ActionAid International Southern Africa Partnership Programme (SAPP-Zimbabwe) 3.3.1.5 Child headed households Only 1% (253) of total homesteads visited were headed by children (below 18 years). The youngest household head recorded was 12 years with a mean age of 15 years. Of the 1% noted, 55% were headed by girls and the remainder by boys. 3.3.1.6 Women headed households Close to half (47%) of the homestead visited were female headed households (of these 34% were widows compared to 8% for male headed households). Information pertaining to this category has been captured earlier. The mean size of households was almost the same for female headed households compared to male headed households (5.7 and 5.8, respectively). 3.3.1.7 Multiple vulnerability Any particular household can be in from none (zero) to all five of the vulnerable household categories above (this is refereed to as multiple vulnerability categories or compound vulnerability). For example, an elderly female head of household with chronically ill household members and hosting orphans would be in Table 6: Vulnerability categories all five categories. Likewise, a 45 Category Proportions in vulnerable year old male-headed household categories with no orphans or chronically ill Category 1 12% members would not appear in any Category 2 36% of the vulnerable categories. Category 3 39% Households, whose head is young, Category 4 8% for example under 16 years of age, Category 5 5% are also vulnerable. Therefore, the report explored this aspect and tries to explicitly show multiple vulnerability and the categories. Table 6 depicts the vulnerable categories that most households fall into from the sample. Information gathered shows that female- and child headed households are more likely to fall into two or more other vulnerable categories. This clearly demonstrates the vulnerability of female- and child headed households. 3.3.1.8 Children and education Figure 3: School drop out rates Victoria Falls Area Beitbridge Kariba Mutare Bulawayo Harare 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% The pooled Harare data set provides a rare opportunity to explore school attendance and dropout rates for areas affected by the Operation. Education is a good measure of the vulnerability primarily of children and secondarily for the family. School attendance in Zimbabwe is normally high. It is unfortunate that detailed information pertaining to age categories gender, and levels was not Zimbabwe Operation Murambatsvina/Restore Order National Survey Report 13