TANZANIA

Census gains a realistic picture of street life

Since the early 1990s Tanzania has witnessed a visible increase in the number of children living and working on the streets, becoming a huge social issue. If families, grassroots communities, civil society organisations and the government work together, to address the root causes of child migration to the streets, this trend could decline.
In December 2003 and January 2005, the NGO, Mkombozi Centre for Street Children conducted a census of street children and youth in Arusha and Moshi. This was the first quantitative data collection of street children and youth in Tanzania. Mkombozi felt it was important to collect accurate data on this social issue to gain a realistic picture on the magnitude of the problem, as well as gain insight on the actual needs of street children and youth. The information from the census exercises is shared with other NGOs, civil society groups and interested parties and is used to lobby the government to allocate resources to this vulnerable group. The data from the census is also intended to uncover gaps in services that exist.

The census provides information on how many children and youths are spending time on the streets, and uncover gaps in current services for street children and youths. Additionally, in order to assess the impact of Mkombozi's work, the census looks at how many of the children on the streets come from the target communities and target schools that Mkombozi works with (see www.mkombozi.org for 2003 census report). In both years, the census was conducted over a 24-hour period, with staff and older boys from Mkombozi interviewing children and young people on the streets of Moshi and Arusha.
Since 2001, Mkombozi's Community Strengthening department has been working in four target communities in Kilimanjaro where a number of street children come from. The 2003 census results enabled Mkombozi to gather baseline data that will be compared to this year's data to determine if their efforts in these communities have made a difference. Over the last year, Mkombozi's youth workers have been training community mentors and peer support groups in these target communities to step in if they see conflicts in the home which could lead to a child running away. The results from this year's census are currently being analysed, but it is hoped that through the proactive work Mkombozi has been doing in the communities, the number of children coming from these areas will have reduced.

Many organisations and the government can debate about the reasons why children and youth migrate to the streets. It is interesting however to hear the reasons the children and young people give themselves. Through the census, their views can be listened to and actions be taken to protect the vulnerable children of the future. The majority of part-time street children stated that a lack of security at home was the reason they had come to the streets. Because of a lack of family based services and gaps in social welfare, they had had no choice but to run away. Many commented that they had come to the city to look for work and therefore lack of employment opportunities in rural areas are a reason. In Arusha, in 2003 there were 296 part time street children and 195 full time street children and the majority of them were between the ages of 10 and 19 years old.
Youth and children who sleep and work on the streets, spoke about the lack of help they receive. Many disliked the fact that they could not access basic services such as food, healthcare and clothes. They were frustrated that they were not treated like citizens by the police and the public and would like services to address this issue. They said they disliked the fact that they had no-one to love or care for them.

From all the observations Mkombozi made from the census in 2003, the NGO made the following recommendations:

The fact that the majority of part time street children in Arusha and Moshi come from neighbouring slums highlights a need for intervention for children at risk in these areas. Families and communities need to be supported, which is costly and time consuming but the economic cost to society having children on the streets is much higher. Non-attendance at school is also a primary reason driving children to the streets. Work needs to include helping to re-enrol street children back into school and also carry out preventative work to reduce children dropping out and playing truant. Children and youth on the streets need to be helped to find opportunities to gain life skills and work placements, so they can exit their street existence.

Mkombozi has been incorporating these comments from the 2003 census into their work to try and address some of the current street dwellers needs, but also protect vulnerable children of the future. Mkombozi is waiting for the observations from this year/s census to inform its work further. You can access these findings soon at www.mkombozi.org

Arusha Times
4 May 2005

 

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