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National Action Plan for Orphans and Vulnerable Children’s (NAP for OVC) Challenges in Mitigating OVC Maltreatment in Zimbabwe: A Phenomenological Evaluation

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The Palgrave Handbook of Global Social Change

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Abstract

Three decades after the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child by the United Nations General Assembly in 1989 (hereinafter UNCRC), the human rights of children as articulated in the UNCRC have gained hegemonic status in policymaking across a range of academic disciplines and social practices in the globe. Notwithstanding the multi-stakeholder’s implementation of the National Action Plan for Orphans and Vulnerable Children (NAP for OVC) policy in Zimbabwe since 2004 to enhance child support and curbing child maltreatment, OVC maltreatment continued to escalate within the rural communities unabated. The seemingly irreconcilable contemporary and traditional OVC co** strategies have allegedly aggravated the complexities of mitigating the OVC maltreatment in Zimbabwe. Underpinned by the open and closed systems leadership perspectives, this phenomenological qualitative study examines the NAP for OVC policy’s efficaciousness in mitigating OVC maltreatment and abuse in the Gutu District of Zimbabwe. In-depth narrative interviews were conducted to understand the lived experiences, views, and perceptions of the OVCs, community leaders, and caregivers within the Gutu District of Zimbabwe. On the premises mentioned above, 15 participants, including the OVC caregivers, community leaders, and OVCs, were purposively sampled from the Gutu rural District in Zimbabwe. The study results showed a collision course between the indigenous way of child upbringing and the contemporary human rights approaches. Thus, in the preceding premises, the local rural communities have continued espousing their traditional methods of child upbringing despite the call for upholding the children’s rights. Therefore, this study recommended an intensified rural communities child rights mobilization and education in Zimbabwe to reduce child abuse and maltreatment entrenched in some cultures and traditional OVC care and support approaches.

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  1. Department of Social Work and Community Development, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa

    John Ringson

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Ringson, J. (2023). National Action Plan for Orphans and Vulnerable Children’s (NAP for OVC) Challenges in Mitigating OVC Maltreatment in Zimbabwe: A Phenomenological Evaluation. In: The Palgrave Handbook of Global Social Change. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-87624-1_158-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-87624-1_158-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-87624-1

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