Mekonnen Mengesha

STREET CHILDREN IN ADDIS ABABA: EXPLORING
POLICY FRAMEWORK FOR INTERVENTIONS
BY: MEKONNEN MENGESHA
INSTITUTE OF REGIONAL AND LOCAL DEVELOPMENT STUDIES

SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES
ADDIS ABABA UNIVERSITY
JULY 2011
i
STREET CHILDREN IN ADDIS ABABA: EXPLORING POLICY
FRAMEWORK FOR INTERVENTIONS
A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES OF ADDIS

ABABA UNIVERSITY IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR
THE DEGREE OF MASTER’S OF ART IN REGIONAL AND LOCAL
DEVELOPMENT STUDIES
ADVISOR: MINAS HIRUY (PhD)

JULY 2011
ii
STREET CHILDREN IN ADDIS ABABA: EXPLORING POLICY

FRAMEWORK FOR INTERVENTIONS
APPROVED BY BOARD OF EXAMINERS
________________________________ ____________________________
Chairperson Department Graduate Committee Signature
________________________________ ____________________________
Advisor Signature
________________________________ ____________________________
Examiner Signature
July, 2011
iii
Acknowledgement
First of all, I would like to thank Dr. Minas Hiruy, my advisor, for his overall guidance and
support in shaping this research.
My special thanks go to Mr. Getahun Gebre (Supervisor of the documentation center in FSCE)
for his unlimited support in providing all related studies and reports on street children. Mr.
Getahun I do not have any word to express my gratitude to you. With all your cooperation this
research became a meaningful study. Thank you.
My friends, especially, Sewale Bitew and Bisrat Lemesa have a special role for the
accomplishment of this study by providing a moral support and encouragement.
i
Table of Contents
Contents Page
Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................i
Table of contents....................................................................................................................ii
List of tables...........................................................................................................................v
Acronyms...............................................................................................................................vi
Abstract ..................................................................................................................................viii
Operational definitions...........................................................................................................ix
Chapter One – Introduction .................................................................................... 1

1.1 Background of the study .........................................................................................1
1.2 Statement of the problem ........................................................................................2
1.3 Objectives of the study ...........................................................................................6
1.4 Significance of the study ........................................................................................6
1.5 Scope of the study ..................................................................................................7
1.6 Limitation of the study ...........................................................................................8
1.7 Organization of the paper........................................................................................9
Chapter Two – Situation Analysis .......................................................................... 10

2.1 Introduction................................................................................................................10
2.2 Children in Ethiopia...................................................................................................10
2.3 Street children in Addis Ababa .................................................................................11
2.3.1 The situation of street children ....................................................................11
2.3.2 Efforts in addressing the problems of street children ..................................12
Chapter Three – Literature Review ...................................................................... 16

3.1. Introduction...............................................................................................................16
3.2. Street children, interventions and social policy ........................................................17
3.2.1 Street children ................................................................................................17
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3.2.2 Interventions ..................................................................................................18
3.2.2.1 Interventions to address the problems of street children .............19
3.2.2.2 Major challenges of administrating interventions on
street children................................................................................22
3.2.3 Social welfare policy ....................................................................................23
3.2.3.1 Types of social welfare policy ..................................................24
3.2.3.2 Formulating social welfare policy for street children ................25
3.2.3.3 Major impediments in policy formulation for
street children ...........................................................................28
3.3 The role of local governments/municipalities in addressing the
problems of street children......................................................................................30
3.3.1 Useful strategies for local governments’ interventions to address
the problems of street children.....................................................................32
3.4. Conceptual Framework ...........................................................................................35
Chapter Four – Methodology .................................................................................. 37

4.1 Types and sources of data .........................................................................................37
4.2 Research design .........................................................................................................37
4.3 Sampling Techniques and methods of data collection...............................................38
4.3.1 Sampling techniques .....................................................................................38
4.3.2 Method of data collection .............................................................................39
4.3.2.1 Survey questionnaire ......................................................................39
4.3.2.2 Key informant interview ................................................................39
4.3.2.3 Document analysis .........................................................................40
4.4 Methods of data analysis ............................................................................................41
Chapter Five – Presentation and Analysis of Quantitative Data ........................ .42

5.1 Characteristics of the sample ......................................................................................42
5.2 Major challenges of administering interventions on the street
children in Addis Ababa in the absence of comprehensive policy .............................43
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5.3 Factors that hampered the formulation of policy to address child
streetism in Addis Ababa ...........................................................................................47
5.4 The need for comprehensive policy to address the problems of
street children in Addis Ababa...................................................................................53
5.5 Components of the proposed policy option ............................................................53
5.5.1 Basic elements of a right based approach ...................................................53
5.5.2. The essentials of a holistic approach .........................................................57
5.5.3 Establishment of policy implementation framework..................................57
Chapter Six – Presentation and Analysis of Qualitative Data ..................................60
6.1. Procedures for the establishment and administration of interventions on

street children in Addis Ababa..............................................................................60
6.2. Challenges in administering interventions on street children in
the absence of comprehensive policy ...................................................................62
6.3 Major factors that impede the formulation of comprehensive
city wide Policy.......................................................................................................65
6.4 The need for formulating welfare policy to address
problems of street children in Addis Ababa .........................................................69
6.4.1. The basic elements of the proposed policy option.....................................69
6.4.1.1 Right based approach as the major elements of the policy ...............70
6.4.1.2 Holistic approach to manage the interventions .................................71
6.4.1.3 Child friendly cities as a framework for the
implementation of the policy .............................................................72
Chapter Seven – Conclusion.................................................................................... 74

Chapter Eight – Recommendations ........................................................................ 79
References
Annexes
Declaration
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List of Tables
Page
Table 1: Demographic characteristics of the sample population ........................................42

Table 2: Challenges in administering the interventions.......................................................44
Table 3: Major factors that impede the formulation of a comprehensive policy.................52
Table 4: The need for having a compressive city wide policy ............................................53
Table 5: Basic elements of a right based approach..............................................................56
Table 6: The essentials of a holistic approach .....................................................................56
Table 7: Establishment of policy implementation framework.............................................59
List of Figure
Figure 1: Schematic description of the conceptual framework ...........................................36
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ACRONYMS
ACPF African Child Policy Forum

ACRWC African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child
AIDS Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome
BoFED Bureau of Finance and Economic Development
BoLSA Bureau of Labor and Social Affairs
BoWCA Bureau of Women and Children Affairs
CBOs Community Based Organizations
CRC Convention on the Rights of the Child
CFC Child Friendly City
Chad-Et Children Aid Ethiopia
CSC Consortium on Street Children
EHRECO Ethiopian Human Right Council
FASCW Forum for Actors in Street child Work
FBOs Faith Based Organizations
FDRE Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
FHI The science of improving lives
FSCE Forum on Street children - Ethiopia
HAPCO HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Office
HIV Human Immune Deficiency Virus
IRIN Integrated Regional Information Networks
MoJ Ministry of Justice
MoLSA Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs
MoWA Ministry of Women Affairs
NGO Nongovernmental Organization
OPRIFS Organization for the Prevention Rehabilitation and Integration of
Female Street Children
OVC Orphan and Vulnerable Children
PDRE Provisional Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
SC Save the Children
SCUK Save the Children United Kingdom
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SPSS Statistical Package for Social Science
UMP Urban management program
UNESCO United Nations' Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
UNFPA United Nations Population Fund
UNICEF United Nations' Children's Fund
WHO World Health Organization
vii
Abstract
This research was initiated to explore the policy framework of interventions established to
address the problems of street children in Addis Ababa. In line with this, the manner in which
these interventions are established and governed; the challenges of administering them without a
comprehensive policy; factors that may hinder the formulation of comprehensive policy and a
proposed policy options were aimed to be explored. To achieve these objectives, different type of
data collection methods were used. These include; survey questionnaire, key informant interview
and document analysis. The survey questionnaire was filled by 181 respondents selected through
the use of convenience sampling technique. Out of which 145 of them were street children, 20
officials/experts were from NGOs and 16 were from officials/experts of the government bureaus.
Key informant interviews were conducted with selected individuals from the three groups. The
data collected through the above methods was analyzed and presented descriptively. The
findings revealed that: the city administration has been facing a number of challenges in
administering the interventions on the street children in the absence of comprehensive city wide
policy. These include: lack of uniform mechanisms of supervision, duplication of efforts and
wastage of resources. Besides, there are major factors and assumptions that hindered the
formulation of city wide policy. Factors such as lack of awareness among the major stakeholder
on the magnitude and scope of the problem: lack of commitment and shortage of resource in the
one hand, and strong believes on the broader international, national and sectoral policies as
enough and adequate to address the problem on the other, are found to be the major impediment
for policy formulation. Finally, the proposed policy option, which is initiated, based on the right
based and holistic approach and the child friendly city initiative, has found a massive support
from the respondents. Hence, the proposed policy option has been presented as a mechanism to
address the aforementioned challenges in administering the interventions. Besides, additional
ways of improving the existing situation have been indicated. These include; awareness creation
on the problem, improving the resource base of the city administration and creation of uniform
transparency and accountability mechanisms.
viii
Operational definitions
• Child participation is an ongoing process of children’s active involvement in decisions

that affect their lives.
• Child Streetism is used to refer the way of life of the street children.
• Intervention is any planned action of governmental or nongovernmental organizations

which aims to address the problems of street children.
• Local government/ municipality in this study; the two words used interchangeably to
refer the city government/ administration.
• Policy framework is the existing international, national and local policy situations that
govern the interventions concerning the street children.
• Right based approach is an approach that uses the principles of child rights to plan,
manage, implement and monitor programs with the overall goal of strengthening the
rights of the child as defined it is defined in the United nation Convention on the Rights
of the child
• Social welfare policy refers to the principles, activities, or framework for action adopted
by a government to ensure a socially defined level of individual, family, and community
well-being.
• Street children, in this study refer to children under the age of 18, who either live or
make a living on the streets.
ix
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1. Background of the Study
Poverty has multiple dimensions and manifestations. As a developing country striving in

a pathway towards modernization and urbanization, one form in which poverty expresses
itself is the outgrowth of street children (Dybicz, 2005). Among other things, the growing
presence of children on the streets of urban areas engaged in scavenging for food,
hawking or soliciting while their peers are in school, can be considered as one of the
deprivations caused by poverty (Ouma, 2004).
Due to the fluid nature of the problem, nobody knows how many street children there are
globally. Estimates have ranged from 100 million to 150 million, but these figures are not
proven and are impossible to confirm (Hutchison, 2010). According UNICEF, the stance
is increasing as the global population grows and as urbanization continues apace (2005).
Street children are mostly found in urban areas, and rapid urbanization is one factor that
has contributed to their prevalence. As Ray Hutchison identifies, the growing gaps
between the rich and poor, poverty, conflict, famine, natural disasters, family
breakdowns, and the increase of domestic violence are among the reasons given for the
increasing numbers of street children worldwide (2010).
Although the street children phenomenon is a global one, Latin American, African, and
Asian countries are typically affected by the problem more than any other part of the
world (ibid). In recent years, these children have become a common feature in the urban
landscape of most developing countries (Acker et al, 1994).
Since Ethiopia is one of the developing countries, its urban areas are challenged by the
growing intensity of street children (MoLSA, 1993). Such problem could be emerged as a
result of assorted reasons, which include unbearable problem at home, dreaming more
freedom on the street and peer pressure. Regardless of the causes, all the children are
expected to face the challenges of life by themselves. As a result, they will be involved in
diverse informal sector activities to earn income. According to MoLSA, street children
1
are usually engaged in shoe shining, carrying goods for customers, begging, watching
and washing cars, selling cigarettes, lottery, and chewing gum while the girls are selling
food items in the markets, selling roasted bean in the bars at night (2004).
As it is noticeably witnessed, street children are not single and homogeneous groups.
Rather, it is very hard to describe a typical street child due to their uniqueness
(Hutchison, 2010). Some of these children are spending most of the day time on the street
and they will return to their family at night. However, others will spend both the day and
night on the street. These children are generally referred to as 'children on the street' and
'children of the street' respectively (WHO, 2000). The children of the street have no
home but the street. In addition to these, there are children who are a part of a street
family; i.e. some children live on the sidewalks or city squares with the rest of their
families (ibid).
For all the three groups of children, life on the street of the urban areas is too much
difficult and challenging though the intensity of the challenge differs from one group to
the other. As it is indicated by UNICEF (2005), these children are among the most
physically visible of all children, living and working on the roads and public squares of
cities all over the world. Yet, paradoxically, they are also among the most invisible and,
therefore, hardest children to reach with vital services, such as education and health care,
and the most difficult to protect.
1.2. Statement of the Problem
The problems of street children in Ethiopia had got recognition from the government
since the era of the Dereg (MoLSA, 1988). According to the first survey on the problems
of street children conducted by Rehabilitation Agency in 1974, there were around 5004
street children in Addis Ababa (ibid). Since then, the magnitude of the problem in the
country in general, and in the capital city, Addis Ababa in particular, has been increasing
and becoming one of the major social challenges.
As a relatively recent estimate indicates, the number of street children in Ethiopia ranges
from 150,000 – 600,000 nationally and 60,000 - 100,000 in the capital city, Addis Ababa
(CSC, 2009). Furthermore, UNICEF and others estimate this number to be much higher.
2
Many also agree that the number of street children is increasing in major urban centers,
particularly in Addis Ababa (FDRE 2007).
Even though there are huge discrepancies on the number of the street children, the scope
and magnitude of the problem is evidently increasing in an alarming rate (FSCE, 2003).
As a result of this, streetism has become one of the major concerns for the government,
NGOs and the community as a whole and requires a lasting solution.
Traditionally the response to street children by most governments in Africa and

elsewhere has been repression (Kopoka, 2000). In order to ‘clean-up’ their streets, city
governments, usually attempt to repress children and sometimes forcibly move their
rescue centers outside of the cities (Vanderschueren et al, 1996). Such kinds of responses
have been applied in a number of countries including Ethiopia. In Ethiopia, the attempts
of removing children from the street have been made by both the previous and the current
governments. The street children had round up by the police force and were dropped in
remote forests (CSC, 2009). However, such kind of searches for a quick 'fix' is unlikely
to succeed and may even aggravate the situation (Dybciz, 2005). As a result,
governments and all other concerned parties have to search a genuine solution to the
problems of these children.
In Ethiopia in general and in Addis Ababa in particular, most of the direct actions to
support the street children have been largely undertaken by the nongovernmental actors
(FSCE, 2001b). However, as the root causes of children’s vulnerability are diverse, their
needs can only be fulfilled through a delivery of wide range services (ibid). In a manner
that seems it considered this reality, different interventions have been established to
support and fulfill the needs of the street children. The focuses of these interventions
usually differ from one another. Some of them focus on delivering basic services, others
on providing health care or educational services, and some others on promoting and
protecting the human rights of these children (FSCE, 2003).
On a workshop organized by Forum on Street Children-Ethiopia in 2001, it was indicated

that, the existing interventions which were characterized by small scale efforts, were not
equivalent with the ever increasing number of the street children. Even if there were
3
newly emerging initiatives to address the problem, most of them were typically providing
similar services as the older organizations (FSCE, 2001a).
Since most of the nongovernmental actions to address the problems of street children
have a limited scope, the involvement of the government on the issue seems imperative
(FSCE, 2003). Due to the multidimensional nature of the problem and the wide range of
actors involved in the interventions, a mechanism for integration and cooperation is
considered necessary. In line with this, Ennew argues that the real solution to the problem
of streetism lie in the hands of the government; both at local and national level (1994).
This is due to the fact that governments are legally situated in a position that provides
regulative and coordinative capabilities of interventions.
The international conventions on children, particularly, the United Nation CRC and the
ACRWC provide framework of policies and practice that affects the welfare of children.
Based on these conventions governments are expected to establish their own laws and
policies to promote the right and welfare of their children (MoWA and HAPCO, 2010).
Ethiopia had ratified both conventions in 1991 and 2002 respectively. In line with this,
the government attempt to reform the existing legal and policy documents and
formulating the new one.
Basically, the FDRE constitution provides a provision to guarantee the right of every
child. The constitution clearly stipulated, the rights of child, including the street children,
to life, name, nationality and etc…Based on the above conventions and the federal
constitution, the government have been engaged in reforming the existing and
formulating new laws and policies to promote the right and welfare of children (Conticini
2008).
From the reviewed literature for the purpose of this study (including MoLSA, 2005;
Conticini, 2008 and Cardoso, 2010), it appears that there is lack of clear and
comprehensive policy guideline to address the problems of the street children in Ethiopia.
The major and the lone policy document that has a direct linkage with the problem of
streetism is the developmental social welfare policy, which was introduced by MoLSA in
1996.
4
The general objective of the policy is to create a social condition conducive to a healthy
life and sustainable development that will benefit all members of the society. In the
process it gives a special attention to vulnerable groups of the society, including the street
children. Furthermore, the policy provides an article that allows the regional governments
to formulate their own welfare policy according to their local context (MoLSA, 1996).
As national policies usually are general and all-encompassing, local authorities have to
translate such macro-level policies to micro-level policies to suit with their situations
(UMP, 2000). So national policies; like the developmental social welfare policy, has to be
translated by the local governments. Furthermore, due to the process of decentralization
and devolution of authority to local governments, municipalities increasingly assume
policy making and implementation powers to facilitate more effective local decision
making (Vanderschueren et al, cited in UMP, 2000). This is mainly due to the fact that
many of the intervention areas pertaining to street children rehabilitation fall within the
realm of local government responsibilities (ibid). However, the policy situation of Addis
Ababa does not follow this pattern.
In the case of Addis Ababa, the problems of street children, as the lower estimate
indicates 60,000 and the higher with 100,000, has become one of the major social
problems in the city (CSC, 2009 and SCUK, 2004). This figure indicates how the
problem is severe in the city than any other parts of the country. Due to this fact, majority
of the existing organizations that intervene to address the problems of street children
were operating in Addis Ababa (FSCE, 2003).
Despite the fact that there is a reform in the legal and policy frames which promote the
right of the street children and an increase in the involvement of the NGOs to address the
problem of the street children, the magnitude of the problem is still increasing (FDRE,
2007). The intervention mechanisms of both governmental and nongovernmental
organizations, to deal with the problems of street children in Addis Ababa, have not so
far shown a visible result in reducing the intensity (FSCE, 2003). In most cases such
interventions failed to bring a desired outcome in the lives of the street children, not only
due to the lack of sufficient resource, but also by the lack of proper planning and policies
of the government (Grundling and Grundling , 2005).
5
In the absence of any relevant literature on the policy situation of the street children in
Addis Ababa, the researcher practical investigation on the issue resulted in justifying that
there is no comprehensive policy document for these children. However, as indicated
above, both the magnitude of the problem and the number of interventions to address it
are increasing.
Therefore, in this study, an attempt will be made to explore the policy framework of
interventions to address the problem of the street children in Addis Ababa and provide
recommendations to realize an appropriate policy.
1.3. Objectives of the Study
The general objective of this research is to explore the policy framework of interventions
established to address the problems of the street children in Addis Ababa and provide
recommendations to realize a citywide policy. In line with this, the specific objectives of
the study attempted to:
assess how the interventions for street children in Addis Ababa are established
and governed.
assess the actual and potential challenges of administering the interventions in

Addis Ababa.
identify major factors that may hinder formulation of a citywide policy to address
the problem of street children in Addis Ababa.
indicate a workable policy option to address the problems of street children.
1.4. Significance of the Study
Children represent hope and the future in every society; therefore, solving the problems of
the children in general and the street children in particular can serve as an input for
sustainable development. In the last 50 years various interventions have been conducted
by different actors to address the problem of street children in Addis Ababa.
Nevertheless, the magnitude and scope of the problem is still increasing.
6
Therefore, the practical significance of this study is to contribute directly for the
improvement of the policy framework that governs interventions on street children in
Addis Ababa. The study will serve directly to Addis Ababa City Administration by
indicating the overall policy situation of interventions and mechanisms for its
improvement. In addition to this, the study will attempt to add some theoretical
contribution on the literature concerning the issue of street children and efforts to address
their problem.
1.5. Scope of the Study
Streetism is becoming one of the major challenges of all urban areas of Ethiopia.
Especially, the capital city Addis Ababa is among the cities that are highly affected by
the problem of street children. Since 1974, there have been attempts to conduct a
research concerning the problem of these children in the country in general and in Addis
Ababa in particular. Majority of the previous studies (MoLSA, 1988; 1993; 1995; FSCE,
2003) focused on the causes, magnitude and nature of the problem of the street children.
This study, rather than attempt to repeat the previous studies, it focused and limited to
explore the policy framework for interventions established to address the problem of
street children in the city. Specifically, this research focused to exploring the policy and
institutional structures established to administer the interventions. Due to this, the study
is confined to explore how the interventions on the street children are established and
governed and the major challenges that the city administration have been facing in
administering the interventions.
Concerning the direct support for the street children in the city, most of the services came
from nongovernmental actors such as: NGOs, FBOs and CBOs. Among these actors, the
study had taken the NGOs as primary actor involved in conducting interventions. These
organizations are selected among others because they are the major actors involved in
conducting interventions. However, the study does not include the effectiveness, success
and limitations of specific organization/s and intervention/s. Instead, it is limited to
explore a policy option that could guide all the interventions to common goal, creating
cooperative environment and providing a sustainable solution to the problem.
7
On the other hand, primary data was collected from different stakeholders including the
street children. Though the term children in Ethiopia include all children below the age
of 18, the street children included in the study are children above the age of 14. The
minimum age limit was taken by the research on the belief that children below this age
would not understand the issue easily. As a result, children who were working or living
on the street were taken as the major sources of data
1.6. Limitation of the study
In conducting any research, the availability of relevant and up-to-dated documents on the
issue plays a pivotal role for the success of the study. However, concerning the issue of
street children in Ethiopia, there is a lack of well organized documentation centers (both
governmental and nongovernmental) with the exception of the Library of MoLSA and
FSCE. Furthermore, by the time this research was conducted the mandate of
administering the issue of children had been transferred from MoLSA/BoLSA to
MoWA/ BoWCA. In such transitional period the chance getting the required and relevant
governmental documents was minimal. Furthermore, in some cases, the experts were
reluctant to give the available documents on the issue. As a result, the researcher was
challenged to access previous studies and policy documents on the issue timely.
Inaccessibility of both government and non governmental organizations officials and

experts for interview was another challenge for this study. Due to this, the study is forced
to use limited instruments to collect the primary data. However, it would be better if the
primary data gathered through questionnaire and key informant interview had been
supported by focus group discussion. Due to the inaccessibility of the experts and
officials in the one hand and the time bound set for the accomplishment of the study deny
the chance of conducting focus group discussion.
In the process of administering the questionnaire for the street children the researcher
faced some challenges. As the major objective of this study is to explore the policy
framework of intervention for the street children, some of the questions included in the
questionnaire have been a bit difficult for the children to comprehend them easily. As a
result, the researcher used extra efforts in order to explain these questions for the
children. By doing so the seemingly tough challenge had solved.
8
1.7. Organization of the Paper
The paper shall have eight chapters. The first chapter attempts to explain the background
of the study. Following this, the statement of the problem, the objective and how the
study is organized is also presented in this chapter. The second chapter is devoted for
analyzing the situation of the street children. In this chapter, the overall situation of street
children in the country in general and in Addis Ababa in particular is analyzed. Chapter
three is given for the conceptual/theoretical framework of the study. The definitions of
core concepts and major tools of analysis are clarified in this chapter. The methodology
of the study is explained in the fourth chapter. The methods of sampling, data collection,
and analysis are dealt in this particular chapter. In the fifth chapter the quantitative data
collected from the opinion survey is presented analyzed. The qualitative data that are
obtained from the interview and the document review analyzed in chapter six. After the
analysis of the data collected from the primary and secondary sources, the conclusion of
the study is presented in the seventh chapter. In the last chapter, potentially relevant
recommendations to provide sustainable solution to the problems of street children are
forwarded.
9
CHAPTER TWO
SITUATION ANALYSIS
2.1 Introduction
The ever presence of street children has become one of the pressing social problems in
most urban areas of Ethiopia. Extreme poverty, rapid urbanization and domestic violence
turn out to be the derivation of this problem. The scale and magnitude of the problem
have become highly pervasive through time. Consequently, it has grown to be one of the
common features of most urban areas of the country. The capital city, Addis Ababa, has
been extremely challenged by the problem of streetism more than any other places in the
country (CSC, 2009).
Both the previous and the current governments have been attempting to address the
problem at the national and municipal levels (MoLSA, 1995). Consequently, the
government, independently or together with the support of various stakeholders have
been taking several interventions to address the problem. Moreover, the government as a
prime duty bearer for the problem of the street children; is expected to create enabling
environment for the involvement of other actors in the issue. This may include the
promulgation of laws, directives, guiding principles, policies and the like. In this chapter,
the situation of street children in the country in general and in Addis Ababa in particular
will be assessed in light of the policy frameworks established.
2.2 Children in Ethiopia
According to the 2007 census, the population of Ethiopia has reached 73.9 million. Out
of this more than half (55.5%) of the total population were children under the age of 18
(FDRE Population Census Commission, 2008). As the same source indicated that, Addis
Ababa constitutes more than 2.7 million residents out of which the children comprise
around 1 million of them.
Child vulnerability has been one of the major problems in Ethiopia. As of the year 2009,
Ethiopia had estimated 5,459,139 orphans of whom 855,720 became orphan due to
HIV/AIDS. Based on this figure, the country has become a home for one of the largest
10
population of OVC in Africa (MoWA and HAPCO, 2010). These OVC are directly or
indirectly exposed to socio economic, health, psychological and legal problems.
Due to their vulnerability, providing protection for these children should be among the
major duty-bound of the government. However, the social services and social protection
system to support vulnerable children in the country has been very weak (Haile, 2008). In
a situation where the lack of social services and protection mechanisms coupled with the
prevalence of absolute poverty, spreading of HIV/AIDS, recurrent drought and rapid
urbanization, will place the children to be more vulnerable for socioeconomic problems
(ibid; SCUK, 2004). Consequently, they will be forced to engage in any economic
activities to support themselves and their families. Usually these children will end up in
working or living on the street of the urban areas (Haile, 2008).
2.3. Street Children in Ethiopia
2.3.1 The Situation of Street Children
The problem of street children in Ethiopia is not a recent phenomenon. As some

governmental documents unveil, children have been living and working on the street not
for less than half a century. Why children get move on to the streets is very much
assorted. Though every child has a special reason to leave his/her home in favor of the
street, there exist several commonalities. According to MoLSA, the major causes of
streetism in Ethiopia include the prevalence of absolute poverty, domestic violence, rural
to urban migration, dropping out of school, family displacement and wanting to support
oneself and the family (MoLSA, 2004). On the other hand, rapid growth of urban centers,
war and the recurrent drought and famine have also been raised as the major causes of
stretsim in Ethiopia (Abeje, 1998).
Researches that have been conducted in the last forty years indicated that the problem of
child streetism in the country has been continuously increasing in its scale and magnitude
(MoLSA, 1988; 1993; 1995 and Tacon, 1991). In 1991, Tacon estimated the number of
street children in the country to be more than 100,000 (1991). According to this study, the
magnitude of the problem was increasing mainly due to the massive destruction and
displacement caused by the civil war that was prevailed in the country. Concerning the
11
magnitude of the problem, for instance MoLSA estimated 5% annual growth (MoLSA,
1996).
Later on, MoLSA confirmed that there were 150,000 street children, countrywide, in the
year 2003. Out of which 40% of them, about 60,000 were inhabited in Addis Ababa.
However, some aid agencies stipulated this number may be far more exceeding, with
nearly 600,000 street children countrywide and over 100,000 in Addis Ababa (IRIN cited
in SCUK, 2004). Others like, US Department of State estimate, street children in
Ethiopia reached approximately 200,000 of which 75% of them reside in Addis Ababa
(SCUK, 2004). The above mentioned estimates provided insight in giving an
approximate picture for the problem. So, it had a greater importance for the national
government, municipalities and other actors to formulate and conduct interventions.
Irrespective of the wide-ranging reasons for streetism, street children face multiple
challenges. The foremost problems could be categorized as social, physical, and
psychological ordeals. Lack of accessible resources, poverty, illiteracy, discrimination
and stigmatization are among the major social problems (MoLSA, 1988; FSCE, 2003).
As similar sources indicated that the physical problem include, lack of adequate nutrition,
physical and sexual abuse, sexual and reproductive health problems including HIV/AIDS.
Concerning their psychological problems, street children are hugely affected by
substance use; mental health problem and past trauma.
2.3.2 Efforts in Addressing the Problems of Street Children
As elucidated in the above discussion, the problems of street children have a

multidimensional temperament. For this reason, the problem requires the involvement of
multiple actors at different levels so as to give appropriate responses (FSCE, 2003). In the
effort to address the problem, a number of actors have been involved both at national and
municipal level. These actors mainly include the government, NGOs, FBOs, CBOs and
private individuals.
Since the problem has been widely observed in Addis Ababa, the majority of the
interventions conducted in the city (CSC, 2009). The intervention was carried out by both
the government and various NGOs independently. However, their approach and scope of
12
coverage differ from one another. According to FSCE, most of the services provided for
the street children are mainly focused on delivering basic services like food and
educational support. Other services like medical care and shelter are provided
occasionally with lesser extent (2003). Furthermore, many of the NGOs do not attempt
to take the children off the street; rather they opt to help them while they are on the street
(Shmidit, 2003). This might be due to shortage of resource and absence of comprehensive
national and municipal strategy towards the problem.
As it was stated earlier, all the nongovernmental efforts to address the problem are
limited in scope. The real solutions to the problem lie in the hands of the government
(Ennew, 1994). Accordingly, both the previous and the current government, nationally
and at municipal level made their own attempts to deal with the problem. Their responses
could be broadly categorized as supportive and punitive interventions.
In the Derg regime, both the supportive and punitive interventions were common. As a
supportive action, the government was giving a fair deal of coverage for the promotion of
child welfare in the major national laws and policies including the PDRE constitution. In
line with this, the constitution had a provision that states the needs of children and the
duty of the government and the society at large to fulfill and promote their welfare
(MoLSA, 1988). Besides, the Ten Years Perspective Plan 1984-94 also gave a prominent
part to promote the welfare of children (ibid). These provisions were imperative to
promote the welfare of children, including the street children.
More importantly, a separate agency (National Children’s Commission) was established

in 1981 to deal primarily with the issue of children. The commission was assigned to
provide adequate services to children to ensure their full physical, mental and social
development (ibid).
According to (Tacon, 1991), in the Derg period, both the government and the NGOs
worked together in addressing the problems of street children, especially since 1985. The
two actors were actively involved in developing projects, carrying out a number of
studies, workshops, and seminars concerning the issue.
13
On the contrary, the government was using punitive actions against street children. These
include using excessive force to clean the children from the street. Due to this, the
children became victims of severe police beating and mistreatment. Furthermore, they
were often rounded up and confined in state owned farms where they undertook forced
labor (CSC, 2009). In mot cases, this kind of search for a ‘quick fix’ by and large failed
to bring the desired result (Dybciz, 2005). Because it focused on the symptoms instead of
their real causes of the problems. The situation of interventions on the street children in
Ethiopia shared this features
After the downfall of the Derg, the new government, FDRE, has been taking several
measures concerning children in general and street children in particular. However, its
basic approach does not differ significantly from its predecessor. The interventions
continued as supportive at one time and punitive at another. On the supportive side, the
government shows its commitment by ratifying the major international conventions that
promotes the rights and welfare of children. In line with this, the government ratified both
the United Nation CRC and the ACRWC. Besides, the government attempts to harmonize
the domestic laws and policies with the provisions of the conventions (MoWA and
HAPCO, 2010).
Concerning polices that affect the rights of children in general and the street children in
particular, the government formulated the federal developmental social welfare policy in
1996. The objective of the policy revolved around creating an agreeable environment for
sustainable development in the country. The major targets of the policy are vulnerable
groups. Children mentioned as one of the most vulnerable groups that needs protection.
Accordingly, the policy raised the issue of street children as one of the major social
problems of the urban areas. For all social problems including streetism, it provides three
major approaches of interventions; namely preventive, developmental and rehabilitation.
The government (both the federal and regional/municipal) have been conducting different
interventions to address the problems of street children independently as well as in
cooperation with organizations like UNICEF and other NGOs (FSCE, 2001b). As a
14
matter of fact, governments could not have the capacity to address all social problems by
themselves. Usually the gaps that are left out by governments are filled by NGOs (West,
2005). For this reason, the government should promote the involvement of other actors
including the NGOs to intervene in the area by creating an enabling working
environment.
Because of regime change and governmental restructuring, the previous National Child
Commission has been reduced and became a department with in MoLSA (Shmidit,
2003). Then after, the mandate to deal with the issues of children is given to three
ministries, namely; MoLSA, MoWCA, and MoJ (FHI, 2010). At the regional level, like
the three ministries, the regional governments will establish their own respective
Bureaus. The reality of Addis Ababa does follow similar pattern.
Apart from its supportive actions, the government has been involved in taking ruthless
punitive actions against street children. In some cases, it tried to solve this problem by
rounding them up, taking and abandoning them in forests outside the city (CSC, 2009).
The penalizing action is not only focusing children of the street, rather it also includes
working children/ children on the street. These children have been suffering from
confiscation of their properties and beating by polices. According to EHRCO such kind
of actions are violation of the human and constitutional rights of the children (CSC,
2009).
All in all, the problem of child streetism in Ethiopia in general and in Addis Ababa in
particular has become one of the major social problems. Through time, the causes of the
problem are becoming diversified and the magnitude continued to increase. Similarly, the
types of interventions and the actors that are involved on the issue have become
expanded. However, the intervention mechanisms of both governmental and
nongovernmental organizations to deal with the problems of street children have not so
far shown a visible result in reducing the prevalence of the problem (FSCE, 2003). Even
in some cases, the interventions conducted, violate the rights of the street children and
endanger their survival, instead of supporting them.
15
CHAPTER THREE
LITERATURE REVIEW
3.1 Introduction
Children represent hope and future in any society (Ennew, 2003). As a result, investing
on today’s children is expected from every society so as to sustain its future socio-
economic, political and cultural development (Vazquez, 2008). Missing such kind of
chances will bring a huge socio economic cost for the society in the long run. In most
developing countries, this chance has been easily spoiled by different factors, including;
natural disasters, armed conflict, civil war, lack of good governance and prevalence of
absolute poverty (Subbarao and Diane, 2004; Garcia et al, 2008).
Most developing countries are commonly characterized by extreme poverty, unplanned

and ever increasing levels of urbanization, rapid change towards modernization and the
prevalence of HIV/AIDS. The predominance of such conditions will force some segment
of the society to face the burden of exclusion and Vulnerability (Vanderschueren et al,
1996). The majority of poor people who are living in these countries in general and their
children in particular; are among the major victims of such vulnerability (ibid).
Vulnerable children usually include a child who is less than 18 years of age and whose
survival, care, protection or development might have been jeopardized due to a particular
condition, and who is found in a situation that prohibits the fulfillment of his/her rights
(MoWA, 2010). Among others, children who are working and living on the street,
commonly labeled as ‘street children’, are among the children included in the category of
vulnerable children. The definitions of the term, street children, differ from country to
country depending on their local context. First, let us grasp some of the most commonly
accepted definitions of the term street children. Then after, the efforts to address the
problems of street children in relation to the issue of social welfare policy will be
discussed in detail.
16
3.2 Street Children, Interventions and Social Welfare Policy
3.2.1 Street Children
The meaning of the term street children has been widely debated and it is difficult to find
a typical definition for it (Ennew, 2003). For some, the generic term ‘street children’
obscures the heterogeneity in the actual circumstances of the children and does not reflect
the fluidity in which they move on and off the street (Panter-Brick, 2002). As a result, it
failed to reflect the real situation of the children. Furthermore, it also argued that the term
has a negative connotation which results in labeling and stigmatizing children (ibid). On
the contrary, the term ‘street children’ is accepted positively and appreciated as a means
that create specific identity and a sense of belonging among the children.
In its most common usage the term has been applied to refer children under the age of 18,
who either live or make a living on the streets. Some may have family connections, but
others are simply abandoned or choose to run away from home (CSC, 2009). Similarly
Hutchison defines street child as any boy or girl under the age of 18 who lives, works, or
does both, on the street or in any other urban public space, often without the supervision
or protection of an adult (Hutchison, 2010). From both definitions one can understand
that the family linkage and the place where these children spend their time are taken as
the major criteria to categorize them as street children.
By degree of family contact of the children, UNICEF categorizes street children into
different groups. The categories include children at high risk of street life involvement,
chidden on and of the streets and abandoned children.
• Children at high risk are generally urban children who, because of the extreme
poverty and deprivation in their homes, or due to inadequate care and supervision
of parents, are at high risk of becoming involved in street life.
• Children on the street are children who spend most of their time in the streets or
markets, usually as child workers. They maintain a strong family link and usually
returning home at night, having spent all day away. These children are usually
17
involved in economic activities on the street like, washing /watching cars, shoe
shinning carrying goods etc…
• Children of the street are children who have in some sense chosen to fully
participate in street life not just at an economic level. They usually have family
accessible to them who they may visit from time to time, but the street is their
principle home.
• Abandoned children are those who have no home to go to; either because of the
death of, or the rejection by, their parents and unavailability or rejection of their
extended family (cited in MOLSA, 1993).
Life, for all the above categories of children on the street of urban areas might be
characterized by full of struggle. As a result, every child has to search for a means to
fulfill his/her daily basic needs including food, shelter and clothes. Furthermore, as these
children are spending most of their time on the street, usually they became highly
vulnerable for both sexual and physical abuse, and discrimination.
The problems of street children, like any other social problems, require interventions. The
interventions can be made by governmental and nongovernmental organizations that are
entrusted to address the problem. The nature of interventions, their types and the actors
that are expected to conduct the intervention will be discussed below.
3.2.2 Interventions
To begin with the definition, an intervention refers to a purposeful action taken to

influence a given situation (Fraser et al, 2009). Particularly in social work, intervention
refers to steps taken by a qualified practitioner to modify an aspect of an individual,
group or communities behavior, as part of an overall strategy to help them solve or
reduce a problem or function better in some area of their lives (FASCW, 2001).
From these definitions, one can easily recognize that an intervention is a planned action
to change an existing situation for a better one. This change will be achieved through the
involvement of professionals. In fact, all interventions may not take similar pattern and
18
focus. One intervention may differ from the other based on a number of factors, including
their scope, purpose, magnitude, motivation and so on.
According to Fraser et al (2009), interventions can be broadly categorized as structural

and place based. Structural interventions are interventions that tend to affect social
structures; such as social controls, opportunities and access, social roles, or socio-
economic status. On the other hand, a place based interventions emphasizes on where,
who, and how the intervention is taken. The focus of such interventions usually is a
specific group of people who share common space and or subscribe to common goals and
values (ibid). In this study the term intervention will exclusively be used to refer to the
second category; a place based intervention. This is due to the fact that all the
interventions that affect children are typically categorized as place based intervention.
3.2.2.1 Interventions to Address the Problems of Street Children
Concerning the interventions in the lives of children in general, and the street children in
particular, there are two broad dimensions, namely; need/charity based and right based
interventions. These perspectives view children and the service provided to them from
different point of views (SC Sweden, 2002; Amtizs, 2003). The basic assumptions and
differences of the two approaches are presented as follow.
In a traditional need based approach, providing services for children was largely based on
the following major assumptions:
Children should be supported because they deserve help (SCUK, 2000).
Providing services for children is a voluntary activity (Amtzis, 2003).
No one has definite obligations for them (Amtzis, 2003; SCUK, 2000)
The focus should be on providing welfare services (Amtzis, 2003)
Each piece of work has its own goal but there is no unifying overall purpose (SC
Sweden, 2002; SCUK, 2000).
Children can participate in order to improve service delivery process (SCUK,

2000).
19
The service provisions will look at specific and immediate situation that
necessitate intervention (SC Sweden: 2002).
In contrast, the right based approach has the following underlining assumptions:
Children are entitled to get support (ibid).
Supporting the children is mandatory (Amtzis, 2003)
There are binding legal and moral obligations to provide services for children
(ibid).
Priority in providing service should be given for marginalized groups (Lansdown,

2005)
The promotion and protection of rights of children are based on international

standards (SC Sweden: 2002)
Children are active participants in decisions that affect their lives just because, it
is their right (SC Sweden: 2002; Amtzis, 2003).
Both outcomes and processes are monitored and evaluated (Lansdown, 2005)
There is an overarching goal to which all work contributes and strive to achieve
(SC Sweden: 2002:22).
Interventions should focus to analyze the root causes (Amtzis, 2003; SCUK,
2000).
As it is clearly observable from the above summary, the assumption that consider the
issue providing services for children as voluntary activity has completely shifted and
became mandatory. In line with this, all actors involved in providing services for children
are forced to be accountable for their actions. Through time, the need/ charity based
approach for intervention on children recognized as unsuccessful in bringing sustainable
change (SCUK, 2002; Theis, 2004). As a result, a change in the approach of the service
delivery was considered necessary. Globally, this change was directly associated with the
ratification of the CRC in 1989.
20
The CRC has been ratified by almost all countries of the world, including Ethiopia.
Accordingly, the convention provides a rights-based framework for intervention in the
lives of children, including street children (Ennew, 2003). In line with this, the
convention establish universal standards for children rights to dignity, freedom from
discrimination, survival, development, protection, and participation, with overall
consideration given to the best interests of the child (ibid).
Within the right based framework, interventions in the lives of the street children may
take two major approaches, namely; human development and service based interventions
(Ennew, 1994). The two approaches differ from one another basically on the duration and
strategies they pursue. The human development approach focused on a long term
perspectives that concentrate in developing the skills and confidence of the children so as
to reintegrate them in to the mainstream society. To this end, the approach utilizes
strategies like providing non formal education and vocational trainings for the street
children; reintegrating the children to their families, schools and the labor market; and
involving family and the community in the interventions (Ennew, 2003; Volpi, 2002).
On the other hand, the service based approach is focused in providing a short term
services to fulfill the immediate needs of the children and to protect them from danger,
abuse and exploitation. This may include providing food, shelter, health services, and
shorter-term training and counseling opportunities in drop-in centers (Ennew, 1994).
Though, responding to the immediate needs and situation of street children is important it
should be considered as only as a short-term solution. If not, services provisions, like
food shelter and clothes through continuous charitable handouts, will make street life
more bearable for the children. Besides, it will also create dependency of the children on
the organizations (Volpi, 2002; Ennew, 2003). Furthermore, such kind of interventions
may not help the children to address their problems sustainably. Therefore, in order to
make the benefits of interventions sustainable, both should be kept balanced; providing a
short term solution (services for the children) on the one hand and working to promote
human development on the other. Such regulative role, keeping the balance of these
interventions, is usually among the dominion of governments.
21
3.3.2.2. Major Challenges of Administering Interventions on the Street Children
In order to address the problems of street children, a number of actors have been involved
directly or indirectly (Kopoka, 2000). These actors include governments, NGOs, CBOs
and FBOs. Any comprehensive response to the problems of street children requires the
mobilization these actors side by side with the local communities, private actors, the
family and the children themselves (ibid). In order to manage the activities of these
actors, there should be some sort of arrangement that could guide the activity of these
actors towards common national /city wide goals.
From legal perspectives, the duty of coordinating and supervising these interventions is
hugely remained under the dominion of governments both at national and local level
(West, 2005). However, as experience indicates in most developing countries,
governments are either incapacitated or reluctant to be involved in conducting
interventions and supporting or supervising the efforts of other actors (Kopoka, 2000).
Frequently, governments are constrained and challenged to take progressive actions to
address the problems of street children and fulfill their duty of regulating the
interventions of other actors. This could be resulted from various reasons.
Firstly, most governments do not have a clear image about the problems of street children
(ibid). Even departments entrusted for the children affairs, often a time failed to
recognize the scope and severity of the problem. In line with this, governments tend to
failed to formulate relevant policies and legislations for the street children or failed to
implement the existing one (CSC, 2001; Kopoka, 2000). In relation to this, most
governments’ faces lack of appropriate and acceptable approach to address the problem
of marginalized groups, including the street children (UMP, 2000).
Secondly, the problems of street children by its very nature might cause additional
challenges on governments. As the problem of streetism tends to fall between the
jurisdictions of various ministerial and sectoral offices, neither of them will provide an
effective solutions to the problem (Kopoka, 2000). Regularly, each sectoral office has far
‘more urgent problems’ on hand than street children. So, none of them will be interested
to take the overall responsibility of addressing the problem (ibid). As a result, the issue of
child streetism will be left without a prime responsible governmental agency to deal with
it.
22
When governments are preoccupied with other ‘more important issues’, the task of
dealing with the problem of the street children will be largely left for nongovernmental
organizations (West, 2000). However, as experiences show that, without a comprehensive
framework of the government, there will be various problems in the provision of coherent
and adequate services for street children (CSC, 2001). This might be caused due to lack
of coordination, standards and inspection system. Such unregulated interventions, mostly
tend to bring unintended results in their clients. Furthermore, they will aggravate the
problem they are attempting to address (West, 2000).
In addition to the above mentioned challenges, lack of adequate budget (limited

resources) to spend on the issue of street children is another one. This could be
manifested in both, limiting the capacity of the government to undertake interventions on
the street children by themselves and overseeing the interventions of other actors (CSC,
2001; UNSCO, 1994).
It follows that, in order to address the problem of child streetism in a sustainable manner
by culminating such shortcomings, formulating and implementing relevant laws and
policies appears to be necessary. By recognizing such realities, most governments ratified
the relevant international and regional conventions on the rights of children. Furthermore,
they are engaged in formulating their own social welfare policy to address the problem.
The nature of such policies, their basic features and some of the potential hindrance to
formulate such policies are discussed in the next sub section.
3.2.3 Social Welfare Policy
Before going to the detail discussion on policies directly related with the problems of
street children, let us first operationally define the concept of social welfare policy. As a
sub set of social policy; social welfare policy may be defined as the formal and consistent
ordering of affairs adopted by the government to establish basic principles, activities, or
framework of actions to ensure the well-being of the society (Colby, 2008). In line with
this, the policy helps to establish a system of programs and services that are designed to
meet the needs of the society as a whole. The needs to be addressed can be all-
encompassing, or they may be very restricted, targeting just one issue (ibid).
23
3.2.3.1 Types of Social Welfare Policy
Social welfare policies differ from each other for various reasons like, their objectives,
scope, target and etc. Based on their objectives, social welfare policies can be
distinguished as proactive and remedial (UNICEF, 2007); and based on their geographic
and cultural scope; as macro and micro policy (Colby, 2008).
In its most fundamental sense, providing a solution to a social problem is the only reason
for a social welfare policy or social programs to be established (Chambers, 1993). In line
with this claim, the policy may take both proactive and remedial mode (UNICEF, 2007).
In its proactive mode, social policy mostly attempt to address structural issues, such as
facilitating access to credit, heath care service, education, infrastructure and etc…
On the other hand, social policy in its remedial mode encompasses policies and
interventions that address vulnerabilities of individuals, children, households and
communities. In this sense, the policy attempts to enable families to cope with or mitigate
poverty or emergency situations, so as to be able to provide for their children despite dire
conditions (UNICEF, 2007). The proactive and remedial social policies are not mutually
exclusive. Rather, they are interrelated and belong to one another (ibid). However, their
relation is reverse in that, when the one, proactive social policy is successful, the need for
the other, remedial policy will decrease and vise versa.
Apart from the above classification, social policies, based on their geographic borders
and cultural divides, could also be categorized as macro and micro policy. In the case of
macro social welfare policy, the policy provides a framework and means to strengthen
larger communities. Conversely, micro social welfare policies directly influence the
scope of work provided by the practitioner. Program eligibility, the form of services
provided, a program’s delivery structure, and funding mechanisms are the usual
outcomes of micro social welfare policy (Colby, 2008).
Retuning to the issue of street children, worldwide, the government responses to child
vulnerability in general and to the problems of street children in particular, differ from
one another mostly based on their resource capacity and political will. Though, all
governments that ratify the CRC have a primary duty to promote and protect the rights of
24
children, it does not necessarily mean that they must provide all the services for the
children by themselves (West, 2005). However, it means that governments are
responsible to ensure that services are available to these children and they are delivered
appropriately and effectively (ibid).
By and large, this will be done by setting standards of registrations, implementation and
evaluations of programs and agencies in the area of street children (FASCW, 2001). The
development and implementation of such standards for quality practice in the care and
protection of children is necessary to ensure best practice in working with children, and
help in preventing abuse (West, 2005). Furthermore, it could also be seen as a mechanism
that puts all the service providing agents to be accountable for their activities (ibid).
These kinds of standards are commonly introduced by governments. As it mentioned
earlier, often governments engaged in reforming their existing policy or in formulating
new social welfare policies to fulfill these responsibilities.
Concerning the issue of street children, the policy alternative may possibly have both the
remedial as well as the proactive elements. In such cases, priority will be given to the
remedial approach in order to address the existing problem of the children. However, a
simultaneous effort has to be made to include the proactive elements of the welfare policy
side by side with the remedial approach. The combinations of the two will help to address
the problem of child streetism sustainably. In the next sub sections, the essential
components of social welfare policy to address the problems of street children are
discussed based on the basic principles of the CRC.
3.2.3.2 Formulating Social Welfare Policy for Street Children
For the formulation of social welfare policy for children, the CRC provides a framework
based on right based approach. This framework is helpful not only to guide policy
formulation but it also works as a guideline for practices and interventions concerning
children, including street children (West, 2005). In line with this, any response to
children’s vulnerabilities, including street children, must be governed by a broader
framework of policy which is right based and holistic (ibid).
25
This argument has been also supported by the CSC. Accordingly, CSC asserted that any
efforts intended to bring effective and long-term solution to the problem of the street
children have to fulfill some basic guiding principles (CSC, 2001). Among others, the
guideline include, the unconditional use of the rights-based approach to programming,
the utilization of holistic approach, integrated delivery and convergence of basic services
in place of piecemeal interventions. These guidelines will govern the selection of
policies, strategies, approaches and interventions for the well-being of street children
(ibid).
As it is apparent from the aforementioned arguments, the social welfare policy for
children in general and the street children in particular, should be governed by the
broader framework of the CRC. Both West and CSC commonly argued for the inclusions
of the right based and holistic approaches in all policies or practices that affect children.
Concerning the right based approach; most of the above mentioned characteristics and
assumptions of the approach that works for the interventions, still remain valid to guide
the formulation of a policy. Additionally, in this sub section, a slightly detailed
explanation of the basic principles of the approach will be presented by focusing on a
child welfare policy context.
As it is indicated above, the right based approach is established based on the CRC and
promote the implementation of the convention. The convention included a wide range of
rights for children, including street children. According to Ennew (2003), the two key
principles for implementation of the convention with respect to street children are
protection to participation. In explaining her idea, Ennew further argues that protection is
the main reason for intervening in the lives of street children. In this case, the protection
efforts could be divided based on their scope as short & long term activities. For the short
term, activities like, immediate protection from danger, abuse, and exploitation have to be
taken as the most crucial activities. However, such short term effort is not enough by
itself (ibid). Therefore, the protection is expected to extend and cover more of long-term
and proactive approaches that will attempt to build support structures for children in
order to reduce their vulnerability.
26
In addition to protection, participation is another important principle of the convention
for the street children. Street children, unlike their being usually perceived by the
mainstream society; they are mostly knowledgeable about the causes of streetism, the
difficult situation of street life and the survival strategies to win their difficulties
(Kopoka, 2000). As a result, involving children in policy making process, as it is applied
in the best practice of service delivery, is remains fundamental (West, 2005).
In recent years, the process of formulating a policy for children has been recognized as
requirement at the very least consultation with children (ibid). This implies that, the child
policy might be initiated and designed by adults, but children have to be informed about
the situation and their opinions have to be treated seriously in order to improve the
provisions of the policy (ibid).
In addition to these two basic principles of the CRC, formulating a policy for street
children on a right based approach will also include additional elements like:
Long term goals with a clear focus on children and their rights (Theis, 2004).
Working together with governmental and nongovernmental agencies towards

common goals (West, 2005).
Concentrating on the worst right violations and the most marginalized group,
which possibly includes street children (Amtzis, 2003).
Promoting accountability of the duty bearers at all levels (Theis, 2004; West,
2005).
In view of assessing the extent of commitment by African governments for their children,
the ACPF has developed child-friendliness index. The concept of child friendliness builds
on three central pillars of child rights and wellbeing, namely; protection, provision and
participation (ACPF, 2008). The legal and policy framework of governments put in place
to protect children against abuse and exploitation is taken as the major element to assess
the protection index. In the case of provision, the governments’ budgetary commitment to
provide the basic needs of children will be assessed. How much the government allows
27
children to take part and to have a say in decisions that affect their life, will indicate the
last indicator, participation.
The above elements of the index presented for assessment are directly related with the
right based approach. Furthermore, as it is indicated above by Ennew, two of the three
elements of the index, namely; protection and participation, are the key principles of the
CRC concerning the street children (2003). Therefore, in the assessment of the child-
friendliness index, the intervention, actions, polices and strategies established for the
street children might have a central role in determining the rank of countries.
On the other hand, as it pointed out by West and CSC, a policy for children in general
and for the street children in particular is expected not only to be right based but it also
has to be holistic. Formulating a holistic policy usually requires the integration and
coordination of services, rather than the verticalism inherent in many countries where
ministries are concerned only with their particular sectors, such as health or education,
and are not linked to see how their policies interact and impact on children (West, 2005).
Such integration and coordination will help to bring comprehensive outcomes in the lives
of their clients. Furthermore, interventions that are not coordinated and integrated usually
end up with lack of sustainability in providing a solution to the problem (ibid). The
discussion on the issue of holistic approach will proceed later on by relating the approach
with the issue of local governments/ municipalities. In the next sub section the major
challenge that may hiders the formulation of such policy will be discussed.
3.2.3.3. Major Impediments in Policy Formulation for Street Children
According to Phiri and Webb there are four major policy challenges that mostly affect
policy formulation for vulnerable children like street children. These are, reaching
consensus on policy-related definition of street children; the emergence and realization of
a right based approach to address the problems of street children; mobilizing political
will; and effective flow of resource base (cited in Smart, 2003). Some details on the
basics of these challenges are presented below.
The first challenge that may impede the formulation of a comprehensive policy is the lack
of consensus on the definition of the term street children. In its frequent usage of the
28
term, given by UNICEF, street children are categorized as children ‘on’ the street and
children ‘of’ the street. However, this definition is not working similarly all over the
world. As a result, the NGOs and governments experts usually forced to use their
working definitions that are suitable for their activities (Acker and et al., 1999). Due to
such variations, the magnitude and uniqueness of the problem left without fully
understood by the major decision makers (Anssel, 2005; Hutchison, 2010).
The second policy challenge identified by Phiri and Webb is the issue of right based
approach for programming vulnerable/ street children. After the ratification of the CRC,
the welfare/need based approach to child programming lose the ground to the right based
programming. Though the convention is ratified by almost all countries of the world, the
real shift in the governmental approach to the problem is not yet fully realized (SC
Sweden, 2002).
Thirdly mobilizing the political will of the concerned parties is another policy challenge.
The lack of political will of the officials will be manifested in various ways that include a
total denial or showing reluctance to acknowledge the existence and magnitude of the
problem. Based on such understanding, most governmental responses for the problem
have been mainly characterized by repression and cleaning the urban areas by removing
the street children forcefully. According to Peter Kopoka, such kind of actions will tells
us more about the real attitude of governments about the street children than any
examination of national legislation and policies (Kopoka, 2000).
On the other hands, even those governments that recognize the existence of the problem
may fail to have a social policy relevant to the problem of the street children. Most
national child policy, if it exist at all, usually tend to be very generalized and fails to
identify street children as a special category requiring extraordinary attention (ibid). In
relation to the first challenge mentioned above, lack of consensus on the definition of
street children, most governments underestimate the problem. This might be due to lack
of relevant data on the magnitude and nature of the problem (Volpi, 2002). As a result,
the problems of street children mostly left unspecified in the social policy of the
government. However, the best practice in conducting interventions for street children
29
indicates that even where street children are few in number, there is no excuse for lack of
action (ibid).
The last policy challenge that may hinder the formulation of policy for these children is
the limited flow resource for the issues related to child vulnerability. When the political
will of the government officials is too low, it will definitely affect the amount of the
budget that will be assigned to address the streetism. Even in a situation that a fair deal of
political will exist due to the widespread poverty and underdevelopment; the shortage/
scarcity of adequate budget might hinder the necessary resource flow to address the
problem (UMP, 2000).
3.3 The Role of Local Governments /Municipalities in Addressing the

Problems of Street Children
In most cases, national governments are too distant to observe and address the problems
of street children effectively. Assessing the extent and causes of local problems affecting
a city, like streetism and attempting to provide a solution for such kind of problems
usually rests beyond the capacity of national governments (Habitat, nd). In such cases,
local governments are best placed to understand the problem in detail (West; 2005). This
is because that many intervention areas pertaining to street children rehabilitation usually
fall within the realm of local government responsibilities.
Any interventions to address the problems of street children might be initiated by both
governmental and nongovernmental actors. However, without the municipal support, all
the NGOs efforts will not address the problem sustainably (Vanderschueren et al, 1996).
This means the municipality involvement has a vital role in determining the success of
the interventions. This might be due to three basic reasons. Firstly, the municipalities
possess formal structures which persist over time. Secondly, municipalities are the main
conduit for national and international initiatives and have the power to mobilize local
resources. Thirdly, municipalities act as a political center which obtains its legal authority
from the national government (UMP, 2000).
30
In line with this, Vanderschueren et al, identifies some of the major rationales for
municipalities intervention to address the problems of street children. Accordingly, the
following underlining principles were identified:
Municipalities increasingly assume policy making and implementation powers to

facilitate more effective local decision making;
Municipalities are increasingly called upon to implement national social policy,

and adapt national directive to local conditions;
Municipal institutional capacity to manage existing resources and to mobilize

additional resources is generally increasing; and
It is increasingly recognized that civil society initiatives at local level; (by NGOs
and CBOs) require local government support in order to have maximum impact
(Vanderschueren et al, 1996 cited in UMP, 2000).
In addition to the aforementioned rationales, the issue of CFC can be also taken as a
major factor that pushes municipalities’ intervention for the street children. ‘A Child
Friendly City is a local system of good governance committed to fulfilling children’s
rights.’ (Malone, 2006: 20). The concept of child friendly city can be defined in various
ways. Among others UNICEF define a child friendly city as:
A system of good local governance committed to the fullest

implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Large cities,
medium size towns as well as smaller communities – even in rural settings
– are all called to ensure that their governance gives priority to children
and involves them in decision making processes. (Cited in Malone,
2006:17)
According to this definition, a municipality has a duty of translating the commitments

made by the national governments in ratifying the CRC. To this end, as the Convention
provides the basic framework for service delivery and policy formulation to address the
problem of child vulnerability in general and street children in particular, a child friendly
municipality has to follow this framework to achieve its objectives. Furthermore, in a
child friendly city special attention will be given to disadvantaged children, including
street children.
31
Some of the general measures that can help to assess the child friendliness of any city
may include:
• Introducing child friendly laws that assures the sustainability of policy and
practice for children (Malone, 2006).
• The establishment of special institutional arrangements to ensure the plan of

action is implemented and that policy and practice are rooted in the system
(Malone, 2006; Riggio, 2002).
• A city-wide strategy needs to be developed to ensure that provisions made under

the law are converted into coherent policies and actions (Riggio, 2002).
• Adopting a decentralized process for implementation. This will be done by

indicating clear steps and mechanisms leading to implementation of the policy
and strategies (ibid).
• Establishing a child impact assessment and evaluation of the formulated laws and
policies (Riggio, 2002).
3.3.1 Useful Strategies for Local Governments’ Interventions to Address the

Problems of Street Children
As a matter of necessity, municipalities are forced to intervene to address the problems of

street children (UMP, 2000). Though, local governments in Africa are confronted with an
ever increasing number of street children, most of them do not quite know how to deal
with it (ibid). As a result, they are hugely engaged in taking ruthless steps, clearing the
children from the street without providing any viable alternative to them (Kopoka, 2000).
However, the end result of such interventions is unlikely to achieve their objectives; on
the contrary, it may even aggravate the problem. Therefore, in dealing with the problems
of street children, the municipality has to follow systematic and reasonable approaches.
Accordingly, in a working paper series of the Urban Management and Program (UMP,
2000), entitled “Street children and Gangs in African Cities: Guidelines for Local
Authorities”, extensive lists of important strategies have been suggested for municipalities’
action on how to deal with street children and gangs. The strategies include:
32
• Interpret national policies;
• Formulate local policies and develop city-wide plan;
• Mobilize resources; conduct research and collect information;
• Create awareness and conduct advocacy;
• Provide services and devise child-centered development programs;
• Coordinate initiatives and build partnerships; and formulating a mechanism to

monitor and evaluate the progress (UMP, 2000). Some of these strategies will be
discussed below in detail.
In relation to child friendly cities, municipalities have a responsibility to interpret the

CRC and other commitments made by the national government. However, the CRC is not
the only international policy that promotes the rights of a child; rather, there are other
regional and continental policies like the ACRWC. Municipalities have a very important
role which allows them to interpret these international and other national policies and
translate them into local actions (ibid).
Interpreting international and national polices, is half part of the job for municipalities.
Next to this, they have to formulate their own local policies on the street children based
on their local economic, political and cultural contexts (ibid). In formulating their policy
the municipalities are also expected to use the broad national and international policy
frameworks. In order to make the policy formulation process more effective, input from
concerned governmental offices, NGOs working with children, families and with children
themselves should be taken (UMP, 2000).
As it was mentioned before, policy response for vulnerable children in general and the
street children in particular have to be guided by a framework which is right based and
holistic. The right based approach of the policy has been explained in detail. Almost all
the features of the right based approach discussed earlier are fully acceptable and valid
for formulating local policy. However, the issue of a holistic approach was postponed to
this section. The detailed features of the local policy in terms of holistic approach will be
presented below in comparison with the sectoral approach.
33
In providing services for the street children, local governments/ municipalities have two
different options; these are improving the sectoral approach or following a holistic
approach to address the problem (ibid). Local authorities traditionally formulate and
interpret policies, allocate resources and implement programs along sectoral lines. The
sectoral approach is necessary in situations where many stakeholders or departments are
involved. This approach naturally believed to be general and benefit street children
indirectly (West, 2005).
In contrast, a holistic approach for children requires the coordination and integration of
services, across sectoral lines (ibid). The coordination refers to a process that involves
sharing of information on activities, policies and strategies and even carrying out joint
programs and projects. Creating such kind of coordination and networking among
different organizations have two major advantages (ibid).
Firstly, in municipalities, there are a variety of actors that provide services for the street
children unilaterally in uncoordinated manner. This will end up in duplication of efforts
and wastage of resources. Such kind of pitfalls could be minimized by creating a network
of coordination among the actors involved. Secondly, in most cases municipalities do not
have sufficient amount of resource to deal with the problems of street children.
Therefore, forming a partnership is an ideal solution to the local government in
addressing the problems of street children (UMP, 2000).
Though, coordination has the above mentioned rewards, actors that are involved in the
interventions, are hardly willing to engage in networking and partnership. This might be
due to various factors including suspicions, jealously and competition for donor support
(UMP, 2000). In order to minimize these glooms and create a favorable environment,
municipalities have to play a key role.
In addition to coordination, a holistic approach requires integration of efforts. In this case

integration means that services are linked across sectors or creating inter-sectoral linkage.
This includes an involvement of different actors in building partnership (West, 2005).
The holistic approach to deliver service for street children has some sort of linkage with
the issue of child friendly city. In the context of the CRC, a child friendly city can no
34
longer run sectoral programs, services and interventions independently. Rather the city
has to deal with the child holistically to ensure that all sectors converge to provide an
integrated response to the indivisible demands of children (Riggio, 2002). In line with
this, municipalities are expected to shift their traditional sectoral lines to a more flexible
and integrated approach.
To sum up, the problems of street children has become one of the major social problems
in urban areas of the developing countries. To address the problem, various interventions
have been made by different actors including the government and the NGOs. The
approaches and the scope of their interventions vary from one another. Traditionally, the
welfare/need based approach were the dominant path to provide services for children,
including the street children. However, with the ratification of the CRC, the right based
approach for child programming has got wide range of acceptance in conducting
interventions for children. Furthermore, the Convention also provides a framework of
policy formulation to promote the right and welfare of a child. In line with this, the local
governments/municipalities also have a responsibility of addressing the problems of
street children in their realm.
3.4 Conceptual Framework

The conceptual framework for this study is drawn from the theoretical and situation analysis
of the study area. The literature discussed so far reveal that child streetsim is mainly caused
due to absolute poverty, rapid urbanization, domestic violence and family disintegration. On
the street, these children are vulnerable for social psychological and physical problems. To
address these problems interventions have been made by both governmental and
nongovernmental actors. In order to bring a sustainable result from the interventions,
formulating a city wide policy that promote the right and welfare of the children is needed.
Hence, based on the above literature perspectives, an integrated conceptual model is
developed below to support the research.
35
• Economic
• Absolute poverty Causes Faces • Psychological and
• Rapid & unplanned Street children • Physical problems
urbanization
• Domestic violence
• Family disintegration Needs
• Famine and drought Interventions
Governmental
&
Nongovernmental
Governed by
City wide
policy
Promote the right and Create harmonious Establish a special

welfare of the child relationship among the framework of
major actors implementation
Address the problems of street

children in the city sustainably
Figure 1: Schematic description of the conceptual framework
36
CHAPTER FOUR
METHODOLOGY
4.1 Types and Sources of Data
In order to achieve its objectives, this research utilized both qualitative and quantitative
data. The rationale for selecting a mixed approach for the study is mainly due to the
nature of the problem under study and the group involved in it. According to Ennew
(1994), in conducting a research with street children, the method of data collection should
not relay on a single approach. This is mainly due to the fact that children will not be
interested to tell the truth about their lives to strangers at their first meeting. As a result,
the data collected through one method, for example questionnaire, has to be triangulated
for its validity by the data obtained from other methods like interview.
Concerning the sources of data, the study has employed data from both primary and
secondary sources. Basically, the study is hugely relying on the primary data collected
through projected fieldwork. The primary data sources include among others, street
children, experts from nongovernmental organizations working on street children and
concerned governmental authorities and experts.
The secondary data was gathered through document analysis, including books, journals,
legal documents, international conventions, conference papers and annual reports. The
document analysis covers all related issues concerning the problems of the street children
and the efforts that have been made to solve the problems of the street children in Addis
Ababa with special focus on the policy framework.
4.2 Research Design
Based on the problem under investigation, usually a study tends to be quantitative or

qualitative in their nature. Mixed methods research resides in the middle of this
continuum because it incorporates elements of both qualitative and quantitative
approaches. Frequently, researchers that use mixed methods employ a research design
that uses both quantitative and qualitative data to answer a particular question or set of
questions. This combination of methods involves the collection, analysis, and
37
interpretation of quantitative and qualitative data in a single or multiphase study. In this
study a mixed approach had been utilized to achieve its objectives. As a result both
quantitative data and qualitative data were gathered to reach in meaningful findings.
4.3 Sampling Techniques and Methods of Data Collection
4.3.1 Sampling Techniques
The target populations of this study, from which the units of data collection and analysis
are drawn, comprise three different groups, namely; street children, experts/officials from
the concerned governmental and nongovernmental organizations. Through the use of
convenience sampling technique, a total of 190 samples have been taken from these
groups: out of which the street children constitutes 78.9 % of the total respondents. The
experts/officials from governmental and NGOs comprises 10.5% each.
As it is evident from the above discussion, majority of the samples were taken from the
street children. This has been done based on two basic rationales. Firstly, from the
population of these three groups, the magnitude and size of the population of street
children outnumbered the remaining two. Secondly and more importantly, in researches
that affect the lives of street children, it is logical to grasp the primary data from the
children themselves (Ennew, 1994; Hart, 1997). Taking any decision that affects the lives
of children with out their participation has lost its ground internationally after the
ratification of the United Nations Conventions on the Right of Children.
Based on the above empirical and theoretical justifications, the street children were taken
as the major sources of data in the survey. The only criterion to include the street children
in the survey was age. The children that are selected and included in this study are those
who are above the age of 14. This is done on the belief that those children above the age
of 14 can easily understand and appropriately respond to the survey questionnaire.
The street children are selected from different parts of the city. The areas include Piassa,
Atikelt Tera, Gojam Bernda, Awtobis Tera (Bus station), Tekle Haymanot, Leghar, and
Kirkos. Children, who were working or simply sitting idly in these places, were
approached by the researcher and asked for their consent. Those children who show their
willingness are included in the research. On the other hand, the NGOs experts/officials
38
were selected from five different organizations; namely Godanaw, Chad-Et, OPRIFS,
Spot the Bridge and FSCE. These organizations are selected for two reasons. Firstly, they
are directly involved in conducting interventions on the street children. Secondly, they
show their willingness to be involved in the study. The third group, the experts from
governmental organizations, is composed of three line bureaus of the Addis Ababa City
administration. These are BoWCA, BoLSA and BoFED.
4.3.2 Method of Data Collection

4.3.2.1 Survey Questionnaire
A survey questionnaire is an important method to obtain large amounts of data, usually in

a statistical form, from a large number of people in a relatively short time. It provides a
quantitative or numeric description of trends, attitudes, or opinions of a population by
studying a sample of that population. Usually, it takes the form of a self-completion
questionnaire or an interviewer may read the questions to the respondent and fill in the
questionnaire on behalf of the respondent (McNeill and Chapman 2005). For the purpose
of this study, a questionnaire consisting of both open and close ended questions is
administered to elicit first hand information from the sample.
Out of the total questionnaires distributed, 181 of them were found valid for the
assessment. The remaining nine questionnaires were not included in the study for two
reasons. Firstly, out of the total questionnaire administered to the street children, five of
them are excluded from the assessment due to the age the respondents. Those responses
collected from the children above the age of 18 are purposely discarded. The remaining
four questionnaires were missed due to lack of timely feed back from experts/officials of
the governmental organizations. As a result, the sample size is reduced to 181. Out of
which 81.1% are street children; 11.0% are experts/officials from the NGOs and the
remaining 8.8% are from the government experts/officials.
4.3.2.2 Key Informant Interview
A key informant interview as an instrument for data collections has enormous

advantages. These include exploring the subject in depth clarifying the findings of
39
quantitative research. Through the give and take of these interviews can result in the
discovery of information that would not have been revealed in a survey
Interview is held with 14 key informants in order to obtain qualitative data that could not
otherwise be gathered by the survey questionnaire. Informants are chosen purposively.
The experts/ officials are selected by considering the positions they assumed in their
organizations and the street children based on their willingness and some exposure to the
issue. Accordingly eight informants were selected from experts/officials of the
governmental and nongovernmental organizations. The remaining six informants are the
street children.
For the purpose of these interviews, a checklist was prepared in order to guide the
discussion. The major issues of the interview encompass the following points.
• How should the problems of street children be addressed in Addis Ababa?
• On what bases does the city administration deal with organizations that
conduct interventions to address the problem of the street children?
• What are the major factors that necessitate the formulation of a

comprehensive policy?
• How should the basic principles of the policy be selected and included?
• How should other stakeholders participate in the policy making process?
Based on the responses of the informant on issues like the above mentioned, the
researcher systematically raised related issues to probe the interest of the respondents for
detail discussion. Through such mechanisms, the researcher attempted to get detailed
information on the issue to help the study to achieve its objectives.
4.3.2.3 Document Analysis
In addition to reviewing books and journal article to render for the problem of the study a
conceptual and theoretical framework; a variety of documentary materials such as
proclamations, periodic reports and files from government institutions are consulted in
order to substantiate the validity and reliability of the primary data that are generated
40
through sample survey and interviewing informants. Data obtained through documentary
search and interviews are analyzed qualitatively using quotations and reflective
interpretations.
4.4 Methods of Data Analysis
The data collected from the questionnaire is analyzed and presented descriptively. The
statistical analysis is limited to simple statistics; description of frequencies and
percentages. On the other hand, the data obtained through interviews and review of
documents is analyzed qualitatively by using quotations and reflective interpretations.
41
CHAPTER FIVE
PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF QUANTITATIVE DATA
This chapter is exclusively devoted to present statistical description of the results from
the opinion survey. The presentation is mainly based on descriptive statistics, for the
most part percentages and frequencies are used. For this reason, the chapter is divided in
to five subsections.
5.1 Characteristics of the Sample
Table 1: Demographic characteristics of the sample population
Variables Street children NGOs official Government Total

/expert official/expert
Description of the 80.1% 11% 8.9% 100.0%

sample population
Access to service Yes No - -
14.5% 86.5% - - 100.0%
Age 14 15 16 17 - -
19.3% 18.6% 30.3% 31.7% - - 100.0%
Source: own survey conducted in 2011
As it is indicated in Table 1, a survey was conducted on three different groups, namely;

the street children, experts/ officials from the governmental and nongovernmental
organizations. Out of the total respondents, the street children comprise 80.1%. On the
other hand, 11.0% of the sample taken from the NGOs experts/officials and the
remaining 8.8% are experts/officials from governmental organizations.
From the sampled street children for this study, only 14.5% of them had access to
services from the established interventions. The remaining 86.5% of the street children
have never got any support and services from the interventions.
The age of the street children ranges from 14 to 17 years. As it is indicated in Table 1
before, 31.7% of them were at the age of 17 and 30.3% of them were 16 years of age.
The remaining children, aged 14 and 15 constitute 19.3% and 18.6% respectively.
42
Following the description of the demographic characteristics of the sample, the analysis
will proceed to forward results that could help the study to achieve its objectives. The
subsequent presentation of the statistical data will exclusively attempt to facilitate the
study achieve three of its four specific objectives. The remaining fourth specific
objective, logically, will be attempted to be addressed in chapter six, through document
analysis and key informant interview.
The result of the survey questionnaire is presented in four thematic areas below. In the
first section, attempts have been made to assess the actual and potential challenges in
administering the interventions. Following this, the next section is focused on the factors
that hampered the formulation of a comprehensive policy to address the problems of
street children in Addis Ababa. The need of having a comprehensive policy and its basic
components is presented in the third and fourth sections respectively.
5.2 Major Challenges of Administering Interventions on the Street

Children in Addis Ababa in the Absence of a Comprehensive
Policy
One of the specific objectives of this study is to assess the actual and potential challenges
of administering the interventions that are made to address the problems of street children
in Addis Ababa. In line with this, six potentially perceived challenges were forwarded to
the sample respondents so as to assess their opinion. The results from the three groups on
these challenges are presented below in Table 2. In order to create a logical flow of the
presentation, attempts have been made to create linkages among these challenges.
Lack of a city wide, shared and acceptable approach to guide interventions is perceived
as the first challenge in administering interventions on the street children without a
comprehensive policy. Out of the total respondents 48.2% of the children, 31.3% of the
government experts and 35.0% of the NGOs experts express their strong agreement on
the issue. Furthermore, 27.6% of the children, 37.5% of the government experts and
35.0% of the NGOs experts partially agreed up on the lack of a broader and shared
approach that guides the interventions.
43
Table: 2 Challenges in administering the interventions
No. Indicate your level of Responses of the Street children Responses of the NGOs Responses of the Government
agreement on the in % officials/experts % officials/experts %
following issues
VARIABLES *FA *PA *NO *PD *FD FA PA NO PD FD FA PA NO PD FD
1 There is a lack of broader 42.8 27.6 13.1 9.7 6.9 35.0 35.0 15.0 10.0 5.0 31.3 37.5 18.8 - 12.5
and acceptable
approaches to guide the
interventions
2 There is a lack of 53.1 20.0 9.0 13.8 4.1 35.0 35.0 15.0 5.0 10.0 56.3 37.5 - 6.3 -
cooperative and
supportive mechanisms
for the interventions
3 The outcomes of the 51.0 26.2 8.3 9.0 5.5 25.0 50.0 5.0 10.0 10.0 43.8 31.3 6.3 12.5 6.3
interventions are
incompatible
4 Duplication efforts and 71.0 13.8 4.1 6.9 4.1 5.0 10.0 15.0 30.0 40.0 56.3 37.5 - 6.3 -
wastage of resource is
common in the
interventions
5 Majority of the 56.6 25.5 1.4 6.2 10.3 40.0 20.0 10.0 30.0 - 31.3 37.5 12.5 18.8 -
interventions lacks
accountability and
transparency
6 Some malfunctioning 57.2 22.1 6.2 6.9 7.6 30.0 25.0 15.0 15.0 15.0 12.5 56.3 18.8 12.5 -
interventions causes
harm on the children
*FA - fully agree; PA - partially agree; NO - no opinion; PD - partially disagree and FD stands for fully disagree.
44
Even if some variations exist among the three groups of respondents, majority of the
respondents from all the groups show their strong/ partial agreement for this claim. On
the other hand, the least agreement on the lack of broader and acceptable approach as a
challenge comes from the experts of the government.
The second perceived challenge is the lack of coordinative and cooperative mechanisms
for the organizations engaged in conducting interventions to address the problem. On this
point, 53.0% of the street children, 56.3% of the government experts and 35.0% of the
NGOs experts showed their strong agreement. In addition, 20.0% of the children, 37.0%
of the government experts and 35.0% of the NGOs experts, express their partial
agreement on the lack of cooperative and supportive environment among the
organizations. From all the three groups, majority of the respondents are at least partially
agreed on the lack of cooperation and support among the actors involved in conducting
interventions as a challenge to administer the interventions.
In relation to the second challenge, lack of cooperation and supportive environment

among the organizations, incompatibility of outcomes of the interventions is perceived as
the third challenge in administering them. Concerning this challenge, 51.0% of the street
children, 43.0% of the government experts and 35.0% of the NGOs experts shows their
strong agreement. Furthermore, 26.2% of the children, 31.3% of government experts and
50.0% of the NGOs experts partially agreed up on it. Here, it is important to note that
majority of the NGOs experts only partially accept the incompatibility of outcomes of the
interventions while the children and the government experts are showing their strong
agreement.
In relation to the above challenges, duplication of efforts and wastage of resources have
been mentioned as common practices that challenge the effective administration of
interventions. Accordingly, 71.0% of the street children, 56.3% of the government
experts and 5.0% of the NGOs experts strongly agreed on this challenge. Once again,
13% of the children, 37.0% of the government experts and 10.0% of the NGOs experts
partially agreed on the duplication and wastage of resource by the interventions as a
challenge. Concerning this issue, the responses of the NGOs experts shows a
contradictory attitude with the other groups. In relation, 40.0% of them strongly and
45
additional 30.0% partially refused to accept the prevalence of duplications of efforts and
wastage of resources in conducting interventions to address the problem of streetism. A
clear distinction among the respondents is manifested on this point. The children and the
government expert show their strong agreement on the existence of duplication of efforts
and wastage of resources in conducting interventions while the NGOs experts argue in
the other way round.
The other perceived challenge claimed that there exists a lack of transparency and
accountability in conducting interventions to address the problems of street children.
Consequently, 56.6% of the street children, 31.3% of the government experts and 40.0%
of the NGOs experts express their strong agreement with this claim. Besides, 25.5% of
the street children, 37.0% of the government experts and 20.0% of the NGOs experts
partially agreed on the lack of transparency and accountability as a challenge in
administering the interventions. The absences of transparency and accountability in
conducting the interventions have been widely supported by the respondents from the
beneficiaries as well as the service providers.
The last perceived factor that may challenge the effective administration of interventions
on the street children is the involvement of some interventions in malfunctioning
activities and causes harm on the children. Out of the total respondents, 57.2% of the
children, 12.5% of the government experts and 30.0% of the NGOs experts strongly
agree with the claim. In addition 22.1% of the street children, 56.3% of the government
experts and 25.0% of the NGOs experts partially agree on the existence of
malfunctioning of the interventions that causes some harm on the children. In aggregate
the result from all the groups show the existence of the malfunctioning interventions that
could cause some kind of harm on the street children.
To sum up from the above presentation of the opinion of the respondents, most of the
potentially perceived challenges have got a strong support. Though there exists a huge
similarity among the attitude of the three groups, there is a slight variations of responses
on issues like duplication of efforts and wastage of resources. Therefore, based on this
result, it can be safe to conclude that the above listed challenges are among the major
challenges that affect the administration of the interventions.
46
5.3 Factors that Hampered the Formulation of a Policy to Address
Streetism in Addis Ababa
In this sub section, the major factors that impede the formulation a comprehensive policy
for the problems of street children in Addis Ababa will be discussed. For this reason, five
potentially perceived causes have been identified for assessment in Table 3. Additionally
three related assumptions that challenges the relevance of having such policy is presented
in the same Table from 6-8. The presentation of the result will follow a similar pattern
with previous section.
One of the major factors that obstruct the policy formulation is the absence/lack of a clear
understanding among the concerned decision makers on the magnitude and scope of the
problems of street children that prevailed in Addis Ababa. On this point 62.1% of the
street children, 25.0% of the government experts and 30.0% of the NGOs experts
strongly agree with it. Paradoxically, this assumption is fully refused by 21.4% of the
street children, 6.3% the government experts and 30.0% of the NGOs experts. Unlike
most of the above responses, the response on the magnitude of the problem shows
inconsistency not only among groups, but also with in each group. In one hand, 61.2% of
the street children and 30.0% of the NGOs officials strongly agree with the unknown
magnitude of the problem as an obstacle for policy formulation. On the other hand, equal
amount of the NGOs expert and 21.0% of the children strongly refute this argument.
However, the response from the government experts shows consistency, 25.0% of them
strongly believe the lack of clear understanding about the problem of streetism and its
magnitude, while 37.5% of them partially agree with it. These could show the existence
of variations on recognizing the extent of the problem among the major actors involved to
address the problem.
The other factor that delays the formulation of a policy for the problem is directly related
with the government. In line with this, it has been argued that the Addis Ababa city
administration lacks a commitment to address the problems of street children sustainably.
Out of the total respondents, 73.8% of the street children, 12.5% of the government
experts and 55.0% of the NGOs experts strongly support this argument. Once again
16.0% of the street children and 25.0% of the NGOs experts partially show their
47
agreement on this claim. However, the government experts did not favor this claim. In
view of that, the result shows, 37.0% strong and 31.0% partial disagreement with the
claim. Therefore, from the above result, the city administration’s reluctance and lack of
commitment is not equally perceived as impediment by the three groups. The children
and the NGOs experts believe that the Administration lacks commitment while the
government experts strongly/partially refuse the claim.
The third factor is that in Addis Ababa, as anywhere else; the role of addressing the
problem of the street children has been mainly left to the nongovernmental actors (NGOs,
CBOs and FBOs). This idea has been strongly supported by 72.8% of the street children,
43.8% of the government experts and 80.0% of the NGOs experts. In addition 16.6% of
the children and 25.0% of the NGOs experts express their partial agreement. On this line
of argument, even if 31.3% of the government experts show their partial disagreement, it
seems that the claim has got a common ground. Unlike the other impeding factors, it has
got relatively common recognition by the three groups.
On the other hand, in the side of the city administration lack of human and financial
resources have been raised as the major factors that limit the active involvement of the
administration in addressing the problems of street children. However, only 13.1% of the
street children and 25.0% of both experts (government and NGOs) strongly agree with
lack of resource as a hindrance. In addition, 37.5 % of the government experts and other
25.0% of the NGOs experts expressed their partial support for the claim. In contrast,
64.1% of the street children, 18.0% of the government experts and 35.0% of the NGOs
experts showed their strong disagreement. This shows that scarcity of resource is
perceived as one of the factors by both groups of experts. Concerning the response of the
street children, as any ordinary person, they perceived the government as having ample
resources to address all problems. Here, to be fair, it is important to indicate that 13.1%
of the children strongly and another 13.7% of them partially agree with the scarcity of
resource faced by the city administration.
The other perceived factor that impedes formulation of the policy is the existence of
confusion of roles among the different sectors. Out of the total respondents, 57.9% of the
street children and 70.0 % of the NGOs experts strongly support the argument. However,
48
the response from the government experts shows 43.8% partial and 25.0% full
disagreement on the existence of role confusion among the sectors. Another 18.8% of
them have no opinion on this claim. The issue of sectoral confusion as a factor that
impedes the formulation of a city wide policy is not perceived in a similar extent by the
three groups. The children and the NGOs experts perceived the confusion of role as a
major factor, while the government experts argue in opposition to it.
All in all, the result of the assessment revealed that most of the above mentioned factors
are among the major reasons that impede the formulation of a city wide policy to address
the problem. However, the extent that each factor is perceived by the respondents may
vary from one another. For instance lack of commitment by the city administration and
the confusion among the sectors are equally perceived by the street children and the
NGOs as major factors that impede the policy formulation. On the other hand, the
government and NGOs experts felt the scarcity of human and financial resources as the
major obstacle. The facts ‘the magnitude of the problem is unknown’ and ‘the role of
addressing the problem is left out for NGOs’ as hindrances have got relatively similar
support from all groups of respondents. In general, though there are variations among the
groups; the above assessed challenges could be logically taken as the major stoppages
that deny the formulation of the policy.
In addition to the above obstacles, there are some strongly ingrained beliefs that stand to
demystify the needs of having a comprehensive policy for the problems of street children
in Addis Ababa. These factors or assumptions are not simple obstacles for the policy
formulation; rather they are basically questioning the relevance of having a specific
policy to address the problems of street children in the city. In this sub section, among
others, attempts have been made to assess the opinion of the respondents on three of such
perceived beliefs.
To begin with, there exists a strongly ingrained belief that assumes the problems of street
children can be addressed through series of procedures and manuals prepared by the city
administration. The government officials/experts showed 37.5 % strong and 25.0%
partial agreement to this argument. However, 55.9% of the street children and 50.0% of
the NGOs experts firmly showed their disagreement with this claim. The belief on the
49
series of procedures and manuals as sufficient mechanism to address the problem of the
children is hugely refused by the two groups, the children and the NGOs experts;
however, the government experts shows their support towards the argument.
The second stance that questions the relevance of formulating a citywide policy is a
tendency of considering the broader international and national policy frameworks as
sufficient by themselves to address the problem of streetism. Out of the total respondents,
49.0% of the street children and 50.0% strongly disagree with this argument. In addition
22.1% of the children and 10.0% of the NGOs experts once again show their partial
disagreement on the issue. On the other hand, from the total experts of the government
31.3% of them strongly and another 50.0% shows their partial agreement. Like the
previous assumption the belief on the broader policy frameworks has got a considerable
support from the government experts and a huge refusal from the children and the NGOs
experts.
The third major assumption that questions the need for a comprehensive policy is
emanated from a strong believes on the sectoral policies as enough to tackle such social
problems. Like the above two claims, this assumption has been strongly supported by
25.0% the government experts and additional 37.5% of them showed their partial
agreement with this claim. On the other hand, the tendency of relying on the sectoral
policies as enough by themselves is strongly rejected by 79.3% of the street children and
55.0% of the NGOs experts. Additional 30.0% of the NGOs experts express their partial
disagreement with this claim.
To sum up, beliefs that may questions the relevance of a comprehensive policy for the
street children has been presented above. In all questions, the responses from the
government experts clearly vary from both the street children and the NGOs experts. The
government experts strictly believe on the introduction of series of procedures and
manuals, the existing broader policy frameworks and the various sectoral policies
adequately could address the problem of the street children in Addis Ababa. On the other
hand, the experts from the NGOs and the street children argue the other way round by
saying the above framework and policies can not adequately address the problem.
50
In the aforementioned paragraphs, the major impeding factors in formulating a
comprehensive policy and the assumptions that challenges its raison d'être have been
presented. Following this, the group of respondents that agree/disagree with formulation
of a comprehensive policy will be presented. Then on wards their opinion on the detailed
component of the proposed policy options to address the problem will be presented.
51
Table 3: Major factors that impedes the formulation of a comprehensive policy and question the rationale of formulating a
policy
No. How much did you Responses of the Street Responses of the NGOs Responses of the Government
agree on children in % officials/experts in % officials/experts in %
Variables FA PA NO PD FD FA PA NO PD FD FA PA NO PD FD
1 The magnitude and 62.1 8.3 0.7 7.6 21.4 30.0 10.0 10.0 20.0 30.0 25.0 37.5 12.5 18.8 6.3
scope of streetism is
unknown
2 The municipality lacks 73.8 16.6 0.7 6.9 2.1 55.0 25.0 10.0 5.0 5.0 12.5 6.3 12.5 31.3 37.5
commitment on the
issue
3 The city 13.1 13.8 4.8 4.1 64.1 25.0 25.0 15.0 - 35.0 25.0 37.5 6.3 12.5 18.8
administration has
scarcity of human and
financial resources
4 Confusion of role 57.9 33.1 2.8 2.8 3.4 70.0 5.0 10.0 10.0 5.0 - 12.5 18.8 43.8 25.0
exists among different
sectors
5 Addressing streetism 72.4 9.7 4.8 7.6 5.5 80.0 10.0 - 5.0 5.0 43.8 6.3 6.3 31.3 12.5
has been left for
NGOs
6 The procedures and 13.1 5.5 6.9 18.6 55.9 10.0 25.0 10.0 5.0 50.0 37.5 25.0 6.3 31.3 -
manuals are sufficient
7 The broader national 11.0 7.6 10.3 22.1 49.0 15.0 10.0 15.0 10.0 50.0 31.3 50.0 12.5 6.3 -
and international
policies are enough
8 The sectoral policies 4.8 0.7 6.9 8.3 79.3 - 5.0 10.0 30.0 55.0 6.3 25.3 6.3 37.5 25.0
gives adequate
coverage
52
5.4 The Need for Comprehensive Policy to Address the Problems of
Street Children in Addis Ababa
Table 4: The needs of having a compressive city wide policy
Responses of Responses of the
Responses of the NGOs
Variable the street government
officials/experts in %
children in% officials/experts in %
The problems of street Yes No Yes No Yes No
children in Addis Ababa 97.9 2.1 100.0 0.0 68.7 31.3
need formulation of
comprehensive policy
Source: Owen survey conducted in 2011
Out of the total respondents 95.6% of them agree on the necessity of establishing a
comprehensive policy to address the problems of street children in Addis Ababa.
Whereas the remaining 4.4% stand against the issue. Concerning variations among the
three groups, as it is indicated in the above Table, 97.9% the street children, 68.0% of the
expert from governmental organizations and 100.0% of the NGOs experts support the
claim of formulating a policy. Even though the lion share of the respondents from all the
three groups agreed up on the claim; when compared with respective propositions,
majority of disagreement, around 30.0% came from the government experts.
5.5 Components of the Proposed Policy Option

Following the assessment on the needs of having a policy to address the problem, the
study will continue to assess the kind of elements and principles that the proposed policy
option should include. Accordingly, the results of the survey on the policy option is
presented below by dividing it in to three subsections, namely; right based framework,
holistic approach and the establishment of policy implementation framework.
5.5.1 Basic Elements of a Right Based Approach

The first basic component of the proposed policy option is that the policy should follow a
right based framework/approach. In line with this, around six major elements of a right
based approach are presented for assessment. The detail results on the assessment of all
the six elements are presented in Table 5.
The first element of the approach refers to children participation in policy making. Out of
the total respondents, 92.4% of the street children, 93.7% of the government experts and
53
90.0% of the NGOs experts strongly support the participation of street children in the
policy formulation. Another 7.6% of the children and 5.0% of the NGOs experts partially
support the argument. The remaining 5.0% of the NGOs experts fully disagree while
6.3% of the government experts have no opinion. Therefore, from the above result the
participation of children in the policy formulation is strongly commendable.
The second element of the approach is the provision of favorable conditions for the
establishment of interventions that provides basic services like medical care, shelter,
education, clothing and etc...for the street children. This argument has got a strong
support from 93.1% of the street children, 87.4% of the government experts and 80.0% of
the NGOs experts. In addition to this 6.9% of the children, 6.3% of the government
experts and 10.0% of the NGOs experts partially agree on the claim. Thus, this result
indicates that the policy should provide a favorable condition for the establishments of
interventions that delivers basic services for the children.
The third basic component of a right based approach for the problems of street children is
the issue of protection from any abuse, exploitation and physical harm. Accordingly, the
proposed policy should create conducive environments for the establishment of protective
interventions from exploitation and abuse. This argument has got support from 91.7% of
the street children, 93.7% of the government experts and 95.0% of the NGOs experts.
Such a wide range of strong agreement from all the three groups of respondents may
reflect the extent to which protective intervention is essential for the street children.
As it is evident from the above responses, the policy option is expected to create
favorable conditions for the establishment of supportive and protective interventions. In
line with this, the proposed policy option should identify the minimum standards of
establishing interventions for the street children. Out of the total respondents, 69.0% of
the street children, 75.0% of the government experts and 80.0% of the experts of the
NGOs experts strongly agree on it. Additionally, 29.7% of the children, 6.3% of the
government experts and 10.0% of the NGOs experts showed their partial support for this
claim. Even though all the three groups agreed up on the requirement and minimum
standards setting to establish interventions, more than any one else the NGOs experts
express their strong support for this cause. After establishing the interventions by creating
54
the necessary enabling environments, the proposed policy has to drive all the
interventions towards the achievement of a common and aggregate city wide or even
national goal. Out of the total respondents, 92.4% of the street children, 87.4% of the
government experts and 95.0% of the NGOs experts shows their strong support in favor
of the argument. Therefore without any doubt, the proposed policy is expected to drive all
the interventions towards sustainable city wide goal.
Once the interventions are established, their activities should follow a principle of
transparency in providing services and accountability for the consequence of every of
their actions. In this case, 78.6% of the children, 81.3% of the government experts and
75.0% of the NGOs experts shows their strong support. Furthermore, this argument has
got a partial support from 20.0% of the children and 12.5% of the government experts.
However, 10.0% of the NGOs expert expressed their strong disagreement with this claim.
Thus, the issue of transparency and accountability due to its huge support and acceptance
from all groups of the respondents has to be involved in the proposed policy option.
As it is apparent from the above presentations, the basic assumptions of the right based
approach have been widely supported by all groups of respondents. Above all, the issue
of participation, provision, protection and sustainability of the interventions’ outcomes
has got a wide range acceptance from the respondents. In addition to right based
approach, the proposed policy option is expected to include the basic elements of a
holistic approach. The major components of such approach and the respective feedback
from the respondents will be presented below.
55
Table 5: Basic elements of a right based approach
Responses of the Street Responses of the NGOs Responses of the Government

No. How much did you agree on
children in % officials/experts in % officials/experts in %
VARIABLES FA PA NO PD FD FA PA NO PD FD FA PA NO PD FD
1 Children participation in policy
92.4 7.6 - - - 90.0 5.0 - - 5.0 93.7 - 6.3 - -
making
2 Provision of basic services 93.1 6.9 - - - 80.0 10.0 5.0 - 5.0 87.4 6.3 6.3 - -
3 Protection from abuse
91.7 8.3 - - - 95.0 - - - 5.0 93.7 - 6.3 - -
exploitation
4 Driving the interventions to
92.4
similar goal, sustainable 7.6 - - - 95.0 - - - 5.0 87.4 6.3 6.3 - -
change
5 Setting minimum standard for
69.0 29.7 1.4 - - 80.0 10.0 5.0 - 5.0 75.0 6.3 12.5 6.3 -
establishment of interventions
6 Promote transparency and
78.6 20.7 - - 0.7 75.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 10.0 81.3 12.5 6.3 - -
accountability of interventions
Source, own survey 2011
Table 6: The essentials of a holistic approach
Responses of the
Responses of the Street Responses of the NGOs
How much did you agree on Government
No. children in % officials/experts in %
officials/experts in %
1 Create a mechanism for 82.8 14.5 2.1 - 0.7 90.0 - - - 10.0 87.5 - 12.5 - -
coordination and integration of
interventions
2 Develop a harmonious 68.3 28.5 2.1 - 1.5 80.0 10.0 - - 10.0 87.5 - 12.5 - -
relationships among sectors
56
5.5.2. The Essentials of a Holistic Approach for Policy Formulation
Regarding Street Children
For the purpose of this study, only two of the basic elements of a holistic approach are
presented for assessment. As it is indicated in Table 6, the first element of a holistic
approach is the creation of coordinative and cooperative mechanisms for interventions to
address the problems of street children. Out of the total respondents, 82.8% of the street
children, 87.5% of the government experts and 90.0% of the NGOs experts express their
strong agreement for this claim. However, though the magnitude is insignificant,
paradoxically, 12.5% of the NGOs experts and 10.0% of the expert from the
governmental offices express their strong disagreement with the claim. This shows that
even if all the three groups support the establishment a cooperative and supportive
mechanisms for the interventions, there exists an extreme variation among the experts at
certain points.
As the issue of street children is a cross cutting issue, the policy is expected to create a
harmonious relationship among different sectors. This is the second major element of the
holistic approach. In this line of argument, 63.3% of the street children, 87.5% of the
government experts and 80.0% of the NGOs experts express their strong agreement.
Additionally, 25.5% of the street children and 10.0% of the NGOs officials express their
partial support for the claims of harmonization. On the other hand, 12.5% of the
government experts opt to abstain from giving agreement/disagreement on this point.
Generally speaking, the two major assumptions of a holistic approach have got a wide
range and unanimous acceptance from all the three groups of respondents.
5.5.3 Establishment of Policy Implementation Framework
After the formulation and ratification of the policy, the question, “who should follow up
and supervise its implementation?” is an inevitable one. As a response to this question,
the proposed policy is expected to explicitly specify the bureau/agency that will shoulder
its effective implementation and supervision. Out of the total respondents, 94.5% of the
street children, 50.0% of the government experts and 75.0% of the NGOs experts express
their strong agreement. In addition to this, 5.5% of the children, 18.8% of the government
57
experts and 5.0% of the NGOs experts show their partial agreement. On this claim, very
huge variations are manifested among the responses of the three groups. In this situation
almost all children strongly support the claim, while 2/3 of the NGOs experts and 1/2 of
the government experts show their strong agreement. Below, in Table 7, the details of the
results for this assumption are presented.
After the naming/establishing the bureau/agency that supervises the policy

implementation, the implementation of proposed policy is also expected to follow a
decentralized framework of implementation. This argument has got a strong support
from 88.3% of the street children, 68.8% of the government experts and 75.0% of the
NGOs experts. In addition 10.3% of the children, 18.8% of the government and 10.0% of
the NGOs experts shows their partial agreement with the idea of decentralizing the
implementation framework to the grass root level of administration. The responses for
this argument from all the three groups showed relatively similar support. As a result the
decentralized implementation framework has to be involved in the proposed policy.
As a final step of any proposed project, program or policy, the proposed policy option
should indicate the mechanism for its impact assessment. Accordingly, this claim has got
a strong agreement from 60.0% of the street children, 82.2 % of the government experts
and 70. % of the NGOs experts agreed up on it. Additionally, 34.5% of the children,
12.5% of the government experts and 15.0% of the NGOs experts expressed their partial
agreement with the policy impact assessment. In relative manner, the government experts
showed their strong support for the establishment of an impact assessment than any other
group.
To sum up, even if there is a clear variation on some of the components, the proposed
policy option to address the problem of the street children based on a right based and
holistic approach has got a wide range of recognition and support from all the three
groups.
58
Table 7: Establishment of policy implementation framework
Responses of the Street Responses of the NGOs Responses of the Government

How much did you agree on
No. children in % officials/experts in % officials/experts in %
1 Identify specific bureau to 94.5 5.5 - - - 75.0 5.0 10.0 5.0 5.0 50.0 18.8 12.5 - 18.8
supervise its implementation
2 Establish a decentralized 88.3 10.3 1.4 - - 75.0 10.0 5.0 - 10.0 68.8 18.8 6.3 6.3 -
implementation framework
3 Set up a mechanism for its impact 60.0 34.5 4.1 - 1.4 70.0 15.0 5.0 - 10 81.2 12.5 6.3 - -
assessment
59
CHAPTER SIX
PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF QUALITATIVE DATA
This chapter is devoted for data interpretation and discussion. Accordingly, the statistical
data presented in chapter five will be interpreted and triangulated for its validity with the
data collected through interview and document analysis. For this purpose, the chapter is
classified in to four sections. The first section focused on assessing how the interventions
that address the problem of streetism in Addis Ababa are established and governed. In the
second section the major challenges of administering the interventions in the absence of a
comprehensive city wide policy is discussed. Following this, the discussion will continue
to assess the major factors that impede the formulation of such policy in Addis Ababa.
Finally, the basic components of the proposed policy option for city administration will
be discussed.
6.1 Procedures for the Establishment and Administration of

Interventions on Street Children in Addis Ababa
As it is indicated earlier, there is a lack of comprehensive city wide policy that governs
the interventions. However, the magnitude of the problem and the number of actors
involved in conducting interventions on child streetism increased through time (FSCE,
2001b, Tacon, 1991). In such a situation, it seems logical to ask how the city
administration deals with the problem of child streetism in general and the interventions
in particular. In a manner that looks to answer this question, one of the key informants
from BoLSA stated that:
At city level (Addis Ababa), we do not have any specific policy guideline
that deals with the problems of street children. Our basic policy document
that helps us to conduct interventions and supervise the works of other
actors is the Developmental Social Welfare Policy of MOLSA, formulated
in 1996.
As the key informant clearly expressed, the only policy document that govern the
interventions on street children is the developmental social welfare policy of MoLSA.
This policy document includes some progressive provisions that may help promote the
rights and welfare of every child, especially the vulnerable one. In view of that, the policy
60
underlies the need to change interventions approach from the historical 'welfare or
charity-based approach' to 'right based or an empowerment perspective'. Furthermore, it
also provides three broader approaches to address social problems including child
streetism.
However, as it is stipulated by the UN-Habitat, often a time national policies are tend to
be general and failed to address specific local problems, like child streetism. The
developmental social welfare policy also shares this limitation. Accordingly, the
document is too general and even it does not specifically mention the street children as an
autonomous category of children that need special care and concern. Instead, these
children were included in the policy as children in especially difficult circumstances
(CEDS). In line with this, the policy does not include specific elements that promote the
right and welfare of these children.
In most cases, governments lack the capacity to provide all services for the street children
by themselves (West, 2005). As a result, the involvements of nongovernmental actors to
address the problem have a crucial value. According to FASCW, in such situation the
role of governments should be focused in setting standards of registrations,
implementation and evaluations of programs and agencies in the area of intervention
(2001). As it is evident from the reviewed literatures (such as Ennew, 1994 and FSCE,
2003), most of the interventions to address the problem of child streetism have been
made by NGOs. In view of that, all NGOs that are interested in conducting any kind of
interventions in the country have to be registered and get a license from the federal
charities and societies agency based on proclamation 621/2009.
Then after, organization that are interested in working to address the problem of child
streetism should sign an operational agreement with two line bureaus of the Addis Ababa
city administration. Before the year 2009, these operational agreements had been signed
with BoLSA and BoFED. Then on wards, the mandate of administering the issue of
children including the street children have shifted from BoLSA to BoWCA. Currently,
the issue of street children is confined in the domain of BoWCA.
61
In the process of signing the operational agreement with organizations and following up
their implementations, BoLSA/BoWCA has only a minimal role. As one of the key
informant reflects:
The mandate of the bureau has been hugely confined in appraising the
projects of the NGOs, giving recommendations for improvement and follow
up their implementation through timely reports of three month, six month
and annual. Apart from this, the bureau does not have any power to
influence the decisions and plans of these actors.
As it is manifested in the above expression, the mandate of the government bureaus is
limited in legalizing and appraising projects and slightly in follow up their
implementation. The bureaus do not have any mandate beyond this.
6.2. Challenges in Administering Interventions on Street Children in the

Absence of Comprehensive Policy
As it indicated in the previous discussion, the Addis Ababa city administration does not
have a comprehensive policy to address the problems of street children. As a result, the
administration has been facing a number of challenges in overseeing the interventions.
Some of the challenges that are revealed through the result of the survey are discussed
below.
Without a relevant city wide policy, most local governments/municipalities face a
challenge in providing appropriate and acceptable approach to address the problem of
marginalized groups, including the street children (UMP, 2000). Due to this,
interventions on street children will be conducted separately from one another. The result
of the survey unveiled the existence of similar situation in Addis Ababa. With the lack of
broader and acceptable approach the responsible bureaus often failed to supervise and
manage the activities of other actors.
In relation to the above challenge, lack of broader and acceptable approach towards the
problem, it follows that cooperative and supportive mechanisms for the interventions will
also be minimal. According to West, in the absence of a comprehensive framework of the
government, there is always a difficulty in creating cooperative and supportive
environment for the interventions. As it is reflected from the result of the survey, the
situation of Addis Ababa follows a similar pattern. Accordingly, this claim has got a huge
62
support from all groups of respondents. Additionally, as one of the key informants
explains:
In 2007, there was a national meeting concerning the problems of street

children which held in Addis Ababa. At that time, attempts have been made
to establish mechanism of partnership among the major stakeholders
working in the area of child streetism. Following that, different committees
were established with lots of optimism and start to function. However, these
committees and the established partnership do not stay for long; not more
than a year. As a result, we returned to work in isolation and searching
partners by ourselves.
As it is apparent from the above expression, the support and coordination mechanism
among the actors involved in conducting interventions is clearly lacking. As a result, the
actors involved in conducting interventions forced to work unilaterally. Creating
mechanisms for cooperation is usually failed in the hands of the government. However,
the government itself failed in short of guiding principles to coordinate efforts.
When the actors that conduct the interventions perform their actions in isolation and
unilaterally, the possibility of repeating efforts and wasting resources will be high. Some
of the literatures (such as Kopoka 2000, UPM 2000 and West 2005) provide a theoretical
support for this claim. Accordingly, in the absence of comprehensive government policy
the involvement of a variety of actors in providing services for the street children will end
up with duplication of efforts and wastage of resources. As a result of the survey
indicates majority of the street children and experts from the governmental offices
believe in the existence of repetition of efforts and wasteful interventions. However, most
of the NGOs experts/officials show some reservation on this.
Likewise, due to the same reason, the outcome of the interventions in the city might end
up in resulting incompatible outcomes on their clients. The survey result showed akin
result with Vopli, 2000; Ennew, 1994. Accordingly, the claim has got a wide range of
support from the street children and government experts/officials. However, the NGOs
experts did not show a similar attitude on the incompatibility. Based on this, it can be safe
to conclude that in some case the outcomes of the interventions end up in producing
incompatible result.
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The other challenge resulted by the absence of a comprehensive policy indicated by Theis
is, the lack of transparency and accountability in conducting interventions on the street
children. Concerning this issue, the result of the survey also revealed the situation of
interventions in Addis Ababa appears to be similar. Empirical literatures in the area, like
FHI (2010), support the limitations of the governmental offices (mainly BoWCA and
BoLSA) in establishing a uniform structure of accountability for efforts that engaged to
promote protection and wellbeing of the child including street child. As a result, the city
administration failed to supervise the interventions by making them transparent and
accountable.
Lastly, without established standards and supervision system, some of the interventions
will be engaged in activities that could bring unintended results in their clients and even
aggravate the problem they are attempting to address. The result of the survey reveals the
existence of similar situation in Addis Ababa. The aggregate result from the three groups
of respondents shows the existence of some malfunctioning interventions that could
cause various kind of harm on the street children. In line with this, one of the key
informants stated that:
There are a number of difficulties in administering efforts in addressing the

problems of street children. Firstly, there are some organizations that are
engaged in illegal activities like child trafficking in the name of helping these
children. Secondly, some organizations are simply engaged in providing
basic services for the children while they are living on the street. Such
interventions make life easier for the children on the street. In return, this
might produce additional problems such as making the children dependent
on the service and force them to remain on the street or more seriously it
might serve as a pull factor for attracting other children to street life.
As it was indicated by Vopli, 2002 and Ennew, 1994, interventions to address the
problems of street children should not be confined in meeting the immediate needs of the
children. Instead, efforts have to be extended to provide opportunities of human
development for these children. However, as the above discussion revealed, the situation
of interventions in addressing the problems of street children in Addis Ababa appears to
be focused on delivering basic services than changing the lives of the children in a
sustainable manner.
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To sum up, the interventions to address the problems of street children in the absence of a
comprehensive city wide policy, has brought various challenges on the city
administration. The extent of these challenges has been perceived by the three groups of
respondents on their own ways. However, except on some of the issues the challenges
have been equally supported by the three groups.
In order to culminate such challenges, formulating a city wide policy on the problem
could be one of the alternatives way out. Before prescribing a policy option, first let us
see some of the major factors that impede formulation of comprehensive city wide policy
to address the problem.
6.3 Major Factors That Impede the Formulation of Comprehensive City

Wide Policy
Though the problem of child streetism has become one of the social problems that affects
most urban areas of the country including Addis Ababa; the government has not yet
developed a comprehensive policy to address it. This inaction might be caused due to a
number of factors. Some of the major factors that impede the policy formulation are
discussed below.
To begin with, the first perceived factor that hinders the formulation of a compressive
policy is a lack of clear understanding about the magnitude and scope of the problem.
According to the result of the survey, there exists a huge variation in recognizing the
scope and magnitude of the problem among the major actors involved. This result is
consistent with the argument of Kopoka in that, those departments entrusted for children
affairs often failed to recognize the scope and severity of the problem (2000). In line with
this, one of the key informants from BoLSA indicates a similar opinion. According to
him:
The problems of street children in the city has been perceived and
articulated by different actors differently. Accordingly, there exists a huge
variation on the estimated scope and magnitude of street child in Addis
Ababa. Some puts the number to be 20,000 while others put as many as
60,000 even some others as more.
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As it is apparent from the above discussion, the extent of the problem has not been
equally perceived and estimated by major actors that are involved to redress the welfare
of the street children. Without well documented statistical data on the scope, magnitude
and nature of the problem, it will be hardly possible to formulate any remedial actions
including, policy formulating.
The second factor that may impede the formulation of a city wide policy is attached with
the lack of commitment from the government to address the problem. As it is indicated
by Phiri and Webb, most governments lack political will and commitment to deal with
the problem of vulnerable children. As a result, they will be confined in taking ruthless
actions against the children; cleaning them from the street. However, this does not show
any success in addressing the problem sustainably. Based on the result of the survey, lack
of commitment by the government as impediment for policy formulation has been
perceived in different ways. Majority of the street children and the NGOs officials
expressed their support while the government experts refuse it. Thus, to some extent,
lack of commitment of the government could be raised as one of the impediments for
policy formulation.
The third major impeding factor in policy formulation has been hugely related with lack
of required human and financial resources. As it was indicated by UPM, due to their
limited revenue bases, shortage of resource is hugely affected local governments than
national governments. The result of the survey shows a resemblance with the above
literatures. Accordingly, the experts from both the governmental and nongovernmental
organizations felt the problem at the same extent (see Table 2). However, the children do
not agree with this claim. Instead, they expressed their strong refusal to accept the lack of
resources as a hindrance for the government policy intervention. On the other hand, the
document analysis showed the existence of shortage of resource. In view of that, the
government oversight bodies (mainly BoWCA and BoLSA) do not have the financial and
human resources to implement their mandated responsibilities and their relationship with
child care institutions and are mostly confined to reporting (FHI, 2010). From this
discussion, it is evident that lack of human and financial resources is among the major
hindrances that deny the formulation of a city wide policy on the issue.
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The fourth major perceived factor that impedes the formulation of a comprehensive
policy for street children is confusion of roles among the sectoral offices. As it was
indicated by Kopoka, due to the cross sectoral nature of the problem of child streetism,
all sectors became reluctant to take the overall responsibility to address it. The result of
the survey also showed similarity to this argument. In line with this, majority of the street
children and NGOs experts believed that the confusion of roles among the sectors as one
of the major hindrance to formulate a policy on the issue. On the other hand, the
government experts refused to accept this claim as an impeding factor. Paradoxically,
MoWA (as it is cited in Haile 2008) has highlighted the existence of considerable overlap
of responses and efforts by different actors regarding the protection of children’s rights.
From this the existence of some inconsistency between the result of the survey and the
document analysis concerning the responses of the government officials/experts is
evident. As the claim has been supported by the other two groups of respondents and the
document analysis, it can be logically considered as one of the hindrance for policy
formulation.
The last perceived impeding factor is related with the fact that the issue of addressing
child streetism has been largely left out for NGOs. Both the survey result and the
document analysis revealed that most of the intervention areas concerning the street
children in the city have been hugely left for the NGOs (FSCE, 2003). Unlike other
impeding factors, this claim has got relatively common support by all the three groups.
The mass involvement of NGOs as a prime actor in addressing the problem let the
government officials and their respective bureaus to remain less informed about the
situation of street children in the city. As a result, the decision (policy) makers might fail
to recognize the urgency of the problem like other actors (NGOs) involved in taking
active role to address the problem.
To sum up, the above disused challenges are among the major factors that impede the
formulation of a comprehensive city wide policy. The survey result as well as the review
of related documents unveiled that the above discussed factors are among the major
causes that hamper policy formulation for the street children. In relation to these factors,
67
some assumptions that stand to demystify the needs of having a policy will be disused
below.
The major assumptions that stand to discredit the need of having a comprehensive policy
is the strong belief in the broader international and national policy frameworks. In this
assumption the result of the survey revealed a similar response from the three groups.
The government officials/experts support the issue while the children and the NGOs
officials/experts strongly refuse it. As it was indicated by UN-Habitat the broader
national policies are too general and usually failed to include the specific needs of street
children (nd). Likewise, Kopoka argues that even those countries that have a national
child policy most of the time failed to identify the street children as a group that needs
extraordinary support and care (2000). Both literatures showed a strong resistance on the
assumptions that consider the broader frameworks as providing sufficient solutions by
themselves.
The other argument that stands against the formulation of comprehensive policy is a
strong belief in the sectoral policies as adequate to tackle the problem. This argument has
been hugely criticized by Kopoka. In his view, the very existence of the problem of child
streetism by itself is a reflection of the ineffectiveness of sectoral policies. Similarly,
Haile stated that in Ethiopia, many of the sectoral policies related to health, education,
women and HIV/AIDS do not specifically address the issue of OVC including the street
children (2008). The result of the survey revealed a parallel result with the previous
assumptions; a huge support from the government experts and massive refusal from the
children and the NGOs experts. From these results, it is apparent to understand that the
assumption that considers sectoral policies as enough to address the problem failed to get
enough support from both the survey and the document analysis.
All in all, the above disused beliefs namely; the broader international and national policy
frameworks and sectoral policies as sufficient to address the problem have lost a
theoretical as well as practical support. Both the survey and the document analysis
unveiled that the existing frameworks are not enough by themselves to address the
problem. As a result, searching alternative solutions to address the problem seems
reasonably relevant. One of these alternatives might be formulation of a city wide policy.
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6.4 The Needs of Policy Formulation to Address the Problems of Street
Children in Addis Ababa
As it was indicated by UMP, local governments/municipalities are placed in crucial

position to address the problem of child streetism both by interpreting national policies in
to their context and formulating their own local policies whenever it is necessary (2000).
In line with this, a survey has been conducted to assess the need for having/formulating a
comprehensive city wide policy to address the problems of street children in Addis
Ababa. Accordingly, this claim has got a massive support from the respondents (see
Table 4). Based on the result of the survey, formulating a comprehensive policy to
address the problem seems essential.
In support of this, one of the NGO officials argues that:
Our country has ratified both the CRC and ACRWC. In addition to this, the
FDRE constitution has also include some provision to protect vulnerable
children. However, all the provisions stated in these documents are lean to be
general and none of them specifically name street children as their 'prime
concern'. On the other hand, the magnitude and dimension of the problem is
contentiously increasing. In such a situation it is logical to have a specific
policy to address the problem of these children.
As it is evident from the above discussion, the existing international and national policy
frameworks are not considered as enough to address the problem. Thus, formulating a
city wide policy is necessitated. In line with this, the basic components of the proposed
policy option will be discussed in the next sub section.
6.4.1. The Basic Elements of the Proposed Policy Option
As it is indicated by CSC 2001 and West 2005, any policy option established to address
the problems of street children has to follow a right based and holistic approach. In
addition, some of the basics of the CFC have been also considered helpful to implement
the provisions of the policy (Riggio, 2002; Malone, 2006). In this sub section, the basic
elements of the proposed policy option will be discussed in light of these three
interrelated theoretical components.
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6.4.1.1 Right Based Approach as the Major Element of the Policy
According to Ennew, protection and participation are the two most important rights that
are included in the CRC concerning the street children. This idea has got a strong support
from the result of the survey. As it is indicated in Table 5, the issues of protection and
child participation in decision making have got unanimously wide range of supports from
all groups of the respondents. In addition to this the issue of basic services provision for
the street children has also got a large amount of support. This result coincide with the
idea of Lansdown, that states establishing service provision for the marginalized groups,
including the street children should be the prime duty of the government and involved
actors.
On the other hand, based on the above three variables, namely; participation protection
and provision; the ACPF attempted to assess how the African governments are child
friendly. According to the report compiled in 2008, Ethiopia was ranked among the less
child friendly African countries, 42 out of the total 52 countries (ACPF, 2008). As the
index is based on the above mentioned three pillars, the situation of the country in
protecting its children, providing basic services for them and listening their voices in
decision making has been recorded to be very low. This situation could be even more
when it comes to the street children. In line with this, Haile also argued that there is a
severe lack of social protection as well as social services for the children in the country;
as a result, the children became highly vulnerable for exploitations and abuses (2008).
The results from both documents showed the existence of unfavorable conditions that
may increase child vulnerability. From this scenario, one may easily speculate about the
situation of street children in the country in general and the capital city in particular.
Another component of a right based approach for the policy option is the establishment of
overreaching city wide goals that drive all the interventions towards it. The result of the
survey indicates congruence with this argument. Most, but not all, respondents from all
groups agreed up on the establishment of common broader goal that motivates and drives
all the interventions towards common ends; changing the lives of the street children
sustainably.
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The issue of transparency and accountability in conducting the interventions on street
children is also raised by Amtzis, as another major component of the approach. The result
of the survey stands in support of the issue of transparency and accountability to be
included in the proposed policy. Interventions for the street children have to be
established to help them, not to make their lives more miserable (Nieuwenhuys, 2001).
So as to achieve this, the proposed policy option is expected to include provisions that
will put the work of all involved actors under the guidance and supervisions of the
respected body.
All in all, the situation of interventions on the street children of Addis Ababa has been
disused in light of the right based approach. As the result of the survey and document
analysis unveiled that the policy as well as interventions situation in the city have been
dominated by the features of the traditional need based approach. On the other hand, a
change in the approach has been clearly indicated. As a result, basic components of the
right based approach inclusion in the policy option have got a wide range of support.
6.4.1.2 Holistic Approach to Manage the Interventions
As it is indicated by UMP, traditionally, most local governments/municipalities have

been providing services along sectoral lines. Such approach usually only help
children/street children in indirectly. So, if the children have to get benefits of the
services directly, the approach should be changed in to a holistic approach. In line with
this, the policy option is expected to include the two basic elements of the approach,
namely; coordination and integration.
The first element of a holistic approach is providing a mechanism to coordinate efforts of

all other actors by creating channels of partnership. The result of the survey indicates a
similar result with the idea of West. Accordingly, most of the respondents support the
needs for establishing such mechanisms. Paradoxically, there is some extreme variation
among experts at certain points (see Table 6). On the other hand, the document analysis
also revealed that coordination of governmental, non-governmental, and voluntary efforts
is crucial for addressing the problems of street children (FSCE, 2003)
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Though the need of creating a mechanism of coordination of efforts made by different
actors has been supported by most of the respondents, the existing situation does not
follow this manner. One of the NGO officials expresses the situation as:
Most of our works (NGOs) are fragmented and uncoordinated. In this

sense, one organization conducting intervention does not know what the
other actors are doing. The enabling legal and policy provisions that will
help to create coordination and partnership among us, is almost
nonexistent. As a result some of the NGOs are entering in to unnecessary
competition with others in order to get a good will from the government
officials and donor agencies.
As the above quotation reflects, due to the absence of governing mechanisms to
harmonize the interventions, majority of the intervention left uncoordinated and
fragmented. This argument magnifies the needs of including the provision in the
proposed policy option.
The second basic component of a holistic approach is integration or creating harmonious

relationship across the sectors. Similarly, as the survey result exposed, this claim has also
got a massive support from the respondents. On the other hand Joanne Dunn, a child
protection officer of UNICEF in Ethiopia, noted that the government has to be aware of
the need to create linkages between sectors, like health, education and child protection to
solve the problem (UNICEF, 2003). Thus including such provision in the policy option
has got acceptance and support.
Generally speaking, based on the above discussion, the two major assumptions of a
holistic approach have got a wide range and unanimous acceptance from the respondents
and the analyzed documents. As a result, they can serve as integral elements of the
proposed policy.
6.4.1.3 Child Friendly Cities as a Framework for the Implementation of the Policy
After including the basic elements of a right based and holistic approach, the proposed
policy option also expected to establish its own implementation framework. In view of
that, using some of the elements of a child friendly city seems relevant. As a child
friendly city is defined as a local system of good governance committed to fulfilling
72
children’s rights; using some of its applicable components that could help for the
effective execution of the proposed policy are discussed below.
The first element the CFC is related with the establishment special institutional
arrangement that gives the mandate of supervising the policy execution to specific
agency/bureau. On this claim majority of the respondents from all the three groups
expressed their agreement. However, there is also a huge variation among the groups.
This could reflect how each group felt the needs for the establishment of the agency /
bureau. For the children, as it is indicated in Table 7, the establishment of the bureau to
execute their issue has too much value than any other things. This is less felt by the
NGOs experts and even in lower extent by the government officials/ experts. However,
such variation could not prohibit the inclusion of the provision in the proposed policy, as
long as it is supported by majority of all groups.
Secondly, as it is indicated by Riggio, the implementation of the policy should follow a

decentralized framework. On this claim relatively unanimous consensus has been reached
by all the respondents. As a result the decentralized implementation framework has to be
involved in the proposed policy without doubt.
Finally, the proposed policy option should include its own mechanism for child impact
assessment. In line with this, the survey result revealed that as the above elements of a
CFC, it has got a huge support from the respondents. This result is parallel with the
argument of Riggio, which states the establishment of child impact assessment not only
in policy formulation but also in law making and execution.
To sum up, all the three elements of a CFC that are discussed above, hold essential for
the effective implementation of the policy. Therefore, including them in the proposed
policy option to address the problems of street children in Addis Ababa has too much
importance for its desirable implementations.
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CHAPTER SEVEN
CONCLUSION
Child streetism, as a social problem in Addis Ababa, has been recognized by the
government since 1974. From this time on wards, various interventions have been
conducted by different actors. The type of actors involved and their approaches towards
the problem varies each other. The major actors involved in conducting interventions to
address the problem include governmental organizations, NGOs, FBOs and CBOs.
In most cases, the practical services delivered for the street children came from
nongovernmental actors than the government. As a matter of fact, governments are not
expected to provide all the necessary services for these children. Instead, it is expected to
make sure that these services are available for the children and delivered according to
some acceptable procedures. Thus, the role of creating favorable situations for the
interventions is among the major responsibilities of the government. As it is apparent
from the earlier discussions, in Addis Ababa, there is lack of comprehensive city wide
policy concerning the issue of the street children.
In such a situation, interventions to address the problems of street children have been
established and conducted by different actors in the city. Most of these organizations are
NGOs. The basic guideline that governs and guides the establishment of these
interventions is the developmental social welfare policy. First of all, organizations that
are interested to conduct intervention have to get license from the federal societies and
charities organizations according to proclamation 621/2009. Then after, they are expected
to sign an operational agreement with BoWCA and BoFED. These two bureaus have the
mandate to appraise projects, provide recommendation and follow up its execution.
In fulfilling their duties, administering the interventions, the bureaus have been facing
various challenges. Basically, in the absence of a comprehensive city wide policy, the
City administration in general and BoWCA and BoFED in particular, have been facing
deficiency in providing broader and acceptable approach that could guide and shape the
interventions of other actors involved. In line with this, interventions have been
conducted by different actors unilaterally and without considering the forward and
backward linkages with other interventions. This is mainly caused due to the absence of
74
favorable environment to establish partnership among the actors involved. The failure of
the city administration, to create supportive and cooperative mechanisms for the
organizations conducting the interventions, paved the way for some organizations to
engage in unnecessary competition.
Furthermore, due to the same reason, organization that conducts interventions failed to
get enough information about the activities of other actors in the same area of
interventions. As a result, duplication of efforts and wastage of the scarce resource
become a common practice in the city. In addition to this, the lacks of cooperation in
some cases have been creating an incompatible result on the street children.
Besides, the city administration failed to develop a clear and uniform mechanism to
supervise the proper functioning of the interventions on the street children. Consequently,
the proper functioning of the interventions is supervised irregularly and mostly relying on
the report produced by the organizations that conduct the interventions. This situation
creates a favorable environment for some interventions to act beyond their established
objectives and engaged in activities that could harm their clients like, child trafficking.
Due to the absence of a comprehensive city wide policy in the area of child streetism, the
city administration has been facing the above challenges. In order to culminate these
challenges, formulating a citywide policy is presented as a desirable solution. However,
until today, the city administration failed to introduce such policy. This can be caused or
related with various impeding factors.
In the first place, there is a lack of consensus among the major stakeholders and decision
makers on the magnitude and scope of the problems of street children in the city. For
various reasons, the magnitude of problem has been presented in different way by the
governmental and nongovernmental actors that are working to address it. Besides, usually
the problems of street children has been articulated and presented under the umbrella of
other social problems, such as, the problem of OVC or children in especially difficult
circumstance. Due to this fact, policy makers failed to consider a specific policy solution
to address the problem child streetism.
75
On the other hand, the decision makers are reluctant and uncommitted to give enough
attention to the problem of child streetism. This could be usually related with the cross
sectoral nature of the problem. As it happens in many other places, each governmental
bureau of the city administration has ‘some other more important job’ than the problems
of street children. As the above points hold true, in some cases the reluctance of the
decision makers to bring a policy solution to the problem is related with the shortage of
human and financial resources. The result of the study found that scarcity of resource as
among the major impeding factors to formulate a policy to address the problem in Addis
Ababa.
In addition to the above discussed impediments, there are some assumptions that
challenge the relevance of formulating a policy response for the problems of street
children. Firstly, most of the government officials/experts have a strong believe on the
broader international, national and sectoral policies as sufficient to address the problem
effectively. This argument implies most of them are not in favor of formulating a city
wide policy on the issue. However, as these documents are broader and failed to
acknowledge street children as a specific category with their own special needs and
desires the above argument loses its relevance. Besides, as the finding of this study
revealed, the sectoral policies have not included relevant provisions that could help to
address the problems of street children.
As it follow from the above discussion, the interventions on street children in Addis
Ababa requires a citywide policy response. As Ethiopia has ratified the relevant
international conventions like CRC and ACRWC, any response for child vulnerability
should follow a right based and holistic approach. Besides all commitments made by the
national governments by ratifying these conventions have to be interpreted by local
governments/metropolises. To this end, the issue of a child friendly city initiative could
be raised. Therefore, the proposed policy option expected to include some of the basics of
the above three approaches/dimensions, namely; right based and holistic approaches and
the child friendly city. All of the three concepts have common ground, the CRC.
As the right based approach is the first component of the proposed policy option; some of
its basic components are found relevant for this case. Among others, the issues of
76
establishing mechanisms of protection, provision and participation for the children have
been found relevant to address the problem. The existing practice shows lack of the
above elements on the interventions. As a result, changing the old path of providing
services for the children along the need based approach with the right based approach is
required. In Addition to the above three elements of the right based approach, efforts to
establish an overarching city wide goals that could drive the interventions to common end
and creating mechanisms of accountably of the actors involved are relevant to the
problem of child streetism.
In addition to the right based approach, the proposed policy option is expected to include
basic elements of a holistic approach. As the problem of street childe has a
multidimensional nature, efforts to address it requires interventions from varies sectors of
the governmental bureaus and nongovernmental actors. In order to create a harmonious
relationship among the sectors in working to address the problem, the policy will attempt
to provide some sort of mechanisms. The establishment of mechanisms to coordinate the
nongovernmental actors in terms of partnership has also to be included.
Concerning the child friendly city, the basic elements will help to provide basic
framework work of implementation of the proposed policy. Accordingly, the policy
option is expected to specify the agency/bureau that will supervise the thorough
implementation of the policy. In line with this, the implementation framework is expected
to be decentralized up to the grass root levels. Finally, as any other project/program, the
proposed policy option should include a provision to assess the impact of the policy on
the children.
As it is evident from the above discussion, the proposed policy option is mainly
characterized as a remedial social policy that attempts to address the existing problem of
child streetism. The selected elements of the above approach are basically based on the
assumption to address the identified challenges. As a result, in order to improve the
proposed policy option, it is open to add other elements of these approaches or from some
other sources.
As the finding of this study indicates, the prevailing problems and challenges that hinder
the effective administration of interventions on the street children could be solved
77
through the introduction of a city wide policy on the issue. However, this does not mean
that formulating a city wide policy is the only way to solve these challenges; rather, as
the scope of the study is limited to assess the policy framework, the recommendation is
confined to do that. Other alternative solutions are left for further investigation.
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CHAPTER EIGHT
RECOMMENDATIONS
As it is apparent from the earlier discussions, the city administration has been facing
various challenges in administering the interventions. The limited mandate of the bureaus
could be raised as one of the major challenges in administering the interventions. To this
end, the city administration is recommended to enhance the role and responsibilities of
the bureaus up to the point that put them to oversee the long and short tem impacts of the
interventions of their own and other actors. Besides, as the issue of children in general
and the street children in particular is sensitive and prone to abuse; it is advisable if the
city administration has developed a special mechanism that could guide the establishment
of organizations entrusted to conduct interventions.
For the subsequent challenges that the city administration is facing in the process of
administering the interventions, the administration is recommended to provide a broader
city wide approach that will guide the efforts of all actors involved to address the
problems of street children in the city. In this manner, it could also create a comfortable
environment of partnership. This in turn, will help the organizations that conduct the
interventions to cooperate and support each other.
Furthermore, the city administration is also recommended to create and expand situations
that facilitate the existence of harmonious relationship among the organizations and
mechanisms that could serve as a channel of communication among the major actors. By
doing so, the level of awareness about the works of other actors in the area will be
enhanced. This in return will reduce the probability of duplicating efforts and wasting of
resources. Furthermore, the incompatibility of outcomes of the interventions will be
reduced.
Concerning follow up and supervision, the city administration, instead of relying on the
timely report of the intervening organizations as a main source, is recommended to
increase and diversify the mechanisms of follow up and supervision of the proper
functioning of the interventions. This is consistent with the firs recommendation,
enhancing the mandate of the bureaus.
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In order to apply the above recommendations consistently, the city administration is
strongly recommended to formulate a city wide policy to address the problems of street
children. As it indicated earlier, the proposed policy should be established based on the
pillars of the three interrelated perspectives, right based and holistic approach and the
child friendly city. By using the basic elements of these approaches, the city
administration is recommended to formulate a city wide policy to address the problem of
child streetism and alleviate the challenges of administering interventions.
In a way to formulate a city wide policy, there are a number of hindrances that hold back
the city administration. One of these hindrances is the lack/absence of enough awareness
on the magnitude and scope of the problem. Therefore, in order to create a fair level of
awareness about the situations of the street children among the major stakeholders, the
city administration is recommended to conduct series comprehensive studies. As the lack/
absence of awareness is not the only impeding factor for policy formulation, further
studies have to be conducted on related issues like, the role of the major stakeholders in
addressing the problem, on the right based approach for programming street children and
on mechanisms that promote partnership among the government and other actors
entrusted to address the problem of child streetism in Addis Ababa.
The results and findings of these studies have to be disseminated to all the concerned
parties including the governmental, non governmental, faith and community based
organizations. This could have a two folded benefits. In the one hand, it could help in
raising the level of awareness about the various dimensions of the problem that have to
be considered in formulating remedial efforts. And in the other hand, it could serve as
means to initiate and attract the interest of other actors to involve in the effort of
addressing the problem.
As the findings of this study revealed, formulating a city wide policy to address the
problem has been hugely welcomed by the respondents. However, as it is indicated in
previous chapters, most of the officials/experts from the governmental offices, firmly
argue on the existing broader policy frameworks as sufficient to address the problem. In
other words, they did not support the formulation of a city wide policy. Further
researches are recommended to investigate their basic reasons to the policy option and
80
come up with alternative solutions to address the problem. Based on the findings of the
study, the city administration is highly recommended to formulate a citywide policy on
the problem of child streetism. Accordingly the proposed policy option will have a
pivotal role in administering the interventions and addressing the problem sustainably.
The basic elements of the proposed policy option is expected to be established based on
the three major approaches, namely; right based and holistic approaches and child
friendly cites. All the three approaches are related with the CRC. After the ratification of
the CRC, these approaches in general, and right based approach in particular have got an
international acceptance for child programming. As Ethiopia is among the countries
ratified the convention, using the right based approach in conducting interventions on the
street children is hugely expected. Therefore, it is strongly recommended that all the
decision makers and other stake holders to be aware of the right based approach and its
relevance in addressing the problems of street children in Addis Ababa. This could be
done through the use of different communication channels to crate enough awareness on
the benefits of the approach to child programming. More importantly, the three pillars the
right based approach, namely; protection, participation and provision have to get a prime
focus in formulating the policy.
Furthermore, following the right based approach, the city administration is also expected
in developing an overreaching city wide goal. As it is apparent from experiences, the
problem of child streetism in the city could not be sustainably addressed by conducting
interventions in isolation. Instead, the concerned body of the government is
recommended to create a broader city wide framework that could guide and drive all the
interventions towards broader common end, changing the lives of these children
permanently. This goal has to be developed in collaboration with the major stakeholders
and it should publicize for all concerned parties in the issue.
At last, not only as components of the approach, the issue of transparency and
accountability also has to be promoted. As the findings of the study revealed, the lack of
such mechanisms that put the activities of the interventions under some comprehensive
legal/policy framework was one of the major challenge caused due to the absence of city
wide policy. Therefore the city administration is recommended to include some
81
provisions that will promote transparency and accountability of the interventions for
every of their actions.
The second component of the policy option is the issue of holistic approach. Frequently,
delivering services based on the sectoral lines usually benefits the street children
indirectly. In order to provide services that could benefit the children directly, following a
holistic approach is desirable. However, there are visible difficulties to applying this
approach. In the one hand, applying this approach requires a large amount of both human
and financial resources and in the other; the city administration has been challenged by
shortage of resources. In order to address this dilemma, increasing the resource base of
the city administration is among the viable way-outs. To enhance the resource base of the
city administration, expanding its revenue sources and searching for additional budgetary
support from the federal government could be raised as possible alternatives.
In situations when applying holistic approach is challenging, the city administration could
also utilized another options to promote the welfare of the children like enhancing the
sectoral approach for service delivery. In this regard, the city administration is
recommended to perform two major actions. Firstly, it is expected to increase the
resource flow to the sectors that are assigned to address the problem. Secondly, duties
and responsibilities of each bureau and sector entrusted to address the problem have to be
demarcated so as to reduce overlaps of tasks. In this manner, the city administration could
reduce the gaps that will be left uncovered due to the overlapping of authorities and
provide better services for the children.
Formulating a policy that includes a number promising elements and provisions alone
could not address the problem of child streetism. Such promises have to be implemented
according to the provisions provided for it. As a result, the proposed policy option should
be implemented so as to address the problems of street children in the city sustainably. In
view of that the city administration is strongly recommended to establish a child friendly
framework for the implementation of this policy.
First and for most, the administration is recommended to specify the bureau that could act
as the primary responsible agent to supervise and oversee the thorough implementation of
the policy. This could help to reduce the delay and reluctance in the implementation
82
process. Then after, unlike most of other policies the policy shall not be alienated from
the practitioners. To this end, the implementation of the policy is recommended to follow
a decentralized framework to reach most of the service providers and their beneficiaries.
Besides the city administration is recommended to make a continuous child impact
assessment of the policy that could serve to improve the policy in the future.
All in all this study firmly argues that when the combinations of all the efforts made by
various actors governed by a comprehensive city wide approach and policies, the
problems of street children believed to be addressed sustainably in Addis Ababa.
However, as it is apparent from the above discussion, the basic elements of the proposed
policy option are hugely focused in providing remedial activities. So as to make the
recommendation of the proposed policy option to be realistic and functional, it is strongly
recommended that further research to be conducted the remaining gaps left out by this
study. This may include some basic elements of a proactive social policy for the street
children and the role and participation of the street children in policy making.
83
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Appendix 1: Survey Questionnaire
Addis Ababa University
School of Graduate Studies
Institute of Regional and Local Development
Survey Questionnaire on Street Children in Addis Ababa: An Assessment of

Policy Framework for Interventions
The purpose of this questionnaire is to collect data in order to assess the policy
framework of interventions established to address the problems of the street children in
Addis Ababa. Note that any information that you are providing will neither be transferred
to a third party nor used for any purpose other than the objective of this research. Thank
you in advance for your time and cooperation in giving a genuine response.
Participation in the research is voluntary!
Part -1 General Information
1- Please select your position from the list.
A- Street children
B- Expert from non-governmental organization (NGO)
C- Government expert
2- If your answer to question number 1 is A, did you get any support from NGOs or
other organizations?
A- Yes B- No
3- Age _____________ (only for street children)
90
Part-2 Policy
4- Do you think the problem of the street children in Addis Ababa requires a
A. Yes B. No
A- In this section, the questions will attempt to assess the challenges of

administering interventions on the street children without a comprehensive
policy concerning the issue.
For the questions stated below, please indicate your level of agreement by putting ‘X’
mark on your favorite responses. 5 = fully agree, 4 = partially agree, 3 = partially
disagree, 2 = fully disagree 1 = No opinion.
5 4 3 2 1
5 The interventions in the city do not have broader shared
and acceptable approaches to the problem.
6 Cooperative and supportive environment do not exist
among the organizations that conduct the interventions
for the street children.
7 The outcomes of the interventions are not compatible
with each other.
7 Duplication of efforts and wastage of resources is a
common practice in the interventions.
9 Majority of the interventions lack transparency and
accountability in the process of addressing the problem
of the street children.
10 There are malfunctioning interventions which bring
unintended and negative outcomes in the lives of the
street children.
91
B- In this section, the questions will focus on the reasons why the city
administration did not formulate a policy on the street children until to day.
5 4 3 2 1
11 The magnitude of problem of the street children in Addis
Ababa was not clearly understood by the government.
12 The city administration lacks a commitment to address
the problems of the street children.
13 The city administration does not have both the financial
and human resource to invest on the issue of the street
children
14 Due to the cross-sectoral nature of the problems of street
children, there exists a confusion of roles among
different sectors of the government.
15 The problems of the street children have been largely left
for nongovernmental actors (including the
nongovernmental, community based and faith based
organizations).
92
C- This section will attempt to explore how to formulate the policy and what kinds
of provisions it shall include.
5 4 3 2 1
16 The policy should provide favorable conditions for the
establishment of interventions that ensure medical care,
shelter, education, clothing and etc...for the street
children.
17 The policy should support the establishment of protective
interventions to the street children from exploitation,
discrimination and abuse.
18 The policy should establish a mechanism to drive all the
interventions to a common end, addressing the problems
of the street children sustainably.
19 The policy should promote the development of favorable
grounds to integrate and coordinate the interventions.
20 The policy should create a harmonious relationship
among the different sectors of the government to address
the problem.
21 The policy should identify a specific governmental
agency to supervise and control its implementation.
22 The policy should pursue a decentralized implementation
framework up to the grass root level.
23 The policy should provide a mechanism that will make
all the interventions to be transparent and accountable.
24 The policy should specify a mechanism for policy impact
assessment in addressing the problem.
93
D. This section will explore the reasons that question the importance of a
comprehensive policy concerning the street children in Addis Ababa.
5 4 3 2 1
25 The problems of street children can be administered with
the use of manuals and procedures.
26 The broader international and national policy documents
(The Convention on the Rights of Children, The FDRE
Constitution, The Developmental Social Welfare
policy...) are enough to address the problem.
27 The problems of the street children have been effectively
covered in the existing sectoral policies like, health,
education and others.
28. If you have any different idea or comment, please specify it here
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Thank you!
94
Appendix 2-Interview guide/ checklist
1- On what bases do the city administration deals with organizations that conduct
interventions to address the problems of the street children?
2- What do the trend of administering interventions on the street children look like?
3- What are the major problems that are caused due to the absence of a
4- What are the major factors that necessitate the formulation of a comprehensive
policy?
5- Why did the city administration fail to formulate a policy until this time?
6- Who is specifically responsible to formulate the policy?
7- What kind of role should the street children play in the formulation of the policy?
8- How should other stakeholders participate in the policy making process?
9- How should the basic principles of the policy be selected and included?
10- Who should supervise the implementation of the policy at different levels?
11- What kind of policy impact assessment mechanism should the policy include?
95
Declaration
I declare that this thesis is my own original work and has not been presented in any other
university. All sources of materials and references used for the thesis have been duly
acknowledged.
Declared by:
Name: Mekonnen Mengesha
Signature: ________________________________
Date: ____________________________________
Confirmed by:
Name: Minas Hiruy (PhD), Advisor
Signature: ________________________________
Date: ____________________________________
July, 2011, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa
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STREET CHILDREN IN ADDIS ABABA: EXPLORING

POLICY FRAMEWORK FOR INTERVENTIONS

BY: MEKONNEN MENGESHA

INSTITUTE OF REGIONAL AND LOCAL DEVELOPMENT STUDIES

BY: MEKONNEN MENGESHA

A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES OF ADDIS

ADVISOR: MINAS HIRUY (PhD)

INSTITUTE OF REGIONAL AND LOCAL DEVELOPMENT STUDIES

STREET CHILDREN IN ADDIS ABABA: EXPLORING POLICY

BY: MEKONNEN MENGESHA

APPROVED BY BOARD OF EXAMINERS

Chapter One – Introduction .................................................................................... 1

Chapter Two – Situation Analysis .......................................................................... 10

Chapter Three – Literature Review ...................................................................... 16

3.4. Conceptual Framework ...........................................................................................35

Chapter Four – Methodology .................................................................................. 37

Chapter Five – Presentation and Analysis of Quantitative Data ........................ .42

Chapter Six – Presentation and Analysis of Qualitative Data ..................................60

6.1. Procedures for the establishment and administration of interventions on

Chapter Seven – Conclusion.................................................................................... 74

Table 1: Demographic characteristics of the sample population ........................................42

ACPF African Child Policy Forum

• Child participation is an ongoing process of children’s active involvement in decisions

• Intervention is any planned action of governmental or nongovernmental organizations

1.1. Background of the Study

Poverty has multiple dimensions and manifestations. As a developing country striving in

1.2. Statement of the Problem

Traditionally the response to street children by most governments in Africa and

On a workshop organized by Forum on Street Children-Ethiopia in 2001, it was indicated

1.3. Objectives of the Study

assess the actual and potential challenges of administering the interventions in

indicate a workable policy option to address the problems of street children.

1.4. Significance of the Study

1.5. Scope of the Study

1.6. Limitation of the study

Inaccessibility of both government and non governmental organizations officials and

2.2 Children in Ethiopia

2.3. Street Children in Ethiopia

2.3.1 The Situation of Street Children

The problem of street children in Ethiopia is not a recent phenomenon. As some

2.3.2 Efforts in Addressing the Problems of Street Children

As elucidated in the above discussion, the problems of street children have a

More importantly, a separate agency (National Children’s Commission) was established

Most developing countries are commonly characterized by extreme poverty, unplanned

3.2.1 Street Children

To begin with the definition, an intervention refers to a purposeful action taken to

According to Fraser et al (2009), interventions can be broadly categorized as structural

3.2.2.1 Interventions to Address the Problems of Street Children

Children should be supported because they deserve help (SCUK, 2000).

Providing services for children is a voluntary activity (Amtzis, 2003).

The focus should be on providing welfare services (Amtzis, 2003)

Children can participate in order to improve service delivery process (SCUK,

Children are entitled to get support (ibid).

Supporting the children is mandatory (Amtzis, 2003)

Priority in providing service should be given for marginalized groups (Lansdown,

The promotion and protection of rights of children are based on international

In addition to the above mentioned challenges, lack of adequate budget (limited

3.2.3 Social Welfare Policy

3.2.3.2 Formulating Social Welfare Policy for Street Children