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Defining OVC
In this section we define some key terms related to OVC and describe
the main OVC categories. To learn more on how to define OVC, see the attached OVC presentation. For a list of the main shocks to which OVC are particularly
vulnerable, see the section on SRM.
OVC (Orphans and Vulnerable Children)
The concept generally refers to orphans and other groups
of children who are more exposed to risks than their peers. In an operational
context we can say that they are the children who are most likely to
fall through the cracks of regular programs, or, using social protection terminology: OVC are groups of children that experience negative outcomes, such as the loss of their education, morbidity, and malnutrition, at higher rates than do their peers. To be protected from negative
outcomes and/or allowed participation, OVC need to be given special
attention to remove
the barriers that stand in the way of their equal participation in projects
designed to benefit all children, or through special project components
and targeting strategies tailored to their needs.
Child
The widely ratified UN Convention
on the Rights of the Child states that a "child means every
human being below the age of eighteen years unless under the law applicable
to the child, majority is attained earlier". The World Bank's draft
document "investing in Children and Youth: A Strategy to Fight
Poverty, Reduce Inequality and Promote Human Development" defines
children as age 0-14 and youth as 15-24. With regards to OVC, appropriate
age definitions tend to be category specific. Orphans, for instance,
are mainly counted as 14 and younger. Child soldiers, on the other hand,
normally include children up to the age of 18, since the great majority
of child soldiers are between the ages of 15 and 18. In projects for
street children it is even common to include youth up to the age of
22. For assessing child vulnerability issues in general, we suggest
using the UN definition (under 18), adjusting for important group specificities
and being sensitive to definitions used by local government and implementing
partners.
Orphan
The UNICEF, UNAIDS and USAID joint report on orphan estimates and program
strategies, Children on the
Brink [NB! Heavy!], defines an orphan as a child 0-17 whose mother (maternal
orphans) or father (paternal orphans) or both (double orphans) are dead.
This remains the official definition. The concept of "social orphans" is sometimes used to describe children whose parents might be alive
but are no longer fulfilling any of their parental duties (e.g., drug
addicts who are separated from their children with little chance of
reunion, parents who are sick or abusive or who, for other reasons,
have abandoned or largely neglect their children).
Vulnerability
In this toolkit we understand vulnerability to mean "a high probability
of a negative outcome", or an expected welfare loss above a socially
accepted norm, which results from risky/uncertain events, and the lack
of appropriate risk management instruments. This is consistent with
the definition used in the Bank's social protection framework for social
risk management (Holzmann and Jorgensen
2001). Vulnerability is shaped by risk and stress characteristics
such as magnitude, frequency, duration, and scope, to which individuals,
households and communities are exposed. Therefore, the degree and type
of vulnerability vary overtime and between countries and are highly
contextual. This implies that vulnerability is a relative state - a
multifaceted continuum between resilience and absolute helplessness.
The Downward Spiral of Child Vulnerability
Compared to adults, all children are vulnerable by nature, but some
children are more critically vulnerable than others. Child vulnerability
is a downward spiral where each shock leads to a new level of vulnerability,
and each new level opens up for a host of new risks. In other words, the probability of a child experiencing a negative outcome rises with each shock. At the bottom of
this spiral we find children who live outside of family care or in situations
of severe family abuse and neglect. OVC interventions can be made at
all levels to prevent (a further) increased vulnerability, or to mitigate
the effect of likely shocks. The higher up in the spiral the intervention
is made, the more cost-effective it is likely to be. OVC should preferably
be assisted before they have reached the most critical stages of vulnerability,
because interventions aimed to rescue and rehabilitate the most critically
vulnerable children tend to be too expensive to be sustainable and moreover
have low rates of success.
The downward spiral of child vulnerability might look like this:
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