caregivers expressed the belief that the ability of the village to care for its orphans in general is not as strong as it once was.

• During interviews, center orphans expressed a greater liking for school than did children in the comparison groups, and center orphans were more likely to see their future as involving education and study.

• During interviews, center orphans were more likely to express a more positive sense of well-being than were village orphans or village non-orphans.

• With respect to sustainability, the center appeared to be becoming more socially integrated into the life of the village. Most center children visit family on weekends, and non-center children attend preschool and after-school classes there. Adult caregivers expressed continued strong support for the center as a solution to the needs of at least some of Idweli’s orphans.