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)