![]() |
![]() |
Early in 2001, the Children's Institute predecessor organisation, the Child Health Policy Institute, was commissioned by Save the Children UK to develop a database of services in South Africa for children affected by HIV/AIDS. The project included the development of a website (now discontinued) and the training of staff at the Department of Social Development on the maintenance of the site.
This 2002 rapid appraisa investigated the extent to which some health and social interventions were available at that time to children attending public sector clinics in all nine provinces of South Africa.
Children Count – Abantwana Babalulekile is an ongoing project that provides time-series statistics on the situation of children in South Africa to multiple audiences. The statistics and related commentary, as well as information on the data sources, are available at childrencount.ci.org.za.
Established in 2005, this children's participation project is now run independently by the Zisize Educational Trust. It enables children in rural northern KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa to use the power of radio and storytelling to describe and explore their lives and circumstances for a South African and – via the Worldwide Web – global audience.
In August 2001, 90 HIV-affected and infected children from around South Africa participated in a National Children's Forum on HIV/AIDS. The event was aimed at providing children with the opportunity to engage with representatives from the national government, as well as members of Parliament.
There is widespread concern that the numbers of children living in ’child-headed households’ are rapidly increasing as a result of AIDS-related adult mortality in much of sub-Saharan Africa. This systematic analysis of representative national surveys over the period 2000 – 2007 aimed to shed light on the extent to which this is the case in South Africa, and to examine the phenomenon in more detail.
Getting research into policy and practice is a main objective of the Children's Institute. This project therefore over several years recorded the story of the Institute's involvement in policy and law-reform processes, together with analyses of the strengths and weaknesses of the advocacy methodology used in each process. The information gained from each evaluation or case study fed into new projects and communicated to national and international audiences through publications and occasional seminars.
This project, conducted in collaboration with the Centre for Actuarial Research at the University of Cape Town, drew on a combination of primary research and demographic projections, as well as a costing exercise, to consider the application of the foster care system to provide poverty alleviation for households caring for orphans.
This project used ethnographic methods to explore in-depth the experiences of HIV-positive mothers and their infants, providing a full and careful description of the political, social, economic, cultural and moral context that affects the quality of their lives. The project aimed to inform policy and interventions made on behalf of such HIV-positive mothers and their infants.
The 28,000 schools across South Africa have huge potential to serve as 'gateways' for a range of services for children. This multi-year action-research project undertook to understand and facilitate an expanded role for school as 'nodes of care and support' to vulnerable children affected by HIV/AIDS and poverty. It aimed to help schools to mobilise role-players in their schools and communities to provide a greater level of care and support for children.
This project explored the forms that the 'last resort' – residential care for children – is taking in the face of the AIDS pandemic in South Africa, and considered these forms in relation to South African policy and legislation. In particular, the project focused on residential care set-ups that have emerged out of, and in response to the needs of, community-based initiatives.
'But where are our moral heroes?' An analysis of South African press reporting on children affected by HIV/AIDSMeintjes H & Bray R 2005In: African Journal of AIDS Research 4(3), 147-159.
Children's Institute, University of Cape Town, 46 Sawkins Road, Rondebosch, 7700, South Africa | DIRECTIONS E-MAIL | Tel: +27 (21) 650 1473 | Fax: +27 (21) 650 1460 |