Social Science Research Council

"Family Networks, Inheritance and Orphans in Northwestern Tanzania"

Family networks all over Africa shoulder the main burden of caring for orphans. As orphan rates have risen over the past years in many African countries, the ability of families to take care of orphans has come into question. My dissertation attempts to gain some understanding into who takes care of the orphans and who does not, and the economic and demographic factors that influence this decision. To do so, I will carry out a survey of the inner family network of orphans, of uncles, aunts and grandparents to determine which factors influence their decision to take care of the orphan or not. One aspect that interests me in particular is the influence of differing customary inheritance laws and recent changes in laws on orphan welfare. The survey will thus trace assets and landholdings of the deceased parents. In addition, my project will attempt to analyze the effects of recent changes strengthening the rights of widows to stay on their husbands' land. My quantitative data collection effort will take place as an extension to the Kagera Health and Development Survey 2, a project conducted by the World Bank in 51 villages resurveying members of households interviewed 10 years ago. I will take a sample of orphans found in the KHDS 2 and interview the households the orphans are staying in, as well as the aunts, uncles and grandparents of the orphans. I expect to be administering a survey instrument to a total of 1200 households in total, gained from the family networks of 120 orphan sibling pairs.