Objectives

As a project under the umbrella of a registered Tanzanian NGO aiming to alleviate poverty and promote education, streetwise-Africa project has 5 major objectives, linked to government policies, child rights convention and UN recommendations regarding children and education:

Motivation of street children through reading, tutoring and counselling towards community reintegration; enhancing access to universal primary education; delivery of health care and health education; reintegration of street children into family and community; cooperating, liaising and networking with partners and government.

The content of the project’s 5 major objectives have changed slightly. Particular changes have occurred in the technique used to address objective 2.

Objective 1: Motivation of street children through reading, tutoring and counselling towards community reintegration

Families have the primary responsibility for caring for and protecting their children. But for numerous reasons – the loss of parents, separation related to displacement, domestic violence and abuse, extreme poverty, among others – many children are deprived of a loving, caring environment. Orphaned and street children are in much need of protection. The lack of parenting, in situations where no adequate alternative care systems are in place, opens up a protection and guidance gap (UNICEF, 2006). Children between the age of five and thirteen years need everything pertaining to survival, protection, development and participation and especially guidance and counselling (child development policy, URT, p 9)

Objective 2: Enhancing access to Universal Primary Education

School can bring further anguish for street children, because it is hard for them to retain what they are taught: they have lost their capacity for concentration. In addition, drugs and delinquency are commonplace (state of the world’s children, 2006). However primary education is essential and required by law.

Therefore much care must be taken in preparing these children to re-enter formal education system. Memkwa – the programme arranged by the ministry of education and culture for children of school going age but who are not in attendance: aims to reach the 2 million children still outside the school system. Collaboration between streetwise project and ward education officers represents an ideal link between the children not enrolled in school or drop outs living on the street and the Memkwa service.

Objective 3: Delivery of health care and health education

“Provision of child rights in Tanzania has been affected by various factors including child care, such as the provision of basic needs which include clothing, shelter, good nutrition, education and medical treatment. Despite efforts made to improve health services and household food security, many children in the country are still prone to disease and malnutrition, which means that they do not grow physically and mentally as they should (child development policy, URT, p. 5,24). Education is often among the first casualties for vulnerable children and they are also exposed to exclusion from other services, including vital information about health, nutrition and life skills, such as how to help protect themselves from violence and abuse (UNICEF, 2006).

This objective remains a challenge as secondment of a nurse has been unreliable, however the physical health of the children remains a major priority and contact has been made with the district and regional medical officers, in order to facilitate a more effective response to the needs of these destitute children;

Objective 4: Reintegration of street children into family and community

The term ‘street children’ is problematic as it can be employed as a stigmatizing label. One of the greatest problems such children face is their demonization by mainstream society as a threat and a source of criminal behaviour. But many children who live and work on the street do so in a variety of ways and for a range of reasons – and each of them is unique, with their own, often strongly felt, points of view. Therefore reintegration into their original community may sometimes not be sustainable unless a quality contact has been established with the child, in preparation for this significant step in their young lives.

Every effort is made to have a thorough case file for each child (in other words, a deep understanding of the child and his/her story) prior to any effort to broach the subject of a home visit with a child. Regular quality contact during the afternoon sessions with a particular child is essential, to ensure that if a home visit takes place, the child is emotionally ‘primed’ for the visit and its consequences. If the child is only keen to ‘go on safari’ and return to the streets, the project’s resources will be wasted and not spent on a child who is ready to ‘face’ home.

Objective 5: Cooperating, liaising and networking with partners and government

Child protection requires inter-sectoral cooperation at the local, national and international level, to create a protective environment for vulnerable children.