Written evidence submitted by the Consortium for Street Children

1. Introduction:

1.1 The Consortium for Street Children (CSC) is the leading international member-based network dedicated to advocating, promoting and campaigning for the rights of street-involved children. We are committed to creating a better and sustainable future for some of the most disadvantaged and stigmatised children by working together to inform and inspire research and action that influences policy and best practice worldwide. For more information please go to www.streetchildren.org.uk.

The main questions from the International Development Committee's Terms of Reference which is relevant here are: How DFID works with other donors, multilateral agencies and NGOs to deliver assistance; the effectiveness of DFID's support for delivery of basic services; and DFID's support for orphans and vulnerable children.

2. Street children in Zimbabwe:

 

2.1 Zimbabwe is currently facing a lot of socio-economic challenges. According to a UNICEF study in 2004, an increasing number of children are finding themselves in the streets and/or in abusive homes. The study further notes that, because of unemployment, the ravaging effects of the HIV and AIDS pandemic, family poverty, persistent droughts, family breakdowns, crime and more often due to neglect, physical or sexual abuse, these children find themselves living outside family environment.

2.2 As of December 2005, the unemployment rate in Zimbabwe is 80%, which means, more than 80% of Zimbabweans are living below the poverty datum line. As a result of this parents are sending their children to the streets to beg and supplement family income. In August 2007 Streets Ahead, a locally based NGO, conducted a quick survey on the streets of Harare to find among other things the origins and nature of children living and working on the streets of Harare. The findings indicated that 36% of the children were from Epworth, a satellite township in the Greater Harare area. The children were on the street mainly on a part- time basis. They come to the streets during school holidays so as to try and raise money for school and other educational requirements. The Jacha area of Epworth had the highest percentage (37.2%) of children on the streets of Harare. 71.2% of the children had lost one or both parents while only 19.1% responded that they still had both parents living. In addition to the loss of parents 70.2 % of the children have no birth certificates or any identity documents.

2.3 This resulted in a three-year pilot project implemented by CSC, in partnership with Streets Ahead, Street Child Africa and the Jacha Community. The project carried out a participatory rapid appraisal of one informal settlement in Epworth called Jacha where the bulk of the children going to the streets of Harare are coming from. The participatory rapid appraisal's finding were that children from this community are likely to go to the streets of Harare because of abuse, poverty related reasons, orphan hood, lack of identity documents and educational opportunity. The participatory rapid appraisal provided an opportunity for Jacha residents to prioritise which problems they wanted to address first, which they agreed to be abuse, education and birth registration.

2.4 The project saw the establishment of a local government-civil society partnership in Epworth to reduce the flow of children to the streets from a slum where the majority of street children originate. The City of Harare sent government officials to participate in the project because, as a government official said, "Rounding up street children doesn't solve the problem. We want to see if you can offer another way". Unfortunately, the project was abruptly stopped because of the increase in political violence at the time.

2.5 Although there are national polices through the children's act, there is no municipal strategy on how to deal with street children in the city of Harare. Therefore, there is still no positive strategy to dealing with children on the street and as a result round-ups and police violence is still a major issue.

2.6 In written answers DFID stated that their Zimbabwe programme of support was going to reach organizations such as Streets Ahead. According to DFID they have allocated the following funding for Streets Ahead: [1]

2.7 July 2005 to March 2009 (project on-going):

Total US$

235,889

2005-06

US$55,888

2006-07

US$34,225

2007-08

US$52,559

2008-09

US$93,217

 

3. Conclusion:

 

3.1 CSC believes that continued direct financial support for NGOs is crucial in the context of Zimbabwe. Civil society organizations have a key role to play in the current political climate, bringing much needed support to street children and poor communities in the absence of a well-functioning national government.

3.2 On a local government level it is crucial that NGOs receive the support and advice needed to engage positively with, for example, the municipality of Harare to develop a street children strategy. DFID should support initiatives aimed at such outcomes.

3.3 Further police training, as part of an integrated street children strategy, should be pursued to decrease the high levels of arbitrary round ups of street children.



[1] http://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2008-10-07a.10.1&s=%22street+children%22#g10.2 (7 October 2008 House of Lords, Baroness Crawley) and http://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2009-03-18a.36.1&s=%22street+children%22 (18 March 2009, House of Lords, Lord Tunnicliffe).