The role of community Based Organizations in the care and support to orphans and vulnerable children (OVCs) in the Pumwani slums of Nairobi

Abstract

This study on the role of community based organizations in the care and support to orphans and vulnerable children (OVCs) was conducted in Pumwani slums areas, Nairobi North District. The study aimed at assessing the strategies used by community based organizations to care for and support the ave, identify the challenges and gaps faced by the organizations, document best practices for future replication and make concrete recommendations. The study selected five key organizations within the Pumwani slum area where OVCs and guardians supported by the respective institutions were also assessed for a deeper understanding of their problems, perception and the gaps. Literature review revealed that the number of aves has tremendously gone high due the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The review further revealed that due to the growing, numbers, the family kinship system can no longer take care of the aves and therefore communities and well wishers have come together to find ways of caring for and supporting the children. As a result a number of community based organizations have come up and they continue to come up as the numbers of aves increase. The review however revealed that very little has been done on the identification of best strategies used in care and support for aves. The study therefore sought to fill this gap. The study was purely qualitative while a combination of data collection methods and tools applied. In-depth Interviews, Focused Groups Discussions and direct observations were mainly used to collect primary data. Simple descriptive tables and narrative reports were mainly used to describe the data obtained while qualitative data analysis methods such as ideal type, illustrative method and analytical comparisons were used to analyze the data.