Influence of social protection programmes on livelihood of orphans and vulnerable children in Nyatike District, Migori County

Abstract

Convention on the Rights of the Child states that every child has the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health and the right to a standard of living adequate for the child's physical, mental, spiritual, moral and social development. Children were seen as signs of blessings, however today this is not so. The avenues that ensured that the children's sense of innocence and vulnerability was not abused have been compromised. Childhood is today cut short by the increase in child sexual molestation, child headed familiks, street children, children living with HIV/AIDS, child labour, child trafficking and orphans. Of late, a number of organisations, the government and other well wishers have teamed up to eliminate or rather to reduce the menace. This they done through the implementation of various programmes like the Free Primary Education, School Feeding Programmes, Cash transfer and non cash transfer initiative, orphanages and foster care. All these have been put in place to improve the living conditions and livelihood of the OVC and their caregivers. The purpose of this study was to establish the influence of Social Protection Programmes on the livelihood of OVC in Nyatike District. The study was carried out on 8 sampled organisations dealing with OVC in Nyatike District, targeting both the Project personnel and the project beneficiaries who are the OVC. The following research objectives guided the study; to assess the influence of cash transfer on the livelihood of the OVCs in Nyatike District; to establish the influence of education scholarships and bursaries on the livelihood of the OVCs in Nyatike District; to determine the influence of shelter provision on the livelihood of the OVCs in Nyatike District; to determine the influence of provision health and nutrition on the livelihood of the OVCs in Nyatike District. Chapter Two which is on literature review, provides an insight on the study. The study used descriptive research survey design. In order to achieve the intended objective the researcher used two questionnaires, one for the 16 purposively sampled project officials and another for the 150 OVC. Data was analyzed using frequencies and percentages and the findings were presented in the form of tables. The major findings were that social protection programmes playa major role in the livelihood of ovc. Their standard of living changed due to these programmes. However, it was noted that the programmes were not sufficient enough and therefore the study recommends that the Government, Donors, NGOs and other stakeholders in the interested in the welfare of OVC both in Kenya and beyond ensure the Minimum Service Standards for Quality Improvement of Orphans and Vulnerable Children Programme in Kenya are implemented so as to have harmonized services to children and especially Orphans and Vulnerable Children by various stakeholders in the sector. It is hoped that the findings in this study will be found useful by the Government, Donors, NGOs and other stakeholders in the interested in the welfare of OVC both in Kenya and beyond.