tracing young people's wellbeing, care and support in contexts of orphanhood in ethiopia
TRANSCRIPT
Tracing young people’s well-being, care, and support in contexts of orphanhood in
Ethiopia
Gina Crivello Young Lives, University of Oxford
Patricia Espinoza Revollo Young Lives, University of Oxford
Putting the ‘social’ back into young people’s psychosocial wellbeing, care and support
22 November 2016
Using data from Young Lives longitudinal study of childhood
poverty, we examine child wellbeing within the context of
parental death (‘orphanhood’)
We compare the outcomes of children who experienced
parental death with the outcomes of children whose parents
are alive
We situate experiences of parental death within children’s
longer-term trajectories, and highlight children’s accounts, in
their words
* The presentation revisits and extends on earlier Young Lives
research on orphanhood and vulnerability in Ethiopia (e.g.,
Crivello and Chuta 2012; Himaz 2013) by looking across the
latest available survey and qualitative data
Aims of the Presentation
Increased attention on orphanhood
2009-2011: Young Lives in Ethiopia engaged with a diverse
group of stakeholders in the country around the theme of
‘Orphans and Vulnerable Children’. Funded by the Oak
Foundation, the initiative aimed to understand the challenges
and experiences of using research to improve policy and
practice in the area of child wellbeing and poverty in Ethiopia.
The emergence of ‘Orphans and Vulnerable Children’ (OVC) – a
category of vulnerable children in southern Africa produced by
the region’s AIDS pandemic (Abebe 2009; Ansell 2015; Bray
2003; Meintjes and Giese 2006)
Concerns about who will care for the growing number of
orphaned children amidst fears of the breakdown of traditional
family mechanisms for distributing care (the role of
international adoption versus local institutional care versus
community support) (Abebe 2009)
Differing approaches and critique
In Ethiopia, in 2005, it was estimated that there were a total of 4,885,337 orphans aged 0-17 years in Ethiopia of which 744,100 were AIDS orphans 2004-2006: The Government’s most recent OVC National Plan of Action A proliferation of NGOS targeting ‘OVCs’ in the country, in part reflecting international funding priorities in recent decades Growing criticism of research and policy focused narrowly on the impacts of AIDS and outcomes of orphanhood since the structural factors of poverty affecting both orphans and other children are overlooked More recent approaches promote attention to poverty and to enhancing the care-giving capacities of extended families in caring for children
Young Lives: A longitudinal study of childhood poverty
► Multi-disciplinary study
► Has followed nearly 12,000 children
in four low and middle income
countries over 15 years
►Two cohorts of children:
Younger cohort
- ~2,000 in each country
- born in 2001/2001
Older cohort
- ~1,000 in each country
- born in 1994/1995
►Three components:
Quantitative
Qualitative
School survey
Incidence of paternal and maternal death across time
► Individuals education
Enrolment
Years of schooling
► Wellbeing and psychosocial measures
Agency
Pride
Self-efficacy (at 19yrs only)
Self-esteem (at 19 yrs only)
Present and future subjective wellbeing
► Aspirations and expectations of caregiver and
children
Aspirations for education (at 12 yrs only)
► Time allocation (hours spent on a typical day)
Household chores
Caring for others
Paid work
Family business/farm
Childhood Adolescence Late adolesc.
8 yrs 12 yrs 15 yrs 19 yrs
Outcome vars Outcome vars Outcome vars
Selected
‘outcome’
variables
Descriptive summaries of children who experienced parental death in
childhood, adolescence, and late-adolescence
Maternal death Paternal death
Ages 8 - 12
Ages 12 - 15
Ages 15 - 19
Are at the age of 12 more
likely to:
Not be enrolled in school
Be spending more time in
household chores
Have caregivers who
expect them to reach
lower levels of education
in their future
Are at the age of 12 more
likely to:
Have more negative
outlook on their future
well-being
Be spending more time
caring for others in the
household
Are at the age of 15 more
likely to:
Report lower levels of
subjective wellbeing
Are at the age of 15 more
likely to:
Report lower levels of
subjective wellbeing
Are at the age of 19 more
likely to:
be spending more time
doing household chores
No significant differences
between children who have
lost a father and those who
have both parents alive
Children’s experiences
Tracing the trajectories of a group
of 60 YL children in 5
communities between 2007-2014.
Focus on everyday experiences of
poverty and risk
Find that children’s experiences
and the impacts of parental death
are diverse
Parental death is a source of
vulnerability but it does not
guarantee illbeing
Parental absence (e.g. due to
abandonment) appeared to have
similar effects on children’s
experiences
(Example timeline created with a study participant - qualitative research)
Children’s experiences
Age 15, group discussions with children on what ‘wellbeing’ means to them found
that the presence of parents featured high in their image of a ‘good life’ for children
Children whose parents had died, were ill or were divorced were ‘not doing
well in life’
In reality, the potential negative effects of losing a parent were mitigated by the
quality of children’s (new) care relationship.
Feeling loved and looked after helped children accept parental loss.
Older children who lost a parent often accepted their death as ‘natural’ and
‘inevitable’. They identified more pressing immediate problems related to everyday
poverty: securing daily food, paying for school, responding to household illness, etc.
But children facing acute poverty sometimes focused on the death of their parent(s)
to explain their poverty…. “If my father were alive, I would be in a better school.”
Indeed, household illness was pervasive and the chronic illness of parents had
significant impacts on children’s time-use (needed for work inside and outside
home, including in caregiving)
Afework: “I get all the support I need from my family”
From Addis Ababa
7 years old: mother died; 10 years old: father died
He and his brother were raised by their sister (worked in Middle East) and a male cousin
Sister sent remittances home – bought Afework a laptop, Play Station, private school,
money to socialise with mahaber (cooperative group of friends), etc
Afework: “I get all the support I need from my family”
Much focus in the family has been on supporting Afework’s schooling
‘They are not married yet because of (me and my brother]. They have to live their
own lives. They have done their best and helped us from the moment my mother
died. I am the fruit of their hard work and will be happy to see them get married.’
Received aid from a charity to pay for schooling
Never worked for pay
Leader among his peers - Active in school and local youth groups
Age 19, Afework is enrolled in a private high school – in Grade 10
Steady schooling progress, no grade repetition,
He aspires to attend university to become an engineer
He has had consistent material security and family support and encouragement
Beletch: “I was oppressed in their hands”
From rural Oromia, her mother died and she and her brothers were raised
by her aunt (and her husband)
The only female child in the home, she was ordered by her brothers and
aunt, made to feel like a servant
Beletch: “I was oppressed in their hands”
Age 15, she said: “Those of my friends who have parents live a relaxed life.” “I would like to become a doctor.” “I have to study hard.” “I don’t wish to marry.”
Later, unable to manage schooling, she left in grade 6. She reflected: “I thought that my
decision [to leave school] was right but now I realize that I made a mistake”
Married age 17, has one daughter
Wellbeing concerns have become less about herself and more about her family: “We’re
happy when we get good crops”
Early marriage was an escape from an ‘oppressive’ home life.
Being married has given her a degree of independence and control over her life, but it’s not
been easy; her husband beats her when he is angry.
Age 20, she enjoys good relations with her in-laws:
“All his family members look at me as if I were their child… I think they love me because I am
leading and improving the livelihood of my family. They realize that I am committed… I
respect them.”
Concluding thoughts
Putting the ‘social’ into our thinking about orphanhood, vulnerability and wellbeing
requires adopting a stronger relational approach, one that –
• is sensitive to life course factors (such as the timing of parental loss, and the
accumulation of disadvantage across childhood)
• acknowledges children’s gendered roles in receiving and giving care in
interdependent relations, and in their household economies
• considers social context and the diverse meanings and practices of childhood,
family, vulnerability and orphanhood
• draws attention to (not away from) the structural poverty that affects both
orphans and other children and therefore requires advancing child-sensitive
social protection more broadly
Thank you!
15
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Annexes
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Incidence and characteristics or paternal and maternal death
► 93 % of children who are not orphaned were cared for by their biological mothers in 2002 (round 1)
► Households where parents have died were significantly smaller
► Death of a parent seems to be occur more in urban areas, and in the Amhara region and less in the
Tigray region
Comparing household characteristics in 2002 for children who have
suffered a parental death and those who have not
Descriptive summaries of children who experienced parental death in childhood
(ages 8 to 12)
Maternal orphan Paternal orphan
► Children who have had a maternal death between
the ages of 8 and 12 are (at the age of 12):
More likely to not be enrolled in school
Are doing at least one more hour in household
chores
Are more likely to have caregivers who expect
them to reach lower levels of education in their
future (up to 10 grade – as opposed to post-
secondary education)
► Children who have had a paternal death are
between age ages of 8 and 12 are at the age of 12 :
More negative about their future well-being
Spending about half an hour more caring for
others in the household
Caregiving
arrangements
at age 12
Outcome variables at the age of 12
Maternal orphan Paternal orphan
► Children who have had a maternal or
paternal death between the ages of 12 and
15 have significantly lower levels of
subjective wellbeing at the age of 15.
Other outcomes considered in our sample
do not present any significant differences
between children maternal and paternal
orphans and those with both parents alive.
Descriptive summaries of children who experienced parental death in adolescence
(ages 12 to 15)
Caregiving
arrangements
at age 15
Outcome variables at the age of 15
Descriptive summaries of children who experienced parental death in late
adolescence (ages 15 to 19)
► Children who have had a maternal
death between the ages of 15 and 19 are
more likely to be doing at least two hours
more in household chores than those who
have both parents alive.
Other outcomes considered in our sample
do not present any significant differences
between maternal and paternal orphans
and those with both parents alive at the
age of 19.
► At the age of 19, YL individuals are the ones making their own decisions about
health and education (i.e. no longer have caregivers)