Putting Children First: New Frontiers in the Fight Against Child Poverty in Africa

Despite important strides in the fight against poverty in the past two decades, child poverty remains widespread and persistent, particularly in Africa. Poverty in all its dimensions is detrimental for early childhood development and often results in unreversed damage to the lives of girls and boys, locking children and families into intergenerational poverty. This edited volume contributes to the policy initiatives aiming to reduce child poverty and academic understanding of child poverty and its solutions by bringing together applied research from across the continent. With the Sustainable Development Goals having opened up an important space for the fight against child poverty, not least by broadening its conceptualization to be multidimensional, this collection aims to push the frontiers by challenging existing narratives and exploring alternative understandings of the complexities and dynamics underpinning child poverty. Furthermore, it examines policy options that work to address this critical challenge.Comparative Research Programme on Poverty (CROP) at the University of Bergen.publishedVersio

Gender analysis tools and frameworks

Meeting: Climate Change and Adaptation Workshop, 25-30 January, 2010, Naivasha, KEGender roles identification involves making visible the gender division of labour. Some research tools can assist in mapping out all the activities of men and women. The presentation focuses on two of these: the Capacities and Vulnerabilities Analysis (CVA) framework which captures information relating to physical and material, social/organisational, and motivation and attitudinal capacities; and the Moser framework, which captures information relating to gender division of labour, gender needs, and access to and control over resources in the context of climate change

Mapping out gender issues in climate change vulnerability and adaptation

Meeting: Climate Change and Adaptation Workshop, 25-30 January, 2010, Naivasha, KEPoor women’s limited access to resources, restricted rights, limited mobility and muted voice in shaping decisions make them highly vulnerable to effects of climate change. The presentation reviews gender issues in terms of climate change adaptability. While climate change affects both men and women, women are more vulnerable because of imposed social roles, discriminatory practices and oppression. In terms of greenhouse gas emissions, responsibility is closely linked to gender specific division of labour, economic power and the different consumption habits of men and women

Exploring gender dynamics in sexuality education in Uganda's secondary schools

Includes bibliographical references (p. 241-268).Within international theory of gender and education, sexuality is implicated as one of the major factors responsible for the differential participation of boys and girls in schooling and the persistent gender inequalities in education in Sub-Saharan African countries and Uganda in particular. In spite of multiple interventions to address the inequalities, gender disparities remain apparent and such disparities continue to entail increased vulnerability to sexual abuse, HIV transmission, unwanted teenage pregnancies, sexual exploitation and the overall silence about sexual experience, for those gendered as girls and women. Comprehensive gendered sexuality education is widely seen as a valuable site of intervention for addressing these problems, thereby facilitating the process of attaining gender equality and equity in society. The relationship between sexuality education and gender dynamics remain, however, complex at multiple levels of the educational process. The main objective of this study is to explore the operation of gender dynamics in school sexuality education. The research interrogates the interactions between contemporary curriculum based ideas of sexuality education in Uganda and the gendered realities of key participants in the pedagogic process. The substantive focus of my study is on secondary school students' and teachers' experiences and interactions with formal school sexuality curriculum. Under the notion that the community of pedagogy for students comprises parents, the research includes an exploration of parents' engagement with the school-based sexuality education. My study draws on qualitative data obtained through qualitative methods namely observation, in- depth and key informant interviews and focus group discussions. Template and thematic analysis was used. The study theorises that the current sexuality education being conducted in Uganda's secondary schools is deficient in terms of content and approach and is based on gender biased materials and textbooks. Overall the education offered is inadequate, largely prescriptive and feminized, generally divorced from students' personal experiences, and sometimes even contradictory. The study reveals complex gendered sexual experiences of students that position boys and girls differently often causing gender inequalities in sexuality education classrooms. The study illuminates the need for a rigorous re-examination of the current curriculum learning resources and advocates an empowerment approach that integrates considerations of gender dynamics throughout the approach to formal sexuality education in a bid to challenge gendered discrimination

Challenges in accessing sexual and reproductive health services by people with physical disabilities in Kampala, Uganda

This was a qualitative study that was conducted with male and female PWPDs in Kampala in 2007. Data on the challenges experienced by PWPDs in accessing SRH services were collected using in-depth interviews with 40 PWPDs and key informant interviews with 10 PWPDs’ representatives, staff of agencies supporting PWPDs and health workers.Introduction: Despite the universal right to access the same range, quality and standard of free or affordable health care and programs as provided to other persons, people with physical disabilities (PWPDs) continue to experience challenges in accessing these services. This article presents the challenges faced by PWPDs in accessing sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services in Kampala, Uganda. Methods: This was a qualitative study that was conducted with male and female PWPDs in Kampala in 2007. Data on the challenges experienced by PWPDs in accessing SRH services were collected using in-depth interviews with 40 PWPDs and key informant interviews with 10 PWPDs’ representatives, staff of agencies supporting PWPDs and health workers. All data were captured verbatim using an audio-tape recorder, entered into a Microsoft Word computer program and analyzed manually following a content thematic approach. Results: The study findings show that PWPDs face a multitude of challenges in accessing SRH services including negative attitudes of service providers, long queues at health facilities, distant health facilities, high costs of services involved, unfriendly physical structures and the perception from able-bodied people that PWPDs should be asexual. Conclusion: People with physical disabilities (PWPDs) face health facility-related (service provider and facility-related challenges), economic and societal challenges in accessing SRH services. These findings call for a need to sensitize service providers on SRH needs of PWPDs for better support and for the government to enforce the provision of PWPD-friendly services in all health facilities

Armed conflict, alcohol misuse, decision-making, and intimate partner violence among women in Northeastern Uganda: a population level study

Abstract Background Relations among and interactions between exposure to armed conflict, alcohol misuse, low socioeconomic status, gender (in)equitable decision-making, and intimate partner violence (IPV) represent serious global health concerns. Our objective was to determine extent of exposure to these variables and test pathways between these indicators of interest. Methods We surveyed 605 women aged 13 to 49 who were randomly selected via multistage sampling across three districts in Northeastern Uganda in 2016. We used Mplus 7.4 to estimate a moderated structural equation model of indirect pathways between armed conflict and intimate partner violence for currently partnered women (n = 558) to evaluate the strength of the relationships between the latent factors and determine the goodness-of-fit of the proposed model with the population data. Results Most respondents (88.8%) experienced conflict-related violence. The lifetime/ past 12 month prevalence of experiencing intimate partner violence was 65.3%/ 50.9% (psychological) and 59.9%/ 43.8% (physical). One-third (30.7%) of women’s partners reportedly consumed alcohol daily. The relative fit of the structural model was superior (CFI = 0.989; TLI = 0.989). The absolute fit (RMSEA = 0.029) closely matched the population data. The partner and joint decision-making groups significantly differed on the indirect effect through partner alcohol use (a 1 b 1  = 0.209 [0.017: 0.467]). Conclusions This study demonstrates that male partner alcohol misuse is associated with exposure to armed conflict and intimate partner violence—a relationship moderated by healthcare decision-making. These findings encourage the extension of integrated alcohol misuse and intimate partner violence policy and emergency humanitarian programming to include exposure to armed conflict and gendered decision-making practices

Putting Children First: New Frontiers in the Fight Against Child Poverty in Africa

Despite important strides in the fight against poverty in the past two decades, child poverty remains widespread and persistent, particularly in Africa. Poverty in all its dimensions is detrimental for early childhood development and often results in unreversed damage to the lives of girls and boys, locking children and families into intergenerational poverty. This edited volume contributes to the policy initiatives aiming to reduce child poverty and academic understanding of child poverty and its solutions by bringing together applied research from across the continent. With the Sustainable Development Goals having opened up an important space for the fight against child poverty, not least by broadening its conceptualization to be multidimensional, this collection aims to push the frontiers by challenging existing narratives and exploring alternative understandings of the complexities and dynamics underpinning child poverty. Furthermore, it examines policy options that work to address this critical challenge