Denna kvalitativa studie har syftat till att få en ökad förståelse om hur en organisation och personal på organisationens barnhem i Nepal arbetar med gatubarn. Studiens fokus är att undersöka hur organisationen och personalen arbetar för att skapa en trygg tillvaro för barnen samt om denna tillvaro förstärker dem. För att uppnå studiens syfte och frågeställningar har semistrukturerade samtalsintervjuer och observationer genomförts på organisationen två barnhem. Sammanlagt har sex intervjuer genomförts med organisationens grundare, anställd personal på barnhemmen samt en rektor. Teorierna Empowerment och Känsla Av Sammanhang (KASAM) har använts för att analysera studiens empiriska material. Studiens resultat pekar på att organisationen och personalen på barnhemmen i Nepal arbetar för att skapa en normaliserad vardag och tillvaro för barnen samt ge dem ordentliga utbildningar, vilket kan leda till att barnen får en utveckling och varaktig förändring. Vidare arbetar organisationen och personalen utefter arbetssätt som kan skapa egna resurser hos barnen, som i sin tur kan tänkas stärka dem. / This qualitative study aims to get a better understanding of how the organization and staff of the organization's children's home in Nepal working with street children. The study's focus is to examine how the organization and the staff work to create a safe environment for children, and how this life strengthens them. In order to achieve the objectives of the study and research questions are semi-structured conversations interviews and observations conducted on the organization two orphanages. A total of six interviews were conducted with the organization's founder, staff of orphanages and a school principal. The theories empowerment and Sense of coherence (SOC) has been used to analyze the study's empirical material. The study results indicate that the organization and the staff of the orphanages in Nepal are working to create a normalized living and life for the children and provide them with proper education, which can lead to children getting a development and lasting change. Furthermore, the organization and the staff along approach that can create its own resources in the children, who in turn may strengthen them.

There has been a lot of research highlighting the plight of street children throughout the world in the past few years. A review of the literature on street children reveals that the problem is worse in developing countries. The number of street children can be expected to increase in South Africa as a result of rapid urbanisation and development. This will certainly pose a problem for the government and other organisations concerned with the welfare of street children. In order to combat the proliferation of the number of children in the streets, concerned parties need to know more about street children before intervention and effective policies can be designed. This study was initiated to serve that purpose: to provide information on how street children perceive themselves. The information gathered and results of the study can be used by service providers to design effective intervention programmes. Twenty street children from the Pietermaritzburg central business district and the comparison group of twenty children from a "place of safety" in Pietermaritzburg were interviewed and assessed. Children from the "place of safety" were chosen as a comparison group because their familial histories have many factors which are common to street children as well. Assessment ofthe two groups of children entailed measuring the children's self-concepts by using the Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale. Human Figure Drawings were used to identify signs and levels of emotional distress using the Koppitz Emotional Indicators procedure. Furthermore, an unstructured interview was conducted with each child. The data was analysed quantitatively using statistical sub-programs of the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). The following statistical tests were computed: means to measure central tendency, independent t-tests to determine the statistical significance of the difference between the two groups' self-concept scores and emotional indicators. Quatro Pro and Harvard Graphics software packages were used to analyse the data qualitatively and present it graphically . Statistical analyses of the results reveal no significant differences between the self-concept of street children and that of the comparison group of placed children. Both groups' scores on the Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale are within the average range. This means that street and placed children's perceptions of themselves, as measured by the Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale, are similar to those of other children in the general population. Signs and levels of emotional distress as measured by Koppitz' list of Emotional Indicators are within the non-pathological range for both groups. This indicates that street and placed children's levels of emotional distress are similar to those found in other children in the normal population. It is therefore concluded that despite being exposed to hazardous situations and having lived in deprived and abusive situations, street children do not display significant levels of measured emotional distress. Street children are found not to be as disturbed as previously assumed by journalists and fiction writers who tend to romanticise or politicise their plight. Placed children, who also share some of the predicaments that street children have endured in terms of turbulent childhoods, do not seem to show deficits in their self-concepts and emotional functioning either. Recommendations on how to plan intervention programmes for street children are also offered. Moreover, the standardisation of the Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale on local populations is recommended. / Thesis (M.Soc.Sci.)-University of Natal, Pietermartizburg, 1996

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

The inhabitants of Kinshasa, who call themselves Kinois, deal with insecurity and violence on a daily basis. Cheating and thefts are commonplace, and pillaging by street gangs and robberies by armed thieves are everyday occurrences. The state infrastructure is so poorly regulated that deaths by accident or medical negligence are also common. This, and much more, contributes to a challenging social milieu within which the Kinois’ best hope is simply to ‘make do’. This thesis, based on extensive fieldwork in Kinshasa, analyses different forms of violence which affect the Kinois on a daily basis. I argue that the Kinois’ concept of violence, mobulu, differs from Western definitions, which define violence as an intrinsically negative and destructive force. Mobulu is for the Kinois a potentially constructive phenomenon, which allows them to build relationships, coping strategies and new social phenomena. Violence is perceived as a transformative force, through which people build meaningful lives in the face of the hardship of everyday life. Broadly speaking, this thesis contributes to the Anthropology of violence which has too often focused on how violence is imposed upon a population, often from a structural level of a state and its institutions. Such an approach fails to account for the nuances of alternate perspectives of what ‘violence’ is, as evidenced in this thesis through the prism of the Kinois term mobulu. The concept of mobulu highlights the creativity of those forced to ‘make do’ on the streets of Kinshasa, to negotiate not only every day physical needs, for food and shelter, but also to navigate the mystical violence of witchcraft. By exploring the coping mechanisms across all sections of society, I analyse how the Kinois not only have built their lives in the wake of the violence of the state, but they have also found means of empowerment within it, using mobulu as a springboard for the development of some social phenomena. Whereas the anthropology of violence has focused mainly on physical and material violence, this thesis also argues that mobulu in Kinshasa is a total social fact that combines state violence with everyday violence, and physical violence with the invisible violence of witchcraft. This thesis seeks to enrich discussions on witchcraft in Kinshasa and in the African context in general, by analysing in depth how the cosmology of Kinshasa has differentiated itself as a result of the politico-economic events of recent decades. As witchcraft and material insecurity go hand in hand, a detailed analysis of the mechanisms of witchcraft is necessary, if we are to grasp the complexity of the concept of mobulu and how material and invisible violence inform each other.

Grande parte da população de crianças e adolescentes brasileiros vive em condições de miséria e, associados aos conflitos familiares, procuram a rua como fonte geradora de renda, expondo-se à delinqüência, consumo de drogas, entre outros. No sentido de aprofundar o conhecimento acerca da questão, buscamos na literatura elementos necessários para traçar um panorama geral sobre a temática das crianças e dos adolescentes em situação de rua, no âmbito das relações na família e das políticas sociais voltadas à assistência deste grupo, porém sem reduzir a estes aspectos como os únicos responsáveis pela gênese dos meninos e meninas em situação de rua. Este estudo tem como objetivo conhecer e analisar as representações sociais da rua e as relações que se estabelecem entre meninos em situação de rua e entre estes e a instituição pública que os abriga bem como suas famílias, sob a ótica de um grupo de adolescentes que tiveram experiência de vida nas ruas da cidade de Goiânia (GO). O referencial metodológico é de natureza qualitativa sendo utilizada as representações sociais enquanto procedimento metodológico. Para a coleta de dados foram utilizadas a entrevista semi estruturada, fotografias produzidas pelos sujeitos e observações anotadas em um diário de campo. O tratamento dos dados baseia-se na hermenêutica – dialética. Através das categorias empíricas "curtição", "humilhação", "a gente não tem" e "lei do cano" apreendemos, de um modo geral, que as representações sociais sobre a rua se constróem a partir de elementos da contradição entre a liberdade e a violência que a rua oferece, isto é, violência a que se sujeitam é o preço exigido pela liberdade e diversão que procuram naquele espaço. Concluindo, destacamos que esta pesquisa oferece à Enfermagem aspectos importantes sobre o "fenômeno dos meninos e meninas de rua" que contribuirão para uma assistência mais efetiva na promoção da saúde integral da criança e do adolescente. / Great part of Brazilian children and adolescents' population live in poverty conditions and, associated to the family conflicts, they seek the street as generating source of income, being exposed to the delinquency, consumption of drugs among others. At the literature we looked for necessary elements to know about general aspects of children and adolescents' in street situation in the ambit of the relationships in their families and of social politics to attendance this group, but not reducing to these aspects as the only responsible to boys and girls' in street situation genesis. As an aim this study sought to know and to analyse, from adolescents that had life experience in the streets in Goiânia city (GO), their social representation about street, and the relationships among boys in street situation and also among these and their families and the public institution that shelters them. The qualitative research is the methodological referential and the social representations were the methodological procedure. To collect data, semi structured interview, pictures produced from the boys and noted observations was used and its treatment bases on the hermeneutic - dialectics. It was possible to apprehend that the social representations about street is built from contradiction elements of freedom and violence offered by street lifestyle. This meaning we got from empirical categories identified as funny, humiliation, we don't have and gun’s law. We understood that to all of this they attribute violence as the price demanded by freedom and amusement they seek in that place. The results of this research offers important aspects to be considered on nursing health care assistance for children and adolescents’ in street situation.

No description available.

There is a large number of children living or spending most of their day on the street. The situation for those children is harsh since they for example do not get their basic needs met. Several organizations’ work includes interventions towards street children in their programmes, but the amount still increases every year. The aim with this study is to examine and explore which challenges the OVC-program face when working with street children, and how these challenges are addressed in their daily work. A qualitative approach was chosen where observations and interviews with personnel were conducted at the OVC- program in Iringa, Tanzania. The result shows that it is hard to know if the program’s goal – to reduce the number of street children in Iringa region – is reached as it is newly implemented. However, the program’s evaluation shows a positive trend. Focus in the work to fulfil the goal is primary the personnel’s attitudes towards the children. The result also shows that an empowerment- based approach is used in the daily work. By combining control and participation the possibility to help the street children to achieve autonomy increases. One challenge in the work is that this control limits the freedom on the street that the children desire. Consequently the relation between control and participation is important to create a successful intervention. / Det finns ett stort antal barn som lever eller spenderar merparten av sin dag på gatan. Situationen för dessa barn är svår, bland annat då deras basala behov inte blir tillgodosedda. Trots att många organisationer arbetar med interventioner riktade mot gatubarn ökar antalet varje år. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka och utforska vilka utmaningar OVC-programmet möter i arbetet med gatubarn, samt på vilket sätt dessa utmaningar hanteras i den dagliga verksamheten. En kvalitativ ansats har valts för att besvara studiens syfte, där observationer och intervjuer med personal har genomförts på OVC-programmet i Iringa, Tanzania. Resultatet visar att programmets mål, att reducera antalet gatubarn i Iringaregionen, i dagsläget är svårt att uttala sig om då det nyligen är implementerat. Dock visar programmets utvärdering på en positiv utveckling. I arbetet mot att nå målet ligger fokus främst på personalens bemötande gentemot barnen. Resultatet visar även att ett empowermentbaserat arbetssätt tillämpas i den dagliga verksamheten. Genom att kombinera kontroll och medbestämmande skapas möjligheten att hjälpa gatubarnen till ett autonomt liv. En av utmaningarna i arbetet är att denna kontroll begränsar barnens frihet som de upplever och värdesätter på gatan. Därmed är relationen mellan kontroll och medbestämmande viktig för att skapa en lyckad intervention.

This study aims to explore the dynamics behind the emergence and expansion of working street children since 1990s in Turkey and Romania, in the context of New Poverty. Poverty is not a new concept, it is a dynamic process, accommodating to new circumstances, its scope shrinking from time to time, but surviving ages. Children, on the other hand, are among the groups that are first and foremost affected from the course of poverty. Nevertheless, working street children is a new notion different from traditional forms of child labour driven with distinct dynamics. In this study, it is claimed that poverty is transformed in the course of globalization process and neo-liberal paradigm. It is also argued that the way children are affected from poverty changed in this process, leading to emergence of working street children. The main discussion of the study is about the connection between working street children and the concept of New Poverty. Turkey and Romania are countries whose political, economic, social and cultural characteristics involve differences at the expense of similarities / however, working street children have been a common problem that both countries have faced at the same period. Employing comparative historical methodology, the main research question is developed as why working street children emerged in similar time periods in Turkey and Romania, which are two quite different countries. After an introductory chapter, Chapter II aims to provide a theoretical framework in which transformation of poverty in general and transformation of child poverty in relation to this process leading to emergence of working street children will be discussed. The third chapter focuses on Turkey and the fourth chapter is on Romania / in both chapters the dynamics leading to emergence of working street children, the scope and dimension of the issue is explored. The fifth chapter is devoted to the comparison of Turkey and Romania in terms of working street children in the context of New Poverty. The conclusion chapter discusses the findings of the study in both countries and tries to locate them into the theoretical framework.

This study was designed to explore sexuality, parenthood, identity, and relationships among female and male youth living on the streets of Durban CBD. It sprung from my previous engagement on the street, which suggested the striking impact of gender on the lives of the youth. Much literature on children and youth living on the street ignore the gendered nature of street life, and this study filled the knowledge gap about gender constructions and gendered relationships on the street. Framed by critical theory, this study explored how constructions of masculinities and femininities are played out on the street and impact the youth’s relationships. It specifically focused on intersectionalities with socio-economic and other structures in understanding gender. Focus groups and individual interviews were conducted with 37 youth on the street, of which 17 were female. Approximately 50 focus group sessions and individual interviews were conducted. Due to drug use and lack of sleep, the concentration levels of the youth would vary a great deal, and the analysis is mainly based on approximately 25 of the focus groups sessions and interviews, which provided satisfactory depth. My extensive involvement on the street and the study’s embeddedness in practical, therapeutic, and conscientising social work ensured rich material. With the participants’ permission, the sessions were tape-recorded. The material was analysed according to critical discourse analysis. Four themes emerged during the analysis: Men as providers, violence, sex, and sexuality on the street; Girls’ violence and contestations of femininity and masculinity; Gang culture and constructions of masculinity; and Constructions of motherhood and fatherhood. Male provision was a major construction of masculinity among the youth on the street, greatly compromised by their socio-economic marginalisation. Consistent with international literature, poverty`s assault on masculinity was evident, and violence was a means to compensate for a wounded sense of masculinity and to establish male superiority. Girls’ sex work was a major gender role transgression, contesting hegemonic femininity, males’ control over women, and the provider role of boyfriends, and was violently opposed by the males living on the street. Girls worked hard to present themselves according to acceptable constructions of femininity, and framed their sex work according to the mandate of male provision, as caring relationships with wealthier men. Young mothers on the street struggled with the contradiction between constructions of motherhood and sex work. There was a demand for them to not give up custody of their children, yet the conditions of homelessness and the street made adequate caring impossible, and the mothers were almost inevitably doomed to condemnation and failure as ‘good’ women. Though male provision was a dominant construction of masculinity, it was not reflected in the actual lives of the youth on the street, and violence was by far the most important means to establish and confirm manliness. The significance given to violence was, in addition to the significant impact of poverty and consequent male vulnerability, framed by rules of the 26 gang. Conscientising work among the youth to reveal the real sources of their oppressions is called for, as well as practical and therapeutic work. Their lives reflect dominant structure in the larger society, and work towards egalitarian relations among genders in society overall as well as measures to transform the profound socio-economic inequality nationally and globally are called for. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu Natal, Durban, 2011.

The research has been part of a larger study on developing evaluative strategies for programmes on street children in KwaZulu Natal. This study focussed on harm reduction programmes with reference to violence and crime. The phenomenon of street children has been seen to be caused by various interactive factors relating to the individual, the family, community and the society as a whole. The research was guided by a Participatory Action Research (PAR) approach utilizing multiple data sources and multiple focus groups with street children and service providers. Street children were given the space to talk about their experiences and to identify indicators of successful programmes. Shelter workers who are child care workers discussed programmes presented at the shelter and their impact on protecting and preventing children from exposure to violence and crime. They also discussed indicators of success in their programmes. Children indicated that successful programmes were characterised by consistency, fairness, non- discrimination, and that they take into account that street children are children too and that they can make mistakes. On the other hand child care workers described successful programmes as contributing to change in the life of a child, through social skills, attitude of the child and child's ability to be reunited with his family. Programmes, which serve to protect street children from violence and crime should be monitored and evaluated so as to assess their effectiveness. Based on the findings of this study recommendations are made regarding the evaluation of programmes for street children. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2005.