Estimating the numbers of OVC

1. Presenting good number estimates is a challenge in the case of many OVC sub-groups because: • the sub-groups are internally diverse and often hard to trace, • global definitions are hard to operationalize in a local context, • good surveys based on solid methodologies are often missing. • The following estimates must therefore to some extent be considered as ”guestimates” based on the best of available sources. Detailed sources are referenced in the ”Notes Page” attached to the following slide. • Mark: All totals will be misleading due to considerable overlaps between categories. (I.e. a former, injured child soldier, living from prostitution in the street, and being HIV infectedwould fall under all categories.) Estimating the numbers of OVC

2. An OVC Taxonomy

3. Numberestimates by the grid • NB! All totals will be misleading due to considerable overlaps between categories. (I.e. consider a former, injured child soldier, living from prostitution in the street, and being HIV infected… ). • If there is a 50% overlap, there are around 60 million OVC in SSA –- or 20% of all children.

4. Notes slide: Where the numbers come from: • Orphans/AIDS affected children • Figures on orphans cover 0-17 year olds. Source : Children on the Brink 2004, UNAIDS/UNICEF/USAID. 12.3 % (43 million) of all children in SSA are orphaned, around 3 % (12 million) to AIDS. • Other HIV/AIDS numbers are estimated based on AIDS epidemic up-dates from UNAIDS/WHO: (29.4 million people living with HIV/AIDS, 10 million 15-24 year olds infected – some orphaned, some with parents who are dysfunctional due to own illness and some with medical needs that their households cannot provide) • Children affected by conflict: • Graca Machel, 1996: Impact of Armed Conflict on Children • Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, Global report 2001: • “The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers believes that more than 120,000 children under 18 years of age are currently participating in armed conflicts across Africa. In recent years, the countries most affected by this problem have been Angola, Burundi, Congo-Brazzaville, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, Liberia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Sudan and Uganda.” (hazardous child labor, separated from parents, orphans) • We assume that the number of former child soldiers is relatively low since most former child soldiers no longer qualify as children, and therefore more appropriately would belong under more general demobilization programs. (these children will be represented in almost all categories) • Children abducted and formerly abducted is a guestimate. In Angola alone it is estimated that 30,000 girls were abducted by armed forces. We know this to have been prevalent also in Uganda, DRC, Sierra Leone and Sudan. (these children will be represented in almost all categories) • Unaccompanied displaced and refugee children: Again a guestimate based on figures provided in the Global IDP database (http://www.idpproject.org/about_the_database.htm) In the Great Lakes region alone, 100,000 children were registered as unaccompanied both inside and outside their countries of origin after the peek of the conflict. The conflicts in DRC, refugee and displacement problems in Congo Brazzaville, Sierra Leone, Angola, Liberia, Sudan and the emerging crisis in Cote d’Ivoire should be sufficient to legitimize an assumption of at least a tippling of this figure. (these children will be represented in almost all categories) • War injuries should comprise mutilation, land mine victims, and severe trauma. (needs beyond parental care, ++) • Street children: • Numbers are generally referring to statements from the United Nations Center for Human Settlement in Nairobi. • Hazardous Child labor: • Numbers refer to ILO/IPEC’s estimates for the some of the so called ”worst forms of child labor” in the 2002 report ”Every Child Counts”. (trafficking, slavery, bonded labor, prostitution, pornography, soldiering and illicit activities • In addition to these core groups we have (with reference to convention 182 paragraph 3 part d) ) considered some children working in quarries and mines, abusive child domestic service, some commercial agricultural work involving excessive use of agrochemicals). Child domestic servants: Source; Andvig, Canagarajah and Kielland 2000, The World Bank • Child slaves: Particular emphasis on Sudan and Mauritania. Spread cases of child slavery have been identified in Ghana (Free the Slaves) and Cote d’Ivoire (Bales) and Niger (Anti-Slavery International). For all slaves Kevin Bales estimates in his book ”Disposable People”: • Children living with a disability: • There is no reliable data on disability for Africa as a continent. Studies from developing countries suggest that the standard 10% assumption based on the incidence in industrialized countries should be lowered considerably (e.g., 3.6% in Zimbabwe, 5.5% in Ghana, 3% in Mali; see Helander H. (1999) Prejudice and Dignity: An Introduction to Community-Based Rehabilitation, New York, UNDP). Assuming a 5% incidence for Sub-Saharan Africa, there would be some 15,5 million children living with a disability. We would then include for instance children who are seriously visually impaired but who do not have the access to glasses – kids who would not be considered disabled if they had. As it is, they can not og to school and are thereby facing social exclusion and considerable obstacles to equal development and education.