Zimbabwe is one of the countries in sub-Saharan Africa that has
experienced an increase in the number of orphans and vulnerable children
(OVCs) as a result of the impact of HIV and AIDS and has had its own
challenges in responding to the OVCs crisis. The growing number of OVCs
has led to the emergence of community-based responses to address the
needs of OVCs and as a result, challenges have also emerged as these
communities come together to provide care and support for the OVCs.
This study investigates challenges faced by community-based interventions
for orphans and vulnerable children in Mutare, Zimbabwe. The investigation
uses the case study method in order to explore, describe and understand
the challenges faced by two community-based organisations, namely the
Family AIDS Caring Trust (FACT) and Simukai. The collective efficacy
theoretical framework will be used to guide this study and to assist the
researcher to come to an understanding of the collective social efforts to
improve the lives of OVC in Mutare, and the challenges associated with
these collective efforts.
This first chapter presents a general background to the study, states the
research problem which generated the researcher’s interest in undertaking
the study, outlines the research objectives and the research questions of the
study, explains the rationale for the study, briefly highlights the research
setting, research design and methodology and theoretical framework and
provides definitions of key terms used in this study.