Evaluation of Services for Orphans and Vulnerable Youth in Botswana: Quantitative Findings

Author(s): MEASURE Evaluation

Year: 2019

Abstract:

Since 2016, the Botswana Comprehensive Care and Support for Orphans and Vulnerable Children (BCCOVC) Project—funded by the United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR)—has supported the Government of Botswana (GOB) to deliver social services in seven PEPFAR priority sites. The BCCOVC project is implemented by Project Concern International (PCI) and builds on the previous PCI-implemented Tsela Kgopo OVC and Gender project (2011–2016). It supplements the core package of GOB services for orphans and vulnerable children (OVC): provision of food, school uniforms, clothes, shoes, and toiletry items to orphaned and vulnerable youth. Its goals are to increase uptake of HIV testing and other reproductive health services, strengthen economic opportunities for young people, and improve educational outcomes.

With support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the USAID- and PEPFAR-funded MEASURE Evaluation project led an evaluation to determine whether OVC beneficiaries who have participated in one to two years of OVC services from the GOB and BCCOVC project have better health, economic, and educational outcomes than do OVC beneficiaries who received only the GOB’s OVC services. The study employed a two-arm quasi-randomized design. Data were collected from 2,358 youth in September–December, 2018, through household visits, with follow-up phone calls to 206 Form 5 students in February 2019 to collect data on educational outcomes. Quantitative data were analyzed to explore bivariate associations between the study arm and primary and secondary outcomes. Multivariate logistics and linear regressions were used to examine study outcomes, controlling for age, sex, school status, orphanhood, and primary caregiver. Results from the quantitative portion of the study are presented here. The study also had a qualitative component whose results are summarized in a brief available here: Access related resources here: https://www.measureevaluation.org/resources/evaluation-of-services-for-orphans-and-vulnerable-youth-in-botswana. The full report on the evaluation is also available on this web page.