Delta receives N1.7m for support of orphans

from The Tide

The Child Development Department of the Delta Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development has received N1.7 million from the Global Fund for the assistance of 64 orphans inthe state.

Global Fund is an international support for the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for development in African countries.

“We have put almost everything in place and very soon we will start disbursing money to orphans for their first and second therm school fees,” Mathew Ukey, a director in the department newsmen.

Ukey said that there were 13 registered orphanages in the state and it was the intention of the department to reach to more orphans in the state.

According to him, the department is relying on the state government to release fund for the projects.

He disclosed that the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs in conjunction with relevant stakeholders was conducting a situation analysis and assessment of Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC).

He said that the survey was aimed at providing important information on the variety of characteristics and circumstances of OVC and insights into the nature of the problems they face.

According to him, the survey will allow donors to better target their interventions and funding to the children most in need and to provide the most appropriate services to meet their needs.

“This survey would enable the ministry to plan and work out ways through which the federal and the state governments could assist in the development of such children,” he said.

Speaking on specific objectives of the survey, he said that it would estimate the total number of OVC in households, examine the characteristics and living situations of OVC including homeless children in each of the 36 states.

Others are identifying resources available to children and their care givers in households and local communities in Nigeria.

The survey would also assess the appropriateness and adequacy of institutional arrangements to respond to the needs of OVC.

He said that the survey which started on February 11 and would end on March 2, 2008.