This research study employs explorative and descriptive qualitative research conducted in a naturalistic environment to identify factors that drive children from their homes to the streets of Bulawayo city suburban in Zimbabwe. The research study answers the question: How do children`s experiences drive them from their homes and why do they decide to live on the streets of Bulawayo city centre? Literature search was conducted after data collection to confirm findings. Data collection was conducted at Thuthuka Street Children`s project where an increase in the number of registered street children has been observed. Purposive sample selection of street children was conducted. Selection criteria was based on the participant being registered with Thuthuka Street Children`s Project, for one year being on and off the streets and volunteer to participate. Ethical consideration such as fairness justice and honest were observed. Soundness to establish trustworthiness rather than validity, the following alternative constructs were applied, credibility, transferability, dependability, conformability and authenticity. Focus group discussions using a guide with open-ended questions were conducted to collect data from 12 street children, which was then analysed by coding into themes, notably forms of abuse such as emotional, physical, and sexual and neglect, poverty, deviant behaviour and future plans. Children went onto the streets because they suffered abuse, and/or wanted freedom without parental dominance and to acquire fast riches in the streets. Based on the conclusions, the research makes recommendations from the participants and the researcher to policymakers, non-governmental organisations, parents and social workers, to address this deep-seated problem. / Health Studies / M.A. (Public Health)

In this study semi-structured, in-depth individual interviews were conducted with sixteen female street children aged 15 to 18, who were engaged in commercial sex work. These children were conveniently selected to explore the social dislocation of and social support for female street children engaged in commercial sex work. In addition, two focus group discussions consisting of nine female street children each, as well as seven key informant individual interviews, were conducted. This study found that female children engaged in commercial sex work experienced a high degree of social dislocation and that the children who participated in this study tended to create their own communities and isolated themselves from the broader community in which they lived. This study further found that different support programmes had been introduced to alleviate the problems experienced by these children and that a number of organisations delivered support services to address their needs. / Sociology / M. A. (Sociology)

In this study semi-structured, in-depth individual interviews were conducted with sixteen female street children aged 15 to 18, who were engaged in commercial sex work. These children were conveniently selected to explore the social dislocation of and social support for female street children engaged in commercial sex work. In addition, two focus group discussions consisting of nine female street children each, as well as seven key informant individual interviews, were conducted. This study found that female children engaged in commercial sex work experienced a high degree of social dislocation and that the children who participated in this study tended to create their own communities and isolated themselves from the broader community in which they lived. This study further found that different support programmes had been introduced to alleviate the problems experienced by these children and that a number of organisations delivered support services to address their needs. / Sociology / M. A. (Sociology)

This research study employs explorative and descriptive qualitative research conducted in a naturalistic environment to identify factors that drive children from their homes to the streets of Bulawayo city suburban in Zimbabwe. The research study answers the question: How do children`s experiences drive them from their homes and why do they decide to live on the streets of Bulawayo city centre? Literature search was conducted after data collection to confirm findings. Data collection was conducted at Thuthuka Street Children`s project where an increase in the number of registered street children has been observed. Purposive sample selection of street children was conducted. Selection criteria was based on the participant being registered with Thuthuka Street Children`s Project, for one year being on and off the streets and volunteer to participate. Ethical consideration such as fairness justice and honest were observed. Soundness to establish trustworthiness rather than validity, the following alternative constructs were applied, credibility, transferability, dependability, conformability and authenticity. Focus group discussions using a guide with open-ended questions were conducted to collect data from 12 street children, which was then analysed by coding into themes, notably forms of abuse such as emotional, physical, and sexual and neglect, poverty, deviant behaviour and future plans. Children went onto the streets because they suffered abuse, and/or wanted freedom without parental dominance and to acquire fast riches in the streets. Based on the conclusions, the research makes recommendations from the participants and the researcher to policymakers, non-governmental organisations, parents and social workers, to address this deep-seated problem. / Health Studies / M.A. (Public Health)

A qualitative study was undertaken to develop an understanding of the social welfare services rendered to street children and to ascertain how these social welfare services can be enhanced from the perspective of service providers employed by NGOs in Pretoria. An explorative, descriptive and contextual research design was utilised. The researcher used purposive and non-probability sampling methods to draw the sample. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect information from nine service providers working with street children. Data were analysed according to the framework provided by Tesch (in Creswell, 2009). Data was verified using Guba‘s model (in Krefting, 1991).The study highlights challenges faced by NGOs in providing social welfare services to street children. The study provides a critical analysis of some of the key social welfare service challenges that need to be addressed to ensure effective and sustainable delivery of social welfare services. how these social welfare services can be enhanced from the perspective of service providers employed by NGOs in Pretoria. An explorative, descriptive and contextual research design was utilised. The researcher used purposive and non-probability sampling methods to draw the sample. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect information from nine service providers working with street children. Data were analysed according to the framework provided by Tesch (in Creswell, 2009). Data was verified using Guba‘s model (in Krefting, 1991).The study highlights challenges faced by NGOs in providing social welfare services to street children. The study provides a critical analysis of some of the key social welfare service challenges that need to be addressed to ensure effective and sustainable delivery of social welfare services. the social welfare services rendered to street children and to ascertain how these social welfare services can be enhanced from the perspective of service providers employed by NGOs in Pretoria. An explorative, descriptive and contextual research design was utilised. The researcher used purposive and non-probability sampling methods to draw the sample. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect information from nine service providers working with street children. Data were analysed according to the framework provided by Tesch (in Creswell, 2009). Data was verified using Guba‘s model (in Krefting, 1991).The study highlights challenges faced by NGOs in providing social welfare services to street children. The study provides a critical analysis of some of the key social welfare service challenges that need to be addressed to ensure effective and sustainable delivery of social welfare services. / Social Work / MA (Social Work)

Thesis (MEdPsych)--Stellenbosch University, 2004. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This research journey explores the lived experiences of children who had previously been living on the street and were now part of a house being managed by two voluntary organisations. The caregivers and boys are incorporated as co-researchers in a participatory action research journey within a post-modern, social constructivist paradigm. The following research curiosities inform the study: • How do the caregivers and children in the house stand up to homelessness and poverty? • How do their stories reflect the notion of doing hope? Positioning myself within the research journey necessitates the discussion of beliefs and constructs that inform the paradigm, such as post-modernism, social constructionism, discourses and the deconstruction of discourses. According to Denzin and Lincoln (1994:14), the research strategy comprises the practical application of the assumptions underlying the paradigm through the use of certain skills, and can be regarded as the paradigm in action which provides the methods for the researcher to engage in the research journey. In this study, a qualitative method is used to describe and understand human behaviour and the meaning attached to it in the participant's own terms. The coresearchers participate during all the aspects of the research journey, and the cyclical nature of participatory action research described by Babbie and Mouton (2001:315- 316) is honoured. The narrative approach is used in conducting the conversations. According to White (1991:28), it is a non-recriminatory, power-sharing way of interaction that provides a context where the consciousness and knowledges of the person are at the centre of the process of consultation. An opportunity is created for the boys and caregivers to story their experiences and to explore the meanings that they attach to these experiences. The main ethical principles that operate are autonomy, nonmaleficence, beneficence and validity. Tape-recordings, transcriptions, reflections and letters are used to document the research journey. Homelessness and poverty had been dictating certain behaviours to the boys, and it was even dictating their lived identities. At the time of the research journey, the caregivers are creating a community of support that is effectively doing hope for the boys, thus enabling them to loosen the grip of poverty and homelessness. Personal reflections indicate that I as researcher am not unaffected by the research journey. Although obstacles present themselves during the research journey, new possibilities are opened up for further exploration. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie navorsingsreis ondersoek die ervarings van kinders wat voorheen op straat gewoon het en wie nou in 'n huis woon wat deur twee vrywillige organisasies bestuur word. Die versorgers en seuns word betrek as medenavorsers in 'n deelnemende aksienavorsingsreis binne die raamwerk van 'n postmodernistiese, sosiaal konstruktivistiese paradigma. Die studie word toegelig deur die volgende navorsings-ondersoeke: • Hoe weerstaan die versorgers en kinders in die huis die impak van woningloosheid en armoede? • Hoe reflekteer die stories wat hulle vertel die idee van 'hoop doen'? Ten einde myself binne die navorsingsreis te posisioneer noodsaak 'n bespreking van die oortuigings en samestellings onderliggend aan die paradigma, soos postmodernisme, sosiaal konstruktivisme, diskoerse en die dekonstruksie van diskoerse. Volgens Denzen en Lincoln (1994:14) behels die navorsingsstrategie die praktiese uitvoering van die opvattings onderliggend aan die paradigma deur die toepassing van sekere vaardighede. Die navorsingsstrategie kan beskou word as die paradigma in aksie deurdat dit die metodes vir die navorser verskaf om betrokke te raak by die navorsingsreis. 'n Kwalitatiewe metode word tydens hierdie studie gebruik om menslike gedrag te beskryf en te verstaan en om vas te stel watter betekenis die deelnemers self aan hulle belewenisse heg. Die medenavorsers neem deel aan alle aspekte van die navorsingsreis en die sikliese aard van deelnemende aksienavorsing soos beskryf deur Babbie en Mouton (2001:315-316) word gerespekteer. 'n Narratiewe benadering word tydens die gesprekke gebruik. Volgens White (1991:28) is die narratiewe benadering nie-blamerend en is daar 'n gelyke verdeling van mag. 'n Konteks word geskep waar die bewustelikhede en kennisse van die persoon sentraal geplaas word in die konsultasieproses. 'n Geleentheid word geskep vir die seuns en versorgers om hulle ervarings te vertel en om die betekenisse wat hulle aan die ervarings heg te eksploreer. Hoofsaaklik word outonomie, niekwaadwilligheid, goedgesindheid en geldigheid as etiese beginsels gerespekteer. Bandopnames, transkriberings, refleksies en briewe word gebruik om die navorsingsreis te dokumenteer. Woningloosheid en armoede het vantevore die gedrag van die seuns, sowel as die identiteite wat hulle uitgeleef het, voorgeskryf. Ten tye van die navorsingsreis is die versorgers besig om 'n gemeenskap van ondersteuning te skep wat effektief hoop doen vir die seuns en wat hulle in staat stel om die greep van woningloosheid en armoede te verbreek. Persoonlike refleksies dui aan dat ek as navorser nie onaangeraak gelaat word deur die navorsingsreis nie. Struikelblokke verskyn tydens die navorsingsreis, maar nuwe moontlikhede baan die weg vir verdere eksplorasie.

M.A. / The street child phenomenon is a world-wide phenomenon. However ; it is perceived to be most prominent in third world countries as compared to first world countries. The main issue is that children are forced to leave the comfort or discomfort of their homes to live on the street. This results from a number of factors. According to Schurink and Tiba in Schurink (1993:10), an extensive literature study revealed the following key factors: rapid urbanization, high rates of unemployment, poverty, inadequate housing, maladjustment to family disintegration. According to Maphatane (1993:1), today's children and youngsters face many problems and pressures arising from the changing structure of the family and the community and the breaking down of traditional systems of support and preparations for adult life. The emergence of the street child phenomenon results from poor soci-economic and political conditions. For instance according to Agnelli , as cited by Schurink (1993:13), the roots of the present clay street child phenomenon seem to lie in the historical context of economic conditions and in national and international policies accepted by various countries.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-29T13:31:08Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 MariaSilviaGomesNogueira.pdf: 956384 bytes, checksum: 5f87791f2222744460c67e4fa01a59c1 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2005-11-25 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / This research firstly introduced problems associated with social interventions that concerned the street children. The situation of exclusion this population undergoes took us to consider the different social actors that interfere into this reality. As a second step, we focused on the practices held by Non-Governamental Organizations (NGOs) founded during the 1990s, as we heard their professionals. Therefore we unveiled the meanings suggested by the term NGO, considering both the speeches and proposals which regarded the children and the Young. Nowadays the term NGO doens t reveal much about these organizations. It sounds confusing and ambiguous. There are many institutions which call themselves non-governamental. Not only do they hold different proposals, but they also sound controversial. As the NGOs settle themselves as legal institutions, they maintain partnership policies with the Estate and/or private enterprises. Some NGOs focus their work on counselling popular movements; some others enact the profile of business philanthropy, as they join the social context aligned with the neoliberal project under the logic of capitalism to the detriment of a political background. As we attempt for the consistency between the speeches and practices held by the NGOs conjoined to enterprises, we notice the unveiling of a self-centered model of knowledge management. There is a need for controlling knowledge and it forbides the flowing of ideas, the freedom of thought in its creative and dialectic flux. The attempt for controlling knowledge imposes a limit for understanding the contradictions and complexities upraised from social relations. As a result, the professionals suffer, the projects drawn for the benefit of the Young keep them further and further from the institutions. As some enterprises and NGOs incorporate the socialist speech, they disregard history and delimit the speech into a franchise of concepts. Hence, critics are expressed into a homogeneous shape and loses conherence between the institutional practices and its proposals / Esta pesquisa apresentou como ponto de partida questões concernentes às intervenções sociais realizadas com meninos e meninas que vivem em situação de rua. A situação de exclusão vivenciada por esta população, levou-nos a refletir sobre os diferentes atores sociais que interferem nesta dinâmica. Dentre eles, atentamo-nos às práticas das Organizações Não Governamentais (ONGs) fundadas a partir de 1990. Transitamos pelo significado de ONG, seu discurso e propostas junto às crianças e jovens, a partir do olhar de seus profissionais. Atualmente a sigla ONG pouco revela, recheia-se de ambigüidade. São inúmeras as instituições que se auto-intitulam não governamentais, apresentado propostas muito diversas e, inclusive, antagônicas. Ao se instituírem como personalidade jurídica, as ONGs adotam uma política de parcerias com o Estado e/ou empresas do setor privado lucrativo. Algumas delas procuram desenvolver um trabalho de assessoria junto aos movimentos populares; outras desenvolvem um perfil de filantropia empresarial e se integram no bojo das relações sociais alinhadas com a proposta neoliberal de reestruturação do capitalismo, em detrimento da formação política. Ao procurarmos compreender a consistência entre o discurso e a prática destas ONGs - aqui chamadas de ONGs empresariais - percebemos seu entretecimento a partir de um modelo fechado de gestão do conhecimento. Procura-se controlar e gerir o conhecimento, impedindo-se o livre fluxo das idéias, a razão livre, o pensamento criador e dialético. A tentativa de controle do conhecimento limita o entendimento das contradições e complexidades da realidade social, resultando em atitudes que geram o distanciamento do jovem e causando sofrimento para o profissional. As empresas e ONGs empresariais incorporam o discurso socialista destituindo-lhe a história, limitando-o a uma franquia de conceitos. Assim a crítica se uniformiza, torna-se homogênea perdendo-se entre a falácia e as ações institucionais

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-25T20:22:27Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Helena Mendes da Silva.pdf: 3164112 bytes, checksum: 4c39a9304ec91986d16efd74a4343e82 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-10-01 / Fundação Porticus / This is a study about solidarity relationship between corner street children and young people of the city of Fortaleza, Ceará. The purpose of this research has been the study of the significance of this relationship as a network in process in order to resist and a mechanism to survive on the street. The present study has been done in the context of the city of Fortaleza, Ceará, adopting the perspective of the fragility provoked among young people by modernity. The theory of Bauman points out the solidarity as the main factor of de-construction of life in the reality into life in virtual world . In this latter world, the persons are connected without, however, involving themselves into effective meeting. The corner street life seems to be opposed to this perspective, because corner street children and young of street need one another, since, in the middle of such uncertainty and insecurity as the world of street, a community life is growing between them, built from their common physical spaces (a place or a no man s land, that they will name as their big home ). Corner street children and young are experiencing the fusion between private and collective life; they expose their privacy and are molded by this collectivity in order to define their own space. In this game, they hide their identity of outlaws and create own codes which work as a bridge to the socially accepted world. Inside these children and young people, street is building a perspective of life which is at the same time fragmented, fragile and vulnerable. However, it is clear that the passengers of this trip never lost the single luggage which remained theirs: their capacity to dream remains a reality / Neste trabalho dissertativo em que se investigou as crianças e jovens moradores de rua na cidade de Fortaleza Ceará, o foco foi voltado a percebecer as relações de solidariedade que se estabelecem, enquanto rede de resistência e que se constrói como mecanismo de sobrevivência para a vida na rua entre os sujeitos citados. O presente estudo foi realizado no contexto da cidade de Fortaleza Ceará numa perspectiva de fragilidades que lhes imprime a modernidade. No modo de pensar de Baumam a teoria da Solidariedade apontada pelo projeto de modernidade é o principal indicador que desarticula a vida na realidade concreta para dar espaço a uma vida que se organiza no mundo virtual. Nela, as pessoas se relacionam sem, no entanto, comprometer-se com encontros efetivos. A vida na rua parece contrariar essa perspectiva da modernidade, pois as Crianças e Jovens de rua precisam uns dos outros, uma vez que, em meio à incerteza e insegurança da rua, fortifica-se entre eles a vida de uma comunidade criada em espaços físicos comuns: uma Praça ou até mesmo um terreno desocupado, denominado por eles como um Casarão. As crianças e jovens na rua sofrem a fusão de uma vida privada e coletiva; expõem sua privacidade e se moldam por essa coletividade para demarcar seu espaço próprio. Nesse jogo, escondem sua identidade da contravenção e criam códigos que lhes possibilitem uma passagem para o mundo socialmente aceito. A rua vai formando nessas crianças e jovens uma perspectiva de vida fragmentada, fragilizada e vulnerável. Entretanto, nota-se que os passageiros dessa viagem não perderam na totalidade a pouca bagagem que ainda lhes restam: a capacidade de sonhar é uma realidade

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T14:57:16Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Helena Mendes da Silva.pdf: 3164112 bytes, checksum: 4c39a9304ec91986d16efd74a4343e82 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-10-01 / Fundação Porticus / This is a study about solidarity relationship between corner street children and young people of the city of Fortaleza, Ceará. The purpose of this research has been the study of the significance of this relationship as a network in process in order to resist and a mechanism to survive on the street. The present study has been done in the context of the city of Fortaleza, Ceará, adopting the perspective of the fragility provoked among young people by modernity. The theory of Bauman points out the solidarity as the main factor of de-construction of life in the reality into life in virtual world . In this latter world, the persons are connected without, however, involving themselves into effective meeting. The corner street life seems to be opposed to this perspective, because corner street children and young of street need one another, since, in the middle of such uncertainty and insecurity as the world of street, a community life is growing between them, built from their common physical spaces (a place or a no man s land, that they will name as their big home ). Corner street children and young are experiencing the fusion between private and collective life; they expose their privacy and are molded by this collectivity in order to define their own space. In this game, they hide their identity of outlaws and create own codes which work as a bridge to the socially accepted world. Inside these children and young people, street is building a perspective of life which is at the same time fragmented, fragile and vulnerable. However, it is clear that the passengers of this trip never lost the single luggage which remained theirs: their capacity to dream remains a reality / Neste trabalho dissertativo em que se investigou as crianças e jovens moradores de rua na cidade de Fortaleza Ceará, o foco foi voltado a percebecer as relações de solidariedade que se estabelecem, enquanto rede de resistência e que se constrói como mecanismo de sobrevivência para a vida na rua entre os sujeitos citados. O presente estudo foi realizado no contexto da cidade de Fortaleza Ceará numa perspectiva de fragilidades que lhes imprime a modernidade. No modo de pensar de Baumam a teoria da Solidariedade apontada pelo projeto de modernidade é o principal indicador que desarticula a vida na realidade concreta para dar espaço a uma vida que se organiza no mundo virtual. Nela, as pessoas se relacionam sem, no entanto, comprometer-se com encontros efetivos. A vida na rua parece contrariar essa perspectiva da modernidade, pois as Crianças e Jovens de rua precisam uns dos outros, uma vez que, em meio à incerteza e insegurança da rua, fortifica-se entre eles a vida de uma comunidade criada em espaços físicos comuns: uma Praça ou até mesmo um terreno desocupado, denominado por eles como um Casarão. As crianças e jovens na rua sofrem a fusão de uma vida privada e coletiva; expõem sua privacidade e se moldam por essa coletividade para demarcar seu espaço próprio. Nesse jogo, escondem sua identidade da contravenção e criam códigos que lhes possibilitem uma passagem para o mundo socialmente aceito. A rua vai formando nessas crianças e jovens uma perspectiva de vida fragmentada, fragilizada e vulnerável. Entretanto, nota-se que os passageiros dessa viagem não perderam na totalidade a pouca bagagem que ainda lhes restam: a capacidade de sonhar é uma realidade