Who is a child?
A child is a person below the age of 18 years
Child Labor refers to children working in contravention of the above standards (i.e., Child work). It means all children below age 12 years working in any economic activity, and those ages 12 to 14 years engaged in harmful work, and all children engaged in the worst forms of labor (i.e., being enslaved, forcibly recruited, prostituted, trafficked, forced into illegal activities, or exposed to hazardous work).
Child Work can also be referred to as children’s participation in economic activity that does not negatively affect their health and development or interfere with their education. Work that does not interfere with their education (light work) is permitted from the age of 12 under the International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention 138.
Economic Activity is a broad concept that encompasses most productive activities undertaken by children, whether for the market or not, paid or unpaid, for a few hours or full time, on a casual or regular basis, legal or illegal. It excludes chores undertaken in the child’s own household or schooling. To be counted as economically active, a child must have worked for at least one hour on any day during a seven‐day reference period.
Some economic activities and paid work that will not be regarded as child labour
This includes activities such as assisting in a family business or earning pocket money outside school hours and during school holidays. These kinds of activities contribute to children’s development and to the welfare of their families; they provide them with skills and experience, and help to prepare them to be productive members of society during their adult life
Making photocopy in a computer center and some computer work if trained for 1 or 2 hours/ day
The duration is important
The environment is also important…it must to post any danger to the child
An orphan is a child who has lost one parent [maternal/paternal orphan] or both parents [double orphan]. In some parts of Nigeria, however, a child is not regarded as an orphan if the father is alive.
In other parts, a child is regarded as an orphan only if both parents are dead.
Vulnerability is a state of being or likely to be in a risky situation, where a person may suffer significant physical, emotional, or mental harm that could result in his or her human rights not being fulfilled. There are many factors that make a child vulnerable.
A vulnerable child is then a child who, because of circumstances of birth or immediate environment, is prone to abuse or deprivation of basic needs, care, and protection, and is thus disadvantaged relative to his or her peers.
Examples of vulnerable children
Children who peddle goods
Some children staying with foster parents may be vulnerable
Children who hawk on the streets
Orphans are generally regarded as vulnerable children
In 2006, the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development had a stakeholders meeting and came out with the following
Below are the categories of vulnerable children, as defined during 2006 consultations with stakeholders from the six geopolitical zones in Nigeria:
- Children who have lost one or both parents
- Children living with terminally or chronically ill parent(s) or caregiver(s)
- Children on or of the street (i.e., child hawkers)
- Children living with aged or frail grandparent(s)
- Children who get married before 18 years
- Neglected and abandoned children
- Children in child‐headed homes
- Children infected with HIV
- Child beggars/destitute children (including exploited almajiris)
- Internally displaced or separated children
- Child domestic servants
- Child sex workers
- Children with special challenges or disability, or whose parents have disability
- Trafficked children
- Children in conflict with the law
- Children of migrant workers (e.g., fishermen or ‐women, nomads)
- Children living with teenage unmarried parent(s
OVC meaning :
There are many definitions by different bodies.
The World Bank defines OVC as children who are—
- • orphaned
- • separated from their parents
- • living with caretakers with serious problems like illness, disabilities, trauma, substance addictions, abusive habits, or
- • having normal families, but special needs that even well-functioning parents will need help to address (trauma, disability, behavioral problems).
UNAIDS defines OVC* much more narrowly, focusing only on orphans and defining them as children under 18 years of age whose mother, father, or both parents have died as a result of AIDS (United Nations, 2004)
The United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) defines OVC as children ages 0-17, who are either orphaned or made more vulnerable because of HIV and AIDS. PEPFAR defines a vulnerable child as one who is living in circumstances with high risks and whose prospects for continued growth and development are seriously impaired. According to PEPFAR, a child is more vulnerable because of any or all of the following factors that result from HIV and AIDS (The President’s Coordinator 2006):
- is HIV positive
- lives without adequate adult support (e.g., in a household with chronically ill parents, a household that has experienced a recent death from chronic illness, a household headed by a grandparent, and/or a household headed by a child);
- lives outside of family care (e.g., in residential care or on the streets) and/or
- is marginalized, stigmatized, or discriminated against.
The above definition was broaden by the stakeholders meeting in Nigeria in 2006.
In Nigeria, communal clashes, banditry, boko Haram, Crisis in the South East and herdsmen problems has increased OVC
So it is not only HIV-AIDS that is making children orphans
Let’s look at some statistics
Magnitude of the OVC Problem in the world and Nigeria
Globally, it is challenging to know the exact count.
The most recent UNICEF estimates for the number of orphans (age 0–17 years) globally is 140 million, with an estimated 17.7 million orphans attributed to AIDS.
In Sub Sahara Africa alone there are close to 60 million orphans, ( represents more than 20 percent of all children in this region.
An estimated 15.2 million children in SSA are orphaned due to AIDS (UNICEF 2013)
NIGERIA
Although official counts vary, the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development (FMWASD) reported that there were 17.5 million OVC in 2008 (Tagurum et al. 2015).
UNICEF reported 10 million Nigerian orphans due to all causes in 2013, with 2.3 million orphans due to AIDS, as well as 450,000 children and 180,000 adolescents actually living with HIV (UNICEF 2013).
One study ranks Nigeria’s OVC burden higher than several countries facing war, such as Sudan, Somalia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Libya, and Syria (Tagurum et al.
How many of us knows or have be involved in supporting and orphan?
A research showed that One in every 10 households in the country is also estimated to be providing care for an orphan (Marsden and Miller 2011)
PROBLEM FACED BY OVC
- Emotional and psychological problems manifesting as: Anxiety, depression, self-isolation, anger, desire to withdraw and feeling of sadness
- Hunger and malnutrition
- Poor access to education
- Lack of protection resulting in…. physical violence
- Access to good healthcare
- Shelter
REDUCING THE PLIGHT OF OVCs
In Nigeria extended family and community members care for orphans and vulnerable children (OVC), the capacity and resources of these individuals and households have been overextended by the growing number of OVC and their increasing needs. Hence an interplay of stakeholders becomes necessary. For example the CUBS project in Nigeria.
The Community-Based Support for Orphans and Vulnerable Children in Nigeria (CUBS) project, funded by the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) through the US Agency for International Development (USAID), and led by Management Sciences for Health (MSH), has provided care and support to children orphaned by HIV & AIDS and vulnerable children in 11 of Nigeria’s 36 states from October 2009 to October 2014.
. In 2004, the World Bank established an OVC Thematic Group to respond to the worldwide OVC crisis due to HIV and AIDS, and developed an OVC toolkit for sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) (World Bank Africa Region and World Bank Institute 2005).
The stakeholders involved in support for OVC include:
- International donors: USAID, World Bank, UNICEF, United Nation
- Government,/ MDA
- Faith-based organizations: orphanages
- Civil Society organizations (NGOs): orphanages
- Communities
All of the above have important role in reducing the plight of OVCs
The role of the international donor is basically to help with fund while the government should have policies and programme that target communities where the epidemic has left the largest numbers of orphans, vulnerable children and affected families.
Assistance should not focus on orphans alone but also on children living with terminally ill parents or families impoverished by HIV.
Have their programme provide support to all orphans and vulnerable children rather than „AIDS‟ orphans only so as to help challenge stigma and discrimination.
Develop a multi-sectoral response involving partnerships at all levels.
Build the capacity of children to support themselves i.e. express and meet their own needs International Journal of Sociology Vol.1, Issue 1 pp 18-36, 2018 www.iprjb.org 34
Have programme for orphans and vulnerable children integrated into existing services for example, social welfare, agricultural extension and community health services
Monitor and evaluate the impact of their interventions in order to identify the most effective
Provide parents and caregivers with practical information about good nutrition, basic hygiene, immunization, and early treatment of illness.
Role of the community
- Community members should aim to raise awareness of the value of education in improving children’s future.
- Encourage community members to help with household chores and agricultural work.
- Identify adult mentors in the community who can take interest in the child’s educational progress and offer support, guidance.
- Uphold child rights by prohibiting exploitative and harmful labor e.g. establishing community child protection committees
- Protect the inheritance rights of women whose husbands have died* and children whose parents have died.
- Challenge social norms and myths that increase the risks of HIV infection in children, using methods such as drama, role-play and songs.
- Train children caring for parents with HIV on how to prevent HIV transmission by minimizing contact with blood and body fluids e.t.c.
- Promote home gardens to improve nutrition and food security at household level.
