Identifying the roles of fathers in post-war northern Uganda: Groundwork for a parenting intervention

Abstract

Parents are the most proximal influence in children’s lives and parenting practices can moderate the relationship between risk-laden contexts and child outcomes. The present study is part of a broader project supporting Acholi parents in northern Uganda and adds to growing literature on the impact of fathers in children’s lives and fatherhood. Critical ethnography guided individual interviews with 19 fathers, three focus groups, informal conversations with community members and field observations to learn about Acholi fathering roles. Findings show that fathers have three primary ideal roles, to: provide for their children, educate their children, and provide a stable and peaceful home. These roles are all future oriented and occur within broader relational and social contexts including family relationships, recovery from war, and a changing but hierarchical society. The extent to which these roles are fully realised varied based on these contextual factors and individual differences. Findings provide directions for future research with fathers and support our research team’s inclusion of fathers in future parent education programmes.

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