Sammendrag
Abstract
Recent studies on the impacts of HIV/AIDS on children in Ethiopia and beyond show the ‘peculiarity’ of contemporary orphanhood, which is accentuated by an exponential rise in the number of projected orphans. However, despite the increasing consensus over the wider socio-economic impacts, interventions to deal with the epidemic are still narrowly targeting a fluid category of ‘Orphans and Vulnerable Children’ (OVCs) who are presumed to have been directly affected by it. Based on seven months of qualitative fieldwork with children, this paper not only rethinks conventional assumptions about orphans but also questions what it actually takes to raise children in the context of poverty and livelihood transitions in southern Ethiopia. It will do so by placing the challenges of childcare at the heart of the poverty of development, which is explained by a myriad of complex historical and contemporary, as well as local and global development related processes. It argues that the shift in livelihood strategies of rural communities from subsistence agriculture towards a market-driven economy has altered the roles and social positions of children. Livelihood insecurity produced by unfair global trade in the coffee market, on which family livelihoods have become increasingly reliant, has further compounded the process of adult labour migration and the risk of infection with HIV/AIDS. The consequence is that children and young people not only shoulder the disruptions of local reproduction, but also become vulnerable to the adverse impacts of poverty and orphanhood. While documenting the place of children in household sustenance, the paper highlights the significance of an inclusive, rights-based approach to ensuring child welfare in order to achieve an improved quality of life for all children in the context of poverty.
Key words: childcare, poverty, HIV/AIDS, orphans, livelihoods, development, Gedeo, Ethiopia
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