Hunter, The Bible and the quest for Developmental Justicemore specific monitor action that took place in 2008 in two of the re-
gions (Erongo and Hardap) of Namibia.
In 2007 a Namibia National Plan of Action for Orphans and Vulnerable
Children was drawn up by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Child
Welfare in Namibia, with the following indicators targeted as monitor
actions for 2010:
Rights and Protection, with target: all children should have access to
protection services;
Education, with target: Equal proportions of OVC versus non-OVC aged
16-17 years have completed Grade 10;
Care and Support, with target: 50% of all registered OVC receive any
external support (economic, home-based care, psychosocial and educa-
tion);
Health and Nutrition, with target: 20% reduction in under-five mortality
of all children / equal proportions of OVC and non-OVC aged 15-17
years are not HIV infected;
Management and Networking, with target: “multi-sectoral” (my quota-
tion marks) coordination and monitoring of quality services to OVC are
significantly improved.
In 2008 the plan of action was monitored in a volume specifically on
Monitor and Evaluation (M&E) and in many of the mentioned indica-
tors, specifically in Education, Care and Support and Health and Nutri-
tion, it seems that the plan has failed up till then. In Education and Care
and Support dismal results are reported. In the category Education only
two of thirteen target categories have been given values for 2010 and in
Care and Support only two of ten categories do not have the value “To Be
Discussed” for 2010.
In the more specific regional report mentioned (of the Standing Com-
mittee on Human Resources, Social and Community Development,
2008) a few categories were discussed of which a few findings will be
mentioned. With the first “Functioning of OVC Committees” category,
the report found that “the functioning of these committees and their
activities was at times exclusive and not broad based in their operations,
and it was evident that all the new OVC committees were still in need of
training to help them do their job effectively” (p. 5). In the category of
the “Provision of Identity Documents”, a requirement to register as OVC
in order to receive a social grant, it was found that in many places it was