The Effects of Covid-19 on the Livelihoods of Children with Disabilities (CWDS) At Zimbabwe Parents Of Handicapped Children Association (ZPHCA) in Harare Zimbabwe · Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Author

Mufunda, Malvin

Title

The Effects of Covid-19 on the Livelihoods of Children with Disabilities (CWDS) At Zimbabwe Parents Of Handicapped Children Association (ZPHCA) in Harare Zimbabwe

Abstract

This study aimed at exploring the impacts of Covid-19 on the livelihood of children with disabilities (CWDs) at Zimbabwe Parents of Handicapped Children Association (ZPHCA), located in Hatfield, in the capital city of Zimbabwe Harare. The study was guided by three objectives which are: to identify challenges faced by children with disabilities due to covid-19 pandemic at ZPHCA, to find out the services provided by the government of Zimbabwe, the society and NGOs in making the children with disability life better and to identify the strategies that can be utilized to improve the livelihood of CWDs during Covid-19 pandemic. The study used qualitative methods to collect and analyze data. Availability sampling was applied to choose a sample of 20 research respondents for interviews and focus group discussions. Purposive sampling was applied to pull key informants. Four key informants were nominated through purposive sampling. The Social Model of Disability was applied as a theoretical framework which guided the study. The findings of the study indicated that CWDs were largely affected by the covid-19 pandemic in terms of accessing health services, educational services, food aid and other basic services although the government of Zimbabwe through DSD was providing these services but not to their full capacity. However, based on the ideas of the Social Model of Disability the government of Zimbabwe together with Non-Governmental Organization were trying to provide aid although the pandemic affected the provision of the required services by CWDs at ZPHCA. The findings also indicated challenges such as poor working conditions due to Covid-19 lockdown measure which put by the government to reduce the spread of the deadly pandemic and economic instability and high level of corruption affected the government of Zimbabwe in trying to provide services to children with disabilities during the covid-19 pandemic at ZPHCA. The findings also indicated that ZPHCA provided a very close monitoring on the health of CWDs and engaged in income generating projects (IGPs) such as poultry keeping and market gardening complementing the work of DSD in improving the livelihood of CWDs at ZPHCA.

Date

2022

Publisher

BUSE

Keywords

Covid-19

Livelihoods

Children with Disabilities (

Supervisor

N/A