Child Resilience, Survival, and Development

2020

Zimbabwe adopted the National Orphan Care Policy at the turn of the millennium due to a sharp rise in the number of orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) from the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The policy embraced a ‘six-tier system’ that spelled out six social safety nets for OVC. The six-tier system was seen as a cheaper route towards curtailing the problem of child protection that had grown beyond the capacity of the government. It invoked the traditional social safety nets that had been part of traditional African society. Traditional African cultural values were centered on the notion of Ubuntu. As such, for the six-tier system to record any notable success, it had to also bring into context the notion of Ubuntu. The authors of this article contend that the government adopted traditional practices of child welfare, yet it did not also bring the apparatus (Ubuntu) which made the traditional practices successful in traditional society. This issue warrants a thorough understanding so that the...

2017

This study sought to examine the feasibility of rejuvenating and strategically repositioning the Zunde raMambo (King’s granary) as a traditional orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) coping mechanism in Zimbabwe with a special reference to Gutu District. The study was motivated by the intellectual and theoretical paucity of a harmoniously synchronised and integrated approach of OVC coping strategies. Particularly, addressing the centralization of the Zunde raMambo community oriented OVC coping strategy caused by colonialism in Gutu District was the main thrust of this study. The basic human needs and Ubuntu philosophy were used as the underlying theories of this study. Focus group discussions (FGDs) and in-depth interviews were used to collect data from the OVCs, care-givers and key informants. The study established that the Zunde raMambo OVC mechanism which was formerly and traditionally owned by the communities is now centrally owned and controlled by the government. The tradition...

2017

Households headed by children, adolescents and youths are a growing phenomenon across sub-Saharan Africa. This is largely a result of the increasing mortality of economically active adults, coupled with migration and urbanisation, which have all weakened traditional kinship systems. Children and youth living in these households experience myriad challenges arising from the absence of an adult guardian and economically active household member. Several studies have shown that children living in these child-and adolescent-headed households experience extreme poverty and deprivation. Furthermore, Zimbabwe's precarious socioeconomic condition could further exacerbate these children's risks and deprivations. The wellbeing and quality of life of orphans living in these child-headed households is not well understood as there are very few studies that provide a holistic perspective on the experiences and quality of life for those in these households. The aim of this study was to assess the quality of life of orphans living in childheaded households in Zimbabwe, and explore the factors that influence their quality of life. The study was divided into four phases-situation analysis, cross-sectional survey, ethnography, and validation of findings. The situation analysis was exploratory; whereby in-country perspectives of the experiences of orphans living in child-headed households and their context were explored. In-depth interviews, focus group discussions and a document review were used in data collection. Perceptions were that child-headed households are established as a result of migration, poverty and weak kinship. The cross-sectional survey assessed psychological health, physical health, social relationships, environmental and general quality of life perceptions of 96 orphans living in child-headed households in Zimbabwe. The majority of the participants had positive scores in the psychological domain, although some participants indicated experience of psychological distress such as depression and anxiety. In the physical domain, a few participants indicated experiencing physical pain that affects their daily performance, and indicated that they needed medical attention to function daily. Participants were dissatisfied with the support they received from others, even though the majority were satisfied with their social relationships. In the environment domain, the majority of participants were satisfied with their physical environment http://etd.uwc.ac.za/

2019

Using indigenous knowledge systems such as Ubuntu in social work with children empowers them, their families, communities and workers. Yet, the potential of using frames that draw on indigenous ways of knowing, in children’s work, remain unrealised since social workers prefer Western models and theories. Ubuntu inspired models of social work view children from family, community, environmental and spiritual perspectives. In contrast, Western models are inspired by individualitic values, governmental policies and professional viewpoints. However, as will be shown in this article, foreign models have failed to live up to expectations because they tend to disempower and diminish the strengths of everyone involved in case situations. For example, the social worker has to administer a model that they are not fully familiar with or which contradicts their own values. The family is forced to adopt values that they do not know let alone believe in. The community becomes powerless in the pro...

Unpublished. Draft available at http://www. …, 2006

African Journal of Social Work 9(1), 2019

Using indigenous knowledge systems such as Ubuntu in social work with children empowers them, their families, communities and workers. Yet, the potential of using frames that draw on indigenous ways of knowing, in children's work, remain unrealised since social workers prefer Western models and theories. Ubuntu inspired models of social work view children from family, community, environmental and spiritual perspectives. In contrast, Western models are inspired by individualitic values, governmental policies and professional viewpoints. However, as will be shown in this article, foreign models have failed to live up to expectations because they tend to disempower and diminish the strengths of everyone involved in case situations. For example, the social worker has to administer a model that they are not fully familiar with or which contradicts their own values. The family is forced to adopt values that they do not know let alone believe in. The community becomes powerless in the process. This article discusses the use of Ubuntu theory in social work with children in Africa. The discussion includes five frameworks of Ubuntu: the orature, scholarly, liberation, practice and integrated. The Ubuntu inspired Zera model of child growth and development was used to aid the discussion. We conclude that, given social work's emphasis on using strengths perspectives, i.e., those broader frames that deliberately look for and build on the strengths of clients and client systems, social work practice with children in Africa should engage with Ubuntu, as a matter of principle..

This study sought to examine the feasibility of rejuvenating and strategically repositioning the Zunde raMambo (King's granary) as a traditional orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) coping mechanism in Zimbabwe with a special reference to Gutu District. The study was motivated by the intellectual and theoretical paucity of a harmoniously synchronised and integrated approach of OVC coping strategies. Particularly, addressing the centralization of the Zunde raMambo community oriented OVC coping strategy caused by colonialism in Gutu District was the main thrust of this study. The basic human needs and Ubuntu philosophy were used as the underlying theories of this study. Focus group discussions (FGDs) and in-depth interviews were used to collect data from the OVCs, care-givers and key informants. The study established that the Zunde raMambo OVC mechanism which was formerly and traditionally owned by the communities is now centrally owned and controlled by the government. The traditional leaders who were formerly custodians of this cultural intellectual heritage have been absorbed into the mainstream of modern government and politics in contravention to their core traditional ethics. The implementation of the Zunde Ramambo in the local rural communities is cosmetically packaged in modern contemporary strategies such as the policy and legislative frameworks. These contemporary strategies are formulated and implemented through a top-bottom or elite-mass approach that does not promote ownership and participation of the local communities in their programmes.

Child and Adolescent Mental Health, 2009

2017

A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, University of the Witwatersrand, in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy

Frontiers in Education, 2022

Human flourishing has recently gained more attention in the world as a prerequisite safety net for better human resilience in uncertain times. While most Western authors believe that human flourishing is an individual issue, gained in later life, African communities that are largely communal may not have the same view. Communalism as opposed to individualism as a key pillar in African Ubuntu thinking makes it a possibility that there is a departure in the contextualisation of human flourishing and its pathways. This explores the African conceptualisation of flourishing in the Ubuntu lens and how communities are coming together to cultivate it by implementing home based early childhood learning centres. Desk review was used to learn the contextual meaning of human flourishing and different pathways to it in African community settings. Home based early learning centres operated by parents was seen as a core activity to nurture Ubuntu, as each family and community member becomes useful...