Expanding Vulnerability, Dwindling Resources: Implications for Orphaned Futures in Uganda

The recent government and donor response to the “orphan crisis” in Africa has expanded beyond orphans to incorporate children in a number of difficult circumstances by employing the concept of OVC, “orphans and vulnerable children.” While the general concept of vulnerability helps acknowledge the needs of children beyond orphanhood, its expanding definition under policy development in Uganda has inflated the numbers of children that fall under its purview to about half the child population. This expanded definition of OVC also creates a hierarchy of vulnerability that affects which OVC will receive assistance in the midst of everdwindling aid resources. This paper explores the dynamics of childhood vulnerability in the Ugandan context from policy to practice. While Ugandans’ growing acknowledgement of child vulnerability is in itself seen as an achievement by policymakers, it creates an untenable demand for OVC services and potentially reifies vulnerability as an ironically privileged and empowered identity.