Deprivation among children living and working on the streets of Harare

ABSTRACT

This article investigates the extent of deprivation and vulnerability among children who live and work on the streets of Harare. A questionnaire survey was administered to 100 children in Harare's central business district; this was supplemented by in-depth interviews and focus group discussions. The study found that these children suffered severe deprivation, in particular in terms of shelter and education. The majority of the children obtained their income from begging and selling small items. They were exposed to verbal, physical, sexual and emotional abuse by the public, as well as by other children and adults on the streets. Poverty was the main reason for the children being on the streets, while social factors such as family disintegration or the death of their parents also played a role. These push factors can be addressed through providing more social protection, cash transfers to families, and education and health assistance.

KEYWORDS:

• Children living and working on the streets
• child poverty
• child deprivation
• vulnerabilities
• Harare

1. Introduction

The United Nations (1989) Convention on the Rights of the Child stipulates that all children have the right to a core minimum level of well-being, including nutrition, basic education, survival, protection and the right to grow up in a family. Children are often at a higher risk of poverty and deprivation, which rob them of their fundamental human rights. Poverty among children who work and/or sleep on the streets is at the extreme end of the spectrum of urban child poverty in Zimbabwe, as it is in other African countries. In the words of Ximena de la Barra, Senior Urban Advisor to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF):

Being poor is in itself a health hazard; worse, however, is being urban and poor. Much worse is being poor, urban and a child. But worse of all is being a street child in an urban environment. (De la Barra, 2000:25)

Recognising the plight of street children, the United Nations adopted a specific resolution on their rights, called the ‘Rights of the Child: A Holistic Approach to the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Children Working and/or Living on the Street’ (United Nations, 2011).

This article focuses on the deprivation suffered by children living and working on the streets of Harare. It explores the findings of a study of 100 children in the central business district and provides a snapshot of their extremely vulnerable circumstances. The article investigates their reasons for leaving home, the conditions on the streets and the activities they undertake. This evidence of the extent of their poverty and deprivation may help to inform the drafting of appropriate policies and programmes; to this end, the article concludes with a discussion of ways to address the circumstances of Zimbabwe's most vulnerable children.

2. The situation of children in Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe has ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child, as well as the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. The country's 2013 Constitution also embraces child rights. Under section 19, the Constitution requires the state to adopt policies and measures to ensure that in matters relating to a child, the best interests of that child are paramount; it also stipulates comprehensive care for and protection of the child (Government of Zimbabwe, 2013). Significant strides have been made to improve the well-being of children in Zimbabwe, and social programmes to promote their physical, social, educational and emotional well-being have been introduced. This includes the establishment of the Ministry of Health and Child Care in 2013, which includes a department dedicated to the health of children; the National Action Plan for Orphans and Vulnerable Children; and programmes such as the Basic Education Assistance Module, the Harmonised Cash Transfer Scheme and supplementary school feeding schemes.

Nevertheless, for a large number of children in Zimbabwe, incomes, living conditions and services are still inadequate. The 2011/12 Poverty, Income, Consumption and Expenditure Survey found that of the 5.9 million children under the age of 18 in Zimbabwe, 78.5% were living in poverty. Of these, 26.4% lived in extreme poverty (ZIMSTAT, 2013). Children from poor families often drop out of school, since they need to work to supplement their household income.

The HIV and AIDS epidemic has left a legacy of orphans and child-headed and grandparent-headed households in Zimbabwe. About a million children (17.9% of children) have been orphaned (ZIMSTAT, 2015). Although many orphans live with relatives, about a tenth (100 000) live on their own or in households headed by a sibling younger than 18 years (MEPIP, 2011). Some orphaned or abandoned children end up on the streets.

3. Children living and working on the streets

Broadly defined, ‘children living and working on the streets’ are children under the age of 18 who spend most of their time on the street. These children, who lack the care and protection of guardians and families, are one of the most vulnerable groups in Zimbabwe. They are exposed to violence and exploitation, and are deprived of basic rights such as a dwelling place, adequate food and sanitation. They are vulnerable to disease, crime, abuse and neglect; they experience different forms of deprivation; and they are usually not reached by national child protection programmes.

There is a significant body of research on street children, some of which has been collated and analysed by the Consortium for Street Children in the 2011 State of the World's Street Children. They found that much of the research on street children is fragmented and not easily accessible, and has not been used for informing interventions and policies to improve the lives of these children (Thomas de Benitez, 2011).

A number of studies have focused on the circumstances of children living and working on the streets of Zimbabwe. Studies undertaken during the 1990s included a countrywide survey of children on the streets (Muchini & Nyandiya-Bundy, 1991); an exploration of the lives of street children in Harare, their reasons for being on the streets, their values and how they organised themselves (Bourdillon, 1994); reported conversations with street children in Harare about their living arrangements, work and relationships (Marima et al., 1995); and an examination of the risk of HIV infection among children on the streets of Harare (Dube, 1997).

In 2001, UNICEF commissioned studies on orphans and vulnerable children, including a study on street children in Harare, Bulawayo, Mutare, Gweru and Kadoma. This examined the factors causing children to live and work on the streets, and the effects of and responses to this problem (UNICEF, 2001). Other studies considered the economic activities of street children in Zimbabwe (Musekiwa, 2009); the sexual and reproductive health of street children in Harare (Ngulube, 2010); the educational needs of working children, including children living on the streets (Sebastian et al., 2010); and the economic exploitation of street children in Harare (Mella, 2012).

Children living and working on the streets are a highly mobile and transient population, and it is difficult to obtain reliable statistics on them. Most of the evidence on street children is anecdotal or based on the perceived number of highly visible child beggars. In the early 1990s, the number of street children in Zimbabwe was estimated at between 7000 and 10 000 (Marima et al., 1995). An unpublished survey by the Department of Social Welfare in 2000 put the number of children on the streets of Harare at 5000; these included children who worked regularly on the streets, but who had a home to return to at night (Rurevo & Bourdillon, 2003). Nott (2013) provided a conservative estimate of street children in Harare of between 700 and 900, although the true figure was probably significantly higher.

4. The study on children on the streets of Harare's central business district

4.1. Methodology

This article draws on primary research from a specialised urban poverty study undertaken by the authors in April and May 2013. The aim of the research was to contextualise urban poverty and deprivation by assessing selected urban communities and vertically analysing the patterns and drivers of poverty and deprivation. Recognising that the poorest people often do not have formal addresses and therefore tend to be excluded from other datasets, the specialised urban poverty study included a focused study on children living and working on the streets.

The study used the deprivation approach, which emphasises the conditions necessary for the full development of children. Many studies use the child rights approach, but this approach omits the multidimensional aspects of poverty and deprivation. Also, as noted, most poverty studies focus on households ‘with an address’, thereby overlooking children on the streets. This study seeks to address these weaknesses by following a deprivation approach in the study of children of and on the streets. ‘Children of the streets’ are defined here as children who lived and worked on the streets, while ‘children on the streets’ are those who lived with their families and only came to the streets during the day to work

Seven key dimensions of deprivation were identified: nutrition, safe drinking water, access to sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education and information (Gordon et al., 2003). The study uses defined international thresholds for each dimension of deprivation to determine the poverty status of each child. The thresholds, which can be conceptualised as a continuum, range from no deprivation to mild, moderate, severe and extreme deprivation.

Harare's central business district was selected because of its concentration of children living and working on the streets. A drop-in centre, the House of Smiles, was the main entry point for the research, although project officers and volunteers from a registered trust, Volunteers for Vulnerable Children, were also involved. The mandate of this trust is to remove children from the streets, especially new arrivals.

Children living and working on the streets were generally not included in the master sample of the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency and were therefore difficult to sample systematically. Therefore, personnel from the House of Smiles assisted the team in locating the ‘bases’ where these hard-to-reach children lived and worked. A respondent-driven sampling method was used, where individual street children referred the team to other children they knew; these children in turn referred the team to still other children, and so on until 100 children had been interviewed. Two focus group discussions were conducted, one with the ‘children of the streets’ and the other with ‘children on the streets’. Eight in-depth interviews were conducted to obtain a better understanding of the reasons why the children were on the streets, their lives on the streets and their aspirations for the future. Two key informant interviews were conducted, one with a project officer from Volunteers for Vulnerable Children and the other with a child protection officer from the House of Smiles.

The survey sample consisted of 75 boys and 25 girls. Generally, there appeared to be more boys than girls on the streets of Harare, probably due to the hardships of living on the streets. These observations are in line with those of Moreira (2011), who points out that for boys the street is both a place of work and a place of friendships and recreation. Girls, on the other hand, are not only more vulnerable to physical violence, but the gendered nature of public and private spaces also makes it more difficult for them to leave home (Hecht, 1998). While earlier studies on street children in Harare likewise found a larger number of boys, Rurevo & Bourdillon (2003) noted an increase in the number of girls on the streets as more families became impoverished.

Quantitative information was collected through a questionnaire survey. Questions related to deprivation included the dwelling unit, access to safe water and sanitation facilities, nutritional status (biometric measures), health, education and access to information. The study also investigated the children's reasons for being on the streets, their economic activities as well as any abuse they suffered.

To ensure that the data collection tools were appropriate and the questions easy to understand, the research instruments were pre-tested on six children living and working on the streets in Harare's central business centre. This allowed the team to clarify and refine the instruments.

The CSPro 4.1 statistical package was used for entering, editing, tabulating and storing data from the questionnaire. After data cleaning and consistency checks, the data were analysed using Stata 11 software to determine the poverty status of the children. Pearson's chi-square test was used to check for any significant differences between various categories of children in the sample. The qualitative data were analysed by themes, using ATLAS.ti 7.1; this analysis complemented the questionnaire survey by providing further information to guide policy formulation.

Before the data collection, the research team underwent training in child research ethics and on coping with extremely vulnerable children who may become distressed during the interview. Informed consent was obtained before the children were interviewed. All information collected in this study was strictly confidential.

4.2. Characteristics of the children in the sample

The specialised urban poverty study found that the children's circumstances were complex. There was a continuum of relationships with families, ranging from those who lived with their families and worked on the streets during the day to those who were completely alone, living and sleeping full-time on the streets. In the middle were children who sometimes went home.

Economic constraints were the most common reasons for children deciding to ‘go to the streets’. Almost half of the children took this step to earn money for themselves or their families. Social problems, including abandonment, orphanhood or abuse by parents or guardians, were also cited. A minority had gone to the streets to be with their mothers or friends on the streets (Table 1).

Table 1. Children's reasons for being on the streets (N = 100).

Reasons	% of children
Earning income for self	24
Abused by parents or guardians	23
Earning income for family	22
Orphanhood	16
Dumped or chased away by relatives	6
Came with mother or mother's influence	3
Mischief, came with friends	3
Committed an offence and ran away	2
No money for rent	1
Total	100

Source: Specialised Urban Poverty Study data.

One boy explained:

When my father died, my uncle (my father's younger brother) used to hit me; he once hit me with a fan belt of a car and I was wounded. If I would ask him for anything, even for school, he would say no because he was not my father. When I asked him for a school uniform and he told me that he was not my father, I decided to run away.

More than half of the children in the sample came from communal farming areas. About 35% were from urban areas, while the remainder came from resettlement or commercial farming areas. The predominantly rural background of the children was corroborated by Sebastian et al. (2010): almost two-thirds of their sample of street children in Harare were from rural areas.

The parental status of the children in the sample varied, with only 17% indicating that their parents were together. The largest proportion (34%) of the children (more boys than girls) were ‘double orphans’, having lost both parents, while 17% had lost their fathers and 7% their mothers. The parents of another 17% had divorced or separated. Thus inadequate parental presence or care was a significant factor in children living and working on the streets. When asked whether he ever thought of his parents, one boy replied: ‘I do not think of them anymore. I am now used to being an orphan. I used to think of them the days that they died only.’

Regarding sleeping arrangements, Table 2 shows that 57% of the children in the sample did not go home in the evening to sleep, and therefore could be regarded as children of the streets. About a third went home to sleep, while the others sometimes slept at home. The gender difference was significant: the majority (68%) of the girls went home in the evening, as against only a quarter of the boys. The children who went home in the evenings had mostly been forced by their families’ extreme poverty to become partially self-supporting; they engaged in economic activities on the streets during the day.

Table 2. Children sleeping at home, by gender.

	Girls		Boys		Total
Sleep at home	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%
Yes	17	68.0	18	24.0	35	35.0
No	7	28.0	50	66.7	57	57.0
Sometimes	1	4.0	7	9.3	8	8.0
Total	25	100.0	75	100.0	100	100.0

Source: Specialised Urban Poverty Study data.

Notes: Pearson chi²(2) = 15.9562, Pr = 0.000.

Most of the children had been on the streets for less than six years, with the majority having been there for less than three years. Almost a quarter had been on the streets for less than six months. Only 10% had been there for over a decade.

4.3. Forms of deprivation suffered by children on the streets

4.3.1. Shelter deprivation

Severe shelter deprivation is defined as living in a dwelling that is overcrowded (five or more people per room) and has an earthen floor, with no flooring material (Gordon et al., 2003). The most common sleeping places for the 65 children in the sample who never or seldom went home were doorsteps or empty commercial buildings (Table 3). One girl slept under a tree and another slept on the bank of a stream.

Table 3. Places to sleep on the streets.

Location on the street	Number	%
Doorstep or pavement of buildings	30	46.2
Empty commercial building	16	24.6
Cardboard structure	4	6.2
Under a bridge	3	4.6
Under a tree	3	4.6
Alley	2	3.1
Other	7	10.7
Total	65	100.0

Source: Specialised Urban Poverty Study data.

Notes: Pearson chi²(6) = 14.1784, Pr = 0.028.

The ‘other’ category in Table 3 included an old railway station, a bus rank, along a stream and ‘anywhere’. Such sleeping places are a violation of the children's right to shelter. Of the 100 children in the sample, 65% suffered severe shelter deprivation. During the in-depth interviews, the researchers were shown the children's bases, which consisted of pieces of cardboard on the ground, with some cloths, a few items of clothing and some plates.

4.3.2. Water deprivation

Unsafe drinking water puts children at risk of contracting waterborne diseases. Access to a tap, a borehole or a protected well is defined as ‘no water deprivation’. Moderate deprivation is defined as an unsafe source of water or a source that is more than 30 minutes or 200 metres away, while a lack of both is defined as severe deprivation. The children living and working on the streets did not have problems accessing tap water from public places in the central business district. Almost 65% indicated that water was always available near their bases. The majority obtained water at no cost, and the water was regarded as safe.

4.3.3. Nutritional deprivation

While the children in the sample had some diversity in their diets, the frequency and quantities consumed were generally less than those of children staying at home. The food was also not necessarily hygienic, as some children had to pick food from waste bins. However, at times they bought their own food or begged food from the public. While they sometimes received food at a drop-in centre, the children said they preferred to be on the streets where they could beg for both food and money at the same time.

The height, weight and upper arm circumference of 82 children in the sample were measured to gain insight into their nutritional status. Levels of stunting and wasting were calculated for all children under 18, while levels of underweight were calculated for children up to 10 years of age. The incidence of malnourishment was relatively low. About 15% of the children were stunted, and 3.7% (all boys) were severely stunted. Only 2.4% were classified as severely wasted. None of the 18 children under 10 years of age were found to be either underweight or severely underweight.

4.3.4. Sanitation deprivation

Inadequate sanitation facilities pose a health hazard. Severe sanitation deprivation is defined as having no access to any kind of toilet within the vicinity of the dwelling place, while moderate deprivation is defined as access to an unimproved toilet facility. The majority (74%) of children in the sample had access to a toilet facility, either a shared public toilet or a toilet at one of the drop-in centres. Of these, 61% indicated that the toilet facility was within 500 metres of where they slept.

Over a quarter of the children did not have access to toilet facilities and were therefore severely deprived of sanitation facilities. They tended to relieve themselves in alleys and abandoned buildings. While the drop-in centre provided washing, bathing and sanitation facilities, it was far from the children's bases and was only available during the day.

4.3.5. Health deprivation

The child deprivation approach considers two health dimensions, namely vaccination and the occurrence of untreated childhood diseases, especially diarrhoea and acute respiratory infections (Gordon et al., 2003). Only 55% of the sampled children were certain of having been vaccinated against preventable childhood diseases, while more than a third did not know whether they had been vaccinated. Since many of the children did not know their status, it was difficult to determine the proportion of children who were deprived. However, the 11% who were sure that they had not been vaccinated were deemed to experience moderate health deprivation.

Around 27% of the children had suffered from diarrhoea during the previous month. Of these, 30% said that it had lasted for more than five days.

The children had access to public health facilities as well as to health care provided by voluntary organisations. When they needed hospital care, these organisations sometimes paid for their treatment, especially if the children did not have the Assisted Medical Treatment Orders that allowed them to obtain free treatment.

4.3.6. Education deprivation

Severe education deprivation among children of school-going age is defined as never having been to school, while moderate deprivation is defined as dropping out of school and no deprivation as having completed school. About 11% of the children had never been to school, thus experiencing severe deprivation. This is significantly higher than the national average of 1.5% of children of primary school age who were not attending school (ZIMSTAT, 2015). Although the majority of the children in the sample had either been to or were at school, their level of education was relatively low. Most had reached Grade 7 in primary school, but had not continued to secondary level. (A third had only completed Grade 3.) Only 15% had completed Form 2 and 4% had completed Form 4 in secondary school.

Children dropped out of school mainly because of financial constraints – not having enough money for school fees or for extras such as uniforms, shoes, books and levies. Ten children said that they dropped out to support themselves on the streets. Two thought that education was not important, and one said that he could not cope with school.

Financial constraints to education were emphasised by some of the primary school children in the focus groups. Although the school term had started, they could not attend classes because they had been barred by the school authorities for not paying school fees. Their parents or grandparents sent them to the streets to find money for school. These children did not regard themselves as ‘living and working on the streets’, since they were only on the streets periodically to obtain money for school fees and uniforms. (In principle, they would be classified as children living and working on the streets for the duration of their stay on the streets.)

The majority of children who were not currently in school planned to return to school as soon as they could. They wanted to learn to read and write, and some saw education as the key to success and a good job. They hoped to ‘get off the streets, be placed in homes, go back to school, and maybe one day become soccer players, soldiers and policemen’.

4.4. Income and economic activities of children on the streets

Given their poverty and economic deprivation, the primary livelihood strategy of children living on the streets was being active in the informal economy. Almost all of them worked in one way or another. More than half obtained income from begging (which constitutes child exploitation) and a fifth from selling small items, such as sweets, brooms or airtime for mobile phones.

Fourteen boys and one girl were employed either by shop owners to empty bins and distribute advertising flyers or by car owners to look after or clean cars. About 5% of the children said ‘kombi’ drivers (informal mini-bus taxis) used them to tout for customers. One girl said that she was being sexually exploited.

Table 4 presents the mean monthly income the children claimed to generate from their economic activities. The mean income claimed by those who were attending school was slightly higher than that of the majority who did not go to school, although their maximum amount was lower. The girl who had indicated that she was being sexually exploited claimed the highest income, while the boy with the highest income claimed to be a thief. The research team, however, thought the maximum earnings to be exaggerated.

Table 4. Claimed mean monthly income from economic activities, by school attendance (N = 93).

	Number of children	Mean monthly income (US$)	Standard deviation	Minimum (US$)	Maximum (US$)
Going to school	19	277.6	609.7	25	2 700
Not going to school	74	181.7	479.7	5	3 900

Source: Specialised Urban Poverty Study data.

Over two-thirds (69%) of the children said that they were paid in cash rather than in kind, while 16% were paid both in cash and in kind.

The children in the sample spent their earnings on a variety of items, mostly food and clothing. Some gave the money to their parents or guardians to support the household (Table 5). The ‘other’ category in the table includes expenditure on items such as drugs, sanitary protection and toiletries, and visiting night clubs.

Table 5. Expenditure per month (N = 100) (multiple responses).

Expenditure	Number of children	Mean per month (US$)	Standard deviation	Minimum (US$)	Maximum (US$)
Food	60	46.37	46.80	1.00	300
Clothing	43	18.60	18.36	1.00	75
Given to parents or guardians	13	61.92	83.92	5.00	300
Rent	11	28.64	10.98	10.00	50
School fees	8	37.00	46.57	6.00	150
Business stock	6	53.83	65.42	8.00	180
Gambling	6	35.50	34.43	5.00	90
Vending fine	4	20.50	7.37	12.00	30
Other	6	92.80	109.23	2.00	300

Source: Specialised Urban Poverty Study data.

Economic activity by children under 15 years of age is regarded as child labour; therefore, most of the children in the sample were severely deprived of their basic rights in this regard.

4.5 Vulnerabilities of children living and working on the streets

Although there is no comprehensive evidence on the prevalence of violence and abuse against children in Zimbabwe, local studies indicate that it is cause for concern (UNICEF, 2011). The specialised urban poverty study of children on the streets showed that they were vulnerable to a number of dangers and suffered various forms of abuse, which was traumatic for them. The most common forms of abuse were verbal and physical abuse (Table 6). Street adults sometimes hit the children and took their blankets or money. Others were beaten by taxi drivers, who regarded them as a nuisance. Much of the abuse occurred among the children themselves. More than half the children reported having been attacked by other children living and working on the streets, and another 13 (nine boys and four girls) reported sexual abuse by the other children. Only seven children (five boys and two girls) reported being sexually abused by members of the public. A quarter of the children were forced to do hard work. Another danger was traffic; 18 children indicated that they had been hit by a vehicle.

Table 6. Child protection and safety issues reported (N = 100) (multiple responses).

Issue	% of children
Experienced verbal or psychological abuse	73
Attacked by other children living and working on the streets	53
Experienced physical abuse by the public	40
Forced to do hard work	25
Hit by a car when walking	18
Sexual abuse by other children living and working on the streets	13
Sexual abuse by the public	7
Involved in a car accident when in a kombi or car	5

Source: Specialised Urban Poverty Study data.

During the focus group discussions, it emerged that new arrivals, especially girls, were more vulnerable to abuse by street adults, often on their first day on the streets. These adults either sexually abused the girls or acted as pimps, hiring them out to the public for sexual favours.

Abuse by street adults and the general public usually went unreported. A study on violence and the sexual abuse of boys living and working on the streets of Harare found that 25% of the boys had been subjected to violence and sexual abuse, but only 8% could say that the perpetuators had been arrested (Javangwe et al., 2009).

Despite such abuse, the children regarded the streets as relatively safe. Some of the boys said that they did not feel frightened on the streets, even at night. Their sense of security probably stemmed from having formed cliques or gangs that protected and fought for their members.

In addition, the children in the sample were involved in various types of damaging behaviour. Violence among the children was a dominant feature (Table 7). A quarter of the children, mostly boys, smoked cigarettes and mbanje (cannabis). As noted, sexual exploitation occurred among the children, and 15% (both girls and boys) indicated that they had sex with members of the public.

Table 7. Negative behaviour reported by children (N = 100) (multiple responses).

Type of behaviour	% of children
Violence among themselves on streets	62
Smoked mbanje	26
Smoked cigarettes	25
Had sex with other children living and working on the streets	23
Stole from other children living and working on the streets	21
Been involved in crime	21
Drank alcohol	18
Had sex with members of the public	15
Took drugs (other than mbanje)	14
Sniffed glue	6

Source: Specialised Urban Poverty Study data.

Higher proportions of boys than girls were involved in negative behaviour. There was a statistically significant relationship between involvement in crimes and where a child slept at night, with those sleeping on the streets being more likely to be involved in crime. Both children who slept at home and those who slept on the streets abused alcohol and other addictive substances.

5. Conclusion and discussion

This study has contributed to the understanding of the multifaceted circumstances of children living and working on the streets. It found that children in the study sample suffered multiple forms of deprivation, in particular in terms of shelter and education. As noted, they were deprived of the rights set out in the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Convention states that children should be protected from sexual and physical abuse; that the state is obliged to provide special protection for a child deprived of a family environment, by ensuring that appropriate family care or institutional placement is available (Article 20); and that every child has a right to a standard of living adequate for his or her physical, mental, spiritual, moral and social development (Article 27).

Despite efforts by both the government and non-governmental organisations, the majority (73%) of children in the sample noted that being on the streets involved significant challenges, ranging from hunger and illness to insecurity and violence. When asked whether they wanted to stay on the streets, the majority (84%) said that they did not want to remain there. As for the positive aspects of being on the streets, one boy said: ‘There is nothing positive about staying in the streets; it is just that I have no choice.’ The children received little support, with 91% reporting that they did not get any government support, while only 34% received support from non-governmental organisations.

The situation of children living and working on the streets in Harare is serious and cannot be ignored. Addressing it requires a multi-stakeholder and multi-sectoral approach. To this end, it is important to understand the reasons why children are left vulnerable by adults and society at large. The main reasons why the children ended up on the streets were poverty and a lack of money for the family. The UNICEF (2001) study found that most children working on the streets did so to earn income for their families. Rurevo & Bourdillon (2003) concluded that this was more common among girls. Also, due to the relatively high costs of attending school, a growing number of children were resorting to begging for money for school fees, often becoming street children during the school holidays.

These financial reasons forcing children to the streets can be addressed through implementing pro-poor policies and scaling up social protection, including basic family grants and educational and health assistance. In addition, free education or assistance with school fees and related expenses would help keep children off the streets. Conditional cash transfers could be introduced, where poor families are given cash on condition that their children attend school. The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education is implementing the Second Chance Education programme under the Accelerated Action Plan, which could provide an opportunity for children on the streets who have not completed their basic education. Assisting these children in obtaining vocational and technical training could potentially enable them to make a living away from the streets.

Another important push factor is family disintegration, including ill treatment and abandonment, whether real or perceived. The causes of such disintegration are complex, ranging from orphanhood and unstable families to poverty and economic challenges. Sometimes the root causes are interlinked, as economic pressures contribute to the breakdown of families. Economic pressure increases tension, and arguments over money may even result in domestic violence against both women and children. These push factors lead to more children living on the streets.

Establishing more orphanages and increasing support to institutions based on the family model (which replicates a typical nuclear family) would help to protect abandoned children and prevent them from going to the streets. The family system can be augmented by ensuring that some of the resident children have foster families across the country. This system of fostering should be expanded and encouraged. The Department of Social Welfare has established procedures that people who would like to foster children can follow. The normal point of entry for fostering applications is at the department's district structures.

Addressing the conditions of children on the streets poses significant challenges. A study in Maputo, Mozambique found that providing donor assistance to these children caused an increase in their numbers, because it increased the perceived benefits of being on the streets (Moreira, 2011). In the Zimbabwean study, children living and working on the streets often accepted assistance only reluctantly. In addition, such assistance was only a ‘sticking plaster’ solution, which did not address the root cause. Assistance by the general public (e.g. giving a few cents to begging children at an intersection) has a negligible impact on the circumstances of these children and may even perpetuate unacceptable situations. Drop-in centres provide a short-term safety net, but are often not financially sustainable. For example, for over 20 years an organisation called Streets Ahead provided facilities in Harare where street children could wash, cook and acquire some education and skills. It also undertook outreach work within communities and helped to reunite the children with their families. However, the organisation is not currently operational because of a lack of funding. A long-term solution requires concerted efforts that succeed in getting children off the streets, rather than inadvertently encouraging them to stay.

Acknowledgements

This article draws on research undertaken by the authors during the ‘Specialised Study on Urban Poverty in Highfield and Epworth High-Density Suburbs, Harare Metropolitan Province, Zimbabwe', implemented by the Institute of Environmental Studies of the University of Zimbabwe in collaboration with the UNICEF Zimbabwe Country Office and government ministries, including the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The authors would like to acknowledge the support from the UNICEF Zimbabwe Country Office [Contract no. 43135128].