The use of implementation research networks on orphans and vulnerable children to encourage research-driven policies: the case of Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe
OUTPUT TYPE: Journal Article
PUBLICATION YEAR: 2006
TITLE AUTHOR(S): O.Shisana, L.C.Simbayi, K.Magome, D.Skinner, B.Mkabela, S.Mtero-Munyati, J.Mundondo, G.N.Tsheko, T.Matlaku, Southern Africa OVC Care Interventions Project Research Team
KEYWORDS: BOTSWANA, CHILDREN, HIV/AIDS, ORANGE RIVER DEVELOPMENT PROJECT, ORPHANS, ORPHANS AND VULNERABLE CHILDREN (OVC), ZIMBABWE
DEPARTMENT: Public Health, Societies and Belonging (HSC)
Print: HSRC Library: shelf number 4229
HANDLE: 20.500.11910/6412
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11910/6412
If you would like to obtain a copy of this Research Output, please contact Hanlie Baudin at researchoutputs@hsrc.ac.za.
Abstract
There is a growing need for applied social sciences research to provide scientific evidence for use in both policy and programme development in the health sector to match the strides made in clinical medicine over the past few decades. This article presents an account of the development, implementation and progress as well as lessons learnt to date from a 5-year programme for the care of orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) in Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe that began in 2002. The project is being conducted by the Social Aspects of HIV/AIDS Research Alliance (SAHARA) under the auspices of the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) of South Africa. The main objective of the project is to provide empirical evidence of the effectiveness of various OVC interventions with a view to identifying best practices for scaling-up in the Southern African region, which is most heavily burdened by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The initiative, which is funded by the WK Kellogg Foundation, brought together six organizations in Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe, with the blessing of their respective governments' one national implementation grant maker to coordinate the delivery of various child, family and community-centred OVC interventions and one research organization in each country. The project is currently being implemented in various sites in each of the three countries. Some previously existing OVC interventions are being supported in a number of sites in each country, which are receiving process evaluations, while both qualitative and quantitative baseline studies have been completed in two new sites in each country. Newly developed interventions developed or described by the project that are felt to reflect a best practice approach will be implemented in these new sites and will be evaluated, using a summative evaluation approach in the next phase of the project, which is expected to last another 35 years. Although there have been many challenges experienced in the project, some excellent progress has also been accomplished, especially in terms of various research outputs that have been completed to date which lay a strong foundation for the next phase of the project beginning in 2006.-
Related Research Outputs:
- 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
- A description selected interventions for the care of orphans and vulnerable children in Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe
- The W.K. Kellogg Foundation's orphans and vulnerable children project: interventions in Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe
- A monitoring dilemma: orphans and children made vulnerable by HIV/AIDS
- Situational analysis of the socioeconomic conditions of orphans and vulnerable children in seven districts in Botswana
- Interventions for orphans and vulnerable children at four project sites in South Africa
- Overview of the WK Kellogg Foundation's project on OVC - Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe
- No small issue: children and families: universal action now
- Targeting AIDS orphans and child-headed households?: a perspective from national surveys in South Africa, 1995-2005
- Editorial: countdown to zero: only possible with 100% support for children and families
- Sickness, death and poverty - our bequest to orphans
- Slipping through the safety net
- Impact of HIV/AIDS on SADC countries: recommendations to funders
- Southern Africa: a review of the region
- Child-headed households: dissecting our understanding of who is at risk
- What does it take to care?
- An audit of HIV/AIDS policies in Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland and Zimbabwe
- Defining orphaned and vulnerable children
- A census of orphaned and vulnerable children in two villages in Botswana
- A census of orphans and vulnerable children in two Zimbabawean districts