Getting back to the garden, rethinking child welfare in Uganda

grantor: University of TorontoThis study examines the attempts of the Ugandan government to enunciate and implement a policy of child welfare that is community based. The study analyses child care practices in traditional communities, and highlights the disruptions caused by external influences, including the imposition of a colonial system. It also considers important impacts, dictatorships, civil wars, economic problems, and the AIDS epidemic. The implementation of a new approach to child welfare, one oriented to a conception that looks back to a time when Ugandan society was community based, is explored. The dilemmas within the attempt to implement such a policy are also discussed. The analysis suggests that the spirit of communalism still exists in Uganda with regard to child care. Nevertheless, it also appreciates that communities are faced with many problems that might undermine it. Paramount among these are the AIDS epidemic and lack of resources. As well, western ideas and concepts such as gender equality and children's rights might influence attempts to re-establish traditional forms of child welfare. Thus, considering that many changes have occurred in communities, the traditional context has been altered, and some traditional communal practices might not be useful or relevant in the modern context. Nonetheless, there are positive practices that can be revisited and strengthened. It is the view of this study, therefore, that the garden we wish to reclaim will need different methods of cultivation from those used in the traditional garden. Consequently, the garden will be different from the traditional one.Ph.D