NAIROBI, Feb 25 (Reuters) - The United Nations investigator into extra-judicial killings said on Wednesday that Kenya's police chief and attorney-general should be fired because of hundreds of alleged murders by security forces. Read the whole story here.
Living with our Bibi: a qualitative study of children living with grandmothers in the Nshamba area of north western Tanzania.
Authors: Clacherty,G.
Produced by: HelpAge International (2008)
The Kwa Wazee Project works with grandparents and the grandchildren who live with them (generally orphaned as a result of HIV/AIDS) in the Kagera district of Tanzania. The main activity of the Project is to provide a cash transfer in the form of a pension to grandparents (mostly grandmothers). Grannies get small monthly pensions for themselves and for the grandchildren they support. This report is the result of a series of participatory workshops with children who are part of the project. It provides an understanding of the issues children are facing and directions for policy and programme intervention. It is clear that children living in elderly-headed households have more stressors in their lives than children living with parents. The findings in this study suggest that the following characterise the issues affecting elderly-headed households:
poverty:
findings suggest that children living in elderly-headed households often do not get enough food and seldom have access to protein
children from elderly-headed households are overworked
even though grandmothers and grandchildren see education as very important, children living with grandmothers do not access education easily because of lack of money. In addition, if they do get to school, their progress is hampered, again largely because of poverty.
grandchildren as caretakers:
another characteristic of the elderly-headed household is that children function as caretakers.
When children have responsibility for the welfare of others they may become "parentified" - that is, they assume responsibilities performed more appropriately by an adult, including providing health and personal care, emotional support, caring for siblings and maintaining the household
an uncertain future:
a further stress that is added to the lives of children living in elderly-headed households is the uncertainty they feel about their immediate futures. They worry about what will happen to them when their grandmothers die. The worry that a child in this situation faces is that he or she will have to move again and will likely have to live with aunts and uncles in a situation they know from experience is worse than their life with their grandmother
also, the children fear (quite realistically) that they will not inherit property when their grandmothers die, leaving them with no means to make a living
a generation gap:
the gap between the grandparent's generation and the children emerges in the conflict between grandmothers and children over time to play and to socialise and rest
Grandmothers expect that they will be looked after but the children know that their ability to do this will be severely hampered because of the missing generation. Parents would have provided the means for further training and income generation and would have taken responsibility for the grandparentsYet, the study shows that children living with their grandmothers feel, on the whole, loved and cared for in spite of the poverty and stress. Perhaps it is this sense of being loved that results in the resilience that is obvious in what the children say about their lives and themselves. They have a strong sense of responsibility towards their grandparents, they feel proud that they can work hard and care for their grannies. They feel they have learned skills that other children don't have and they are clearly goodsurvivors and adaptors.
Available online at: http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/?doc=41817&em=190209&sub=pov
U bent bekend met de Picopensions die onze partners in Ethiopië met uw geld kunnen geven aan ouderen.
Lees hier over de ontwikkelingen in Malawi.
In TROUW stond vanochtend dit ingezonden stuk:
Geef-maarnietaanweeshuizenTrouw120209
Van Pim de Wit ontving ik de volgende e-mail:
Please have a look at some of the videos that were produced last month by our mobile reporters in Kenya and Tanzania. We are working with a group of very young people and they are doing greatly, especially when you take into consideration that they work under very difficult circumstances.
Check out some of the reports and see what they want to show us this time : click here
Daarover heb ik op verzoek vaker geschreven.
Zie het meest recente artikel hier en ook dit artikel is wellicht 'verhelderend'.....
En dan zijn er nog de diverse columns waaronder ook 'mijn spoedcurus(uit 2006)'......
Nog even over die begroting bij Oud in Afrika zoals vandaag genoemd in een artikel in het dagblad TROUW (onder aan het hieronder als eerste weergegeven artikel).
Ik heb aan het woord begroting net zo'n hekel als aan het woord project.
Het gaat over mensen. Dat zijn geen begrotingen en geen projecten.
Maar goed; de begroting van Oud in Afrika die rond is dus....
We schrijven als Oud in Afrika op de eerste pagina van onze website:
Wij hebben gekozen voor een groei die gebaseerd moet zijn op de vraag van organisaties daar en niet op basis van een 'marketingmachine' hier...
We werken als Oud in Afrika in een veld waar weinig gedaan wordt; ouderenzorg in ontwikkelingslanden.
We werken met lokale partners in overwegend 'remote areas'; 'ver weg gebieden' in west Kenia en west Ethiopië waar weinig geld, middelen en mogelijkheden zijn.
We passen ons aan onze partners aan.
Maar we proberen wel mee te denken en mee te doen. Daar waar dat door onze partners of volgens ons gewenst is.
Maar we geloven - hoe dan ook - niet in het kopen van resultaat (zie eerste 'recente artikel' link hierboven).
We willen onder druk van geefgeld ook geen dingen gaan doen - of laten doen - waar de lokale partner en wij het nut nog ( ! ) niet van in zien.
We geloven ook niet in het kweken van grote reserves voor de 'rainy days'.
Er zijn nu genoeg grote problemen op allerlei andere gebieden en in allerlei andere landen. Van Suriname tot en met Sudan en Sri Lanka.
We verwijzen grotere giften nu (januari 2009) dan ook liever door dan dat wij ze gaan oppotten voor 2010.
Maar we noteren wel de naam van de potentiële gulle gever en vragen of we mogen bellen als het nodig is.....
Als onze lokale partners niet mogen oppotten waarom zouden wij dat dan wel mogen....?
Oppotten is sowieso uitstel van executie en hoe ver moet je dan gaan met dat uitstel ?
OK er is een Herkströter norm maar dat is dan ook echt het maximum (in cash of toezeggingen)..... Mischien moeten we daar dit jaar toch eens aan gaan beginnen ?
FilantroopTrouw040209
Het heeft even geduurd maar we zijn gestart met het digitaliseren van de aanvragen, (jaar-)verslagen en rapportages. Nog niet compleet maar dat zal naar verwachting niet al te lang duren. Probleem is uiteraard dat we met partners werken die echt het predikaat 'grass root level' verdienen als het gaat om beschikbaarheid van PC's en internet. Ook de post is niet het snelste medium van het westen van Ethiopië......
Kijk voor de start op: http://www.oudinafrika.org/aanvragenenrapportages
.....about Africa.....
The World Bank launched its annual report on Africa, the Africa Development Indicators. The report has data from 1965 to 2006 for the 53 African countries. You can download its pocket version as well; the little data book on Africa.
Het onderstaande Fairspirit verhaal uit TROUW is interessant omdat er uit blijkt dat een serieuze jury (met allerlei serieuze mensen er in en aangestuurd door het COS) toch kans zien om elementaire zaken over het hoofd te zien.
Fairspirit is de handelsnaam van de Milieuwijzerstichting, tevens handelend onder de naam Haicu Webdesign. Ik denk dat het allemaal goed bedoeld is maar de Milieuwijzerstichting heeft één bestuurslid en die is voorzitter, penningmeester en secretaris. De stichting is niet gerangschikt bij de Belastingdienst als Algemeen Nut Beogende Instelling (etcetc). Daar had zo'n jury niet overheen mogen kijken.
Zo kregen we laatst een serieus ogende aanvraag uit Oost Afrika. We vroegen een bevriende (en bijzonder vriendelijke en goedmoedige) pater er naar te kijken...... (e-mail is verzonden vanaf een 'remote place in kenya' via een GSM toestel vandaar enige typefouten):
Sister M.,
It is with dismay that I got a report that you came here during my Absense and left goods for about 500 shilling for me. Sister this looks faar to much like a gift to put me in a good mood to recommend your project to Oud in Africa mr Henk van Stokom in Dordrecht. In the 50 years I worked in your country I have never taken a bribe and will not do so now. Iwill send you 500 shilling in Safaricom airtime, for the goods you left for me, and try to find somebody else to recommend your project. Yours sincerely in Christ . Father m.
Het werd al geschreven in het Cordaid boekje 'Donateurs Dadendrang Dilemma's' door de Keniaanse Lucy Mulenkei:
"..... durf vermoeiend te zijn. Neem geen enkele informatie zo maar aan."
Deze foto heeft een eervolle vermelding gehad en werd gepubliceerd in het AD van vandaag.
In totaal waren er ruim vijfduizend inzendingen.
In zes categorieën waren er 62 'winnaars' en 12 eervolle vermeldingen en 'dus publicatie waard'.
Harteljk dank voor uw bijdrage in 2008 ! In woord, daad en geld. Het heeft allemaal bijgedragen.
Wij wensen u en de uwen al het goede voor 2009.
We are more than our investments. We are more than the year-to-year or day-by-day changes in our net worth.
We are what we do for charity.
We are how we treat our family and friends. We are how we treat our dogs and cats. We are what we do for our community and our nation. If you had $100 million or $100,000 a year ago and now you have a lot less, you are still the same person. You are not a balance sheet, at least not one denominated in money, as was explained to me recently.
Losing and making money are not moral issues so long as you are being honest. You may have a lot less money as this year ends than you did two years ago. But you are just as good or bad a person as you were then. It is a myth that money determines who you are, and if you have gotten over that myth by now, then 2008 will have been a very good year.
Ben Stein in The New York Times (26-12-2008)
Greg Mankiw writes in his blog (or is it on his blog - English is stil my second languagae...) that he was asked about giving. He did not know what to answer so he asked Michael Kremer - who wrote earlier (2006) about Oud in Afrika:
"The condition of the elderly in the developing world is one of the most severe and most neglected problems in the world and Oud in Afrika is to be commended for being one of the few organizations to address it."
Read here what he wrote based on the question put to Greg Mankiw.
Salt, soap and shoes for school, evaluation report.
The impact of pensions on the lives of older people and grandchildren in the KwaWazee project in Tanzania's Kagera region.
Authors: Hofmann,S.; Heslop,M.; Clacherty,G.; Kessy,F.
Produced by: HelpAge International (2008)
Cash transfers have become an increasingly popular way of providing social protection in low-income African countries. This study aims to find out more about the impact of social pensions for older people and the combination with child benefits in older people headed households, and what can be learnt from the experiences with this approach in the Kwa Wazee project in Tanzania. This is a joint publication from HelpAge International, Regional Psychosocial Support Initiative (REPSSI), Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and World Vision International.
The KwaWazee pensions fund was started at the end of 2003 in rural Kagera in northwestern Tanzania, an area severely affected by the consequences of HIV and AIDS. By 2007 nearly 600 older people received a monthly pension of Tsh. 6,000 (an equivalent of US$ 5 in April 2008) and Tsh. 3'000 per child, if they are main carers.
This study provides:
• an assessment of the impact of pensions and child benefits on older people and of the cost-effectiveness and implementation of the project
• an assessment of the impact of pensions and child benefits on grandchildren
• a summary of national and regional policies for social protection aimed at older people in Tanzania and an exploration of the lessons learnt from the KwaWazee pensions fund
For the study, both quantitative and qualitative tools were used. A special focus was laid on the rarely explored area of psychosocial wellbeing of older people and its inclusion of children in an impact assessment of cash transfers through activity-based workshops is, the authors argue, probably unprecedented.
The review shows that:
• investment in social protection and social transfers in particular are an effective way of targeting the most marginalised and the poorest men and women in developing countries
• universal non-contributory pensions help to deliver development outcomes across generations;
• social pensions have direct benefits across families and communities, thus tackling the intergenerational nature of poverty; and
• social pensions are an important response to HIV and AIDS and an effective strategy of providing support to older carers and reaching vulnerable children
The authors conclude that although the impact of the KwaWazee Programme as perceived by the beneficiaries is high, the sustainability of the programme is a challenge. This is because the pension scheme operates as a small localised programme and it has not been integrated into the district plans. As learned from the experiences from other countries in the region, scaling up and sustainability of such programmes is possible with government commitment. Also, forging linkages with the district council is imperative when implementing such programmes, so that such future programmes activities can be integrated into the council plans and implemented using council funds.
Available online at: http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/?doc=41059&em=101208&sub=pov
