This study which was conducted in a shelter for girl street children in KwaZuluNatal explored the programmes available to the girl street child and the current evaluation strategies for such programmes. The aim of the research was to provide insight into what criteria or indices children and service providers think should be used to evaluate the effectiveness of programmes for street children. Qualitative research methodology using a Participatory Action Research (PAR) approach guided the research and allowed for in-depth discussions with the children living in the shelters as well as the staff involved. The children were between 12-18 years of age. Data were obtained through separate multiple focus group sessions with children and staff at the shelter. Seven focus group sessions were held with the children and three focus group sessions were held with the staff at the shelter. The sessions were tape-recorded and then transcribed. The major findings of the study indicated that the children overall were enjoying their stay in the shelter. However, inconsistencies were identified between the experiences of the children and the work conducted by the staff members. Further, the findings of this study showed that programmes at the shelter being studied were evaluated, but the effectiveness of these evaluation strategies has been questioned. Emanating from the findings, recommendations have been made with regards to practice issues and programme evaluation. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2005.

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

This study focuses on the implementation of national intervention programs for street children in the province of Yogyakarta, Indonesia. A two-fold research methodology was employed, a combination of analyzing the pertinent documentation relating to policy and intervention programs along with interviews of key informants from government offices and non-governmental institutions. The current programs fail to address the root causes of the economic, political, and social barriers encountered by street children. National policies and programs are not intertwined with efforts of empowerment at the provincial and regional levels. To compound these deficiencies, adaptive strategies incorporating local culture, conditions, and needs are also absent in the planning and implementation of official programs. Alternative efforts are required to rectify the inadequacies endemic to current approaches for assisting street children. A number of recommendations are presented in this study, which take into consideration the complex problems presented by existing programs and suggest a rethinking and a redesign of contemporary methodologies in Indonesia.

This study describes the reasons why street children in Jakarta, Indonesia choose to leave a life on the street and the steps that are taken to exit the street successfully. Also described are the street entry process, life on the street, street disengagement, life after the street, and the role of service providers. Nine key informants (six former street children and three workers who work with homeless children) participated in in-depth interviews that revealed that troubled family life is the most common cause of street entry, and while street life offers much freedom and excitement it is also the source of great danger to street children, and street disengagement often takes a number of attempts before a “successful” exit is fully negotiated. Forming trusting relationships with street- based outreach workers and attending NGOs that emphasize love and care were highly influential in aiding with street exit. Also key to a successful exit over time is the development of new skills and knowledge, as well as a positive sense of self and an identity that is not connected to street involvement. / Graduate / 0630 / 0628 / brendenrbtaylor@gmail.com

This study is constructed upon narratives of fourteen young women, who have been working in prostitution since they were street children in central Lima, and acknowledges their stigmatization in the Peruvian society, and how they challenge their socially constructed position. By combining narrative method with an intersectional analysis I have, through a multi-layered loupe, interpreted the young women’s interpretation of themselves and their social world. I will bring forward how these young women view their subordinate and stigmatized position through their narratives surrounding their bodies as shameful, culpable, sexual and fixed. This stigmatization is intersectional as it surrounds all parts of their lives and situatedness within the Peruvian society. This situatedness is complex, involving hierarchical structures that have been present in Peru since colonization and imperialism (cf. Wade 2009). In addition, I will bring forward how the young women engage in strategies to challenge this stigmatization by applying measures to increase their respectability (cf. Skeggs).

Street children in Central America are largely denied protection of their human rights. They live in difficult situations of poverty, inappropriate work and neglect, and thus are not able to enjoy most of their rights and basic needs. / The international framework for children's human rights law, composed primarily of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the principles inherent to it, can be described as based on a doctrine of integral protection, a notion developed primarily by Central American legal scholars. At the same time, however, most Central American states ignore their obligations to conform their domestic legislation to these standards. / This thesis is meant to provide Central American countries with guidelines captured by a model referred to as UPPP2. Its main objective is for States to acknowledge that the plight of street children needs to be understood; prevented by adequate domestic legislation; and requires protection by effective implementation and provision of justice.

The phenomenon of street children is world-wide and on the increase despite numerous programs aiming at its eradication. The failure to adequately address this complex and very diverse phenomenon is the result of conceptual confusion with respect to defining who a street child is. The dominant discourse on street children defines them as victims or deviants to be rescued and rehabilitated. As such, the capacity of many of these children for human agency is occluded by excluding them from participation in the construction of solutions to their problems. I argue that, far from being mere victims and deviants, these kids, in running away from alienating structures and finding relative freedom in the street, often become autonomous and are capable of actively defining their situations in their own terms. They are able to challenge the roles assigned to children, make judgements and develop a network of niches in the heart of the metropolis in order to resist exclusion and chronic repression. I further argue that for research and action with street kids to be emancipatory, it is necessary to acknowledge and respect the human agency the kids display in changing their own lives and to capitalize on their voluntary participation in non-formal educational activities as well as in collective advocacy. / The thesis draws on a participatory action research (PAR) methodology spanning eight years of fieldwork with street kids in Cairo, which eclectically combined street ethnography, street work and action science. I critically review the historical development of these methodologies, and I argue for a conception of PAR as an open-ended process of action and reflective participatory research incorporated into everyday activities and work with excluded, marginalized and oppressed groups such as street kids. As such, I pay special attention to the ethical dilemmas that arise in day-to-day PAR practice.

Thesis (M.A.)--Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, 1997. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 124-126).

Thesis (M.A.)--Columbia International University, 2000. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 114-118).

abstract: In this dissertation I present data gathered from an eleven-month qualitative research study with adolescents living and working on the streets of Lima, Peru. Through the pairing of photovoice with participant observations, this work incorporates distinctive methodological and theoretical viewpoints in order to complicate prevailing understandings of street life. In this dissertation, I examine the identities that children and adolescents on the street develop in context, and the ways in which photography can be a useful tool in understanding identity development among this population. Through a framework integrating theories of identity and identity performance with spatial theories, I outline how identity development among children and adolescents living on the street is directly connected to their relationships with the urban landscape and the outreach organizations that serve them. The organizations and institutions that surround children on the street shape who they are, how they are perceived by society, and how they view and understand themselves in context. It is through the interaction with aid organizations and the urban landscape that a street identity is learned and developed. Furthermore, as organizations, children and adolescents come together within the context of the city, a unique street space is created. I argue that identity and agency are directly tied to this space. I also present the street as a thirdspace of possibility, where children and adolescents are able to act out various aspects of the self that they would be unable to pursue otherwise. Weaved throughout this dissertation are non-traditional writing forms including narrative and critical personal narrative addressing my own experiences conducting this research, my impact on the research context, and how I understand the data gathered. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Educational Leadership and Policy Studies 2011