" The Practices and Challenges of Nehemiah Child Development Project in Helping Vulnerable Children: The Case of Ambo Mulu Wangel Church"

Abstract

Children lost their parents due to poverty, war, HIV/AIDS, and the deaths of family members. The care provided by their parent or grandparents was not sufficient to address the needs of those children. To address the complex problem of vulnerable children both Government and Non-Government organizations engaged in assisting children. To this end Nehemia child development project is one of the non for profit organizations involved and engaged in caring for OVC. The purpose of this research is therefore, to uncover the practice and challenge of Nehemiah child development Project in addressing the needs of vulnerable children in Ambo town. A qualitative case study was employed. Participants of the study were recruited via a non-probability purposive sampling technique and data was collected through the use of an in-depth interview, FGD, Key informant interview, and document review. Data was collected from children, project coordinator, religious/ community leader parents and staff members. Totally, 30 participants were participated in the research. The project offers a range of services to support its clients and children who are at risk. A number of service components are involved in this project: food and nutrition provision, clothing, housing and care, health services, educational support, psychosocial counseling, and family economic strengthening through the self-help group. The finding of the research showed that project inflation, selection criteria, human resource ineffectiveness, budget utilization of the project were identified as major challenges of the project. In addition, the research identified Financial and Housing supports are the major support required or needed by the families of children to survive the family member. Furthermore, the researcher recommends that hiring of skilled manpower can increase the outcome of the project.