The development community has started to question the exclusive focus of social protection
programmes on orphans and vulnerable children affected by AIDS in the context of widespread
poverty and vulnerability in Africa. This paper, using 2009 Zimbabwe Multiple Indicator Monitoring
Survey data and multivariate regression analysis and simulations, shows that the impact of orphan-hood
on children’s access to education should be not underestimated. Specifically, the probability differential
of dropping out of school, when comparing double-orphans and children with both their parents, is
almost as large as the gap between a child from the fourth quintile and the poorest quintile.