Agents of support: intra-generational relationships and the role of agency in the support networks of child-headed households in Zambia

Abstract

This article explores the role of children and young people's agency in the context of their intra-generational relationships in child-headed households (CHHs) in Zambia. It considers how CHH members construct networks of support both within and outside these households, paying particular attention to the inconsistency of sibling relationships and the role of non-kin relations in peer support as an example of ‘extending the family’ [Jamieson, L., Morgan, D., Crow, G. and Allan, G., 2006. Friends, neighbours and distant partners: extending or decentring family relationships? Sociological research [online], 11 (3). Available from: http://www.socresonline.org.uk/11/3/jamieson.html [Accessed 29 March 2010]]. It argues for greater acknowledgement of children and young people's agency in the context of constructing and maintaining networks of support to ensure policy and practice is responsive to the fact that CHH members are agents of support rather than simply recipients of support or ‘beneficiaries’. This article is based on ethnographic research with 11 CHHs in rural and urban Zambia between 2004 and 2008.