Abstract

It is a well known fact that Botswana has one of the world’s highest HIV-prevalence rates as well as, the world’s highest percentage of orphaned children living among its population. In response to this challenge, Botswana instated the National orphan care support programme. However, since its inception in 1999, little has been done to evaluate its effectiveness. The objectives of the study were to identify the services available to orphans in the orphan care and support service and to determine the satisfaction of orphans with this service. It was also deemed necessary to identify the challenges encountered by both the orphans and the officers in charge of the programme. A qualitative study was conducted in which 40 orphans and 4 officers of the programme were interviewed. Respondents reported dissatisfaction with the services (85%) and gave various reasons for their dissatisfaction including a shortage of human, material and financial resources. The high dissatisfaction rate reported by the orphans is of concern since it may have social, economic and psychological impact on the orphans and the society.

Key words: Orphans, support care, service provision, challenges, Botswana, Africa.