Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Children Living on the Street: Current Efforts in Policy Research and Practice in Ghana

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Child Behavioral Health in Sub-Saharan Africa

  • 267 Accesses

Abstract

According to the United Nations, there are more than 150 million street children in the world today (equivalent to about 46% of the total population in the United States). In the Greater Accra region of Ghana alone, nearly 61,492 persons under 18 years are working on the streets. A significant proportion (65%) of these people live on the streets. Children living on the street lag behind in child development and must be deliberately targeted by national policies towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) commitment to leave no one behind. This chapter explores the existing efforts targeted towards addressing the situation of children living on the street. These efforts have primarily been made by non-governmental organisations (NGOs) with or without governmental support. Adopting a qualitative study that employed in-depth interviews, I purposively selected and mapped 15 institutions that work with children living on the streets of Accra and Kumasi. The mapping was conducted to examine existing interventions and services, who is in charge and how they are provided to street children. Both international and national level frameworks informed the data analysis, specifically the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the SDGs, Ghana’s 1998 Children’s Act (Act 560) and the child and family welfare policy (2015). The study found that there is no common platform that brings these institutions together to leverage their unique strengths to advocate for comprehensive/multisectoral government policy. Forging of multilevel and multifunctional partnerships in line with SDG 17 to achieve both their common and unique goals is recommended.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
eBook
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 99.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Ablo, A. D. (2018). Scale, local content and the challenges of Ghanaians employment in the oil and gas industry. Geoforum, 96, 181–189.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Agarwal, S., Attah, M., Apt, N., Grieco, M., Kwakye, E. A., & Turner, J. (1997). Bearing the weight: The kayayoo, Ghana’s working girl child. International Social Work, 40(3), 245–263.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Amantana, V. (2012). A sociological study of street children in Ghana: Victims of kinship breakdown and rural-urban migration. Edwin Mellen Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Anarfi, J. (1997). Vulnerability to sexually transmitted disease: Street children in Accra. Health Transition Review, 7, 281–306.

    Google Scholar 

  • Awumbila, M., & Ardayfio-Schandorf, E. (2008). Gendered poverty, migration and livelihood strategies of female porters in Accra, Ghana. Norwegian Journal of Geography, 62(3), 171–179.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boakye-Boaten, A. (2008). Street children: Experiences from the streets of Accra. Research Journal of International Studies, 8, 76–84.

    Google Scholar 

  • Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bryman, A. (2012). Social research methods (4th ed.). Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Conticini, A., & Hulme, D. (2006). Escaping violence, seeking freedom: Why children in Bangladesh migrate to the street. Development and Change, 38, 201–227. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7660.2007.00409.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dabir, N., & Athale, N. (2011). From street to Hope: Faith based and secular programs in Los Angeles, Mumbai and Nairobi for street living children. Sage Publication.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Davou, J., Yu-sha’u, A. A., Philip, T., & Taru, M. (2019). Street children: Implication on mental health and the future of West Africa. Psychology, 10, 667–681. https://doi.org/10.4236/psych.2019.105041

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Debrito, A. (2014). Street children and the implementation of child protection regulations: comparing Brazil and South Africa. Master thesis, Linnaeus University, Faculty of Social Sciences. Retrieved 2016-01-07 from http://lnu.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:748332/FULLTEXT01.pdf.

  • De-Graft, A. A., & Ofori-Atta, A. (2007). Homelessness and mental health in Ghana: Study everyday experiences of Accra’s migrant squatters. Journal of Health Psychology, 12(5), 761–778.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Department of Social Welfare (2011). Census on street children in the Greater Accra region, Ghana. Accra.

    Google Scholar 

  • Desai, V., & Potter, R. B. (2014). Doing development research. Sage Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ennew, J. (1994). Street and working children: A guide to planning (development manual for save the children). AbeBooks.

    Google Scholar 

  • James, A., & Prout, A. (1997). Constructing and reconstructing childhood (2nd ed.). Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kassa, S. (2018). The situation of street children in urban centers of Ethiopia and the role of NGO in addressing their socio-economic problems: The case of Hawassa City. International Journal of Academic Research in Education and Review, 3(3), 45–57. https://doi.org/10.14662/IJARER2015.012

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kwankye, S. O., & Addoquaye Tagoe, C. (2009). City life outside the home: the experiences of independent child migrants in Ghana. In J. K. Anarfi & S. O. Kwankye (Eds.), Independent migration of children in Ghana (pp. 132–170). Institute of Statistical Social and Economic Research.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kwankye, S. O., Anarfi, J., Addoquaye, T., & C. Castaldo A. (2009). Independent north-south child migration in Ghana: The decision-making process among Accra’s street children. Childhood, 17(4), 441–454.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection. (2015). Child and Family Welfare Policy. Accra.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mizen, P., & Ofosu-Kusi, Y. (2010). Asking, giving, receiving: Friendship as survival strategy of trajectory and behavioural experiences of homelessness. Global Social Welfare, 17(4), 441–454. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40609-015-0039-8

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mizen, P., & Ofosu-Kusi, Y. (2013). Agency as vulnerability: Accounting for children’s movement to the streets of Accra. The Sociological Review, 61, 363–382. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-954X.12021

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mokomane, Z., & Makoae, M. (2015). An overview of programmes offered by shelters for street children in South Africa. Child and Family Social Work, 22(1), 378–387. https://doi.org/10.1111/cfs.12251

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Niboye, E. P. (2013). Effectiveness of non-governmental organizations in the rehabilitation of street children – experiences from selected NGOs in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Journal of Education and Practice, 4(1), 2013.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ofosu-Kusi, Y. (2017). Children’s agency and development in African societies. African Books Collective.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • OHCHR. (n.d.) Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human rights on the protection of the rights of children working and/or living on the street, OHCHR, Geneva https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Children/Study/OHCHRBrochureStreetChildren.pdf

  • Oppong, A. K. (2015). Street children and adolescents in Ghana: a qualitative study of trajectory and behavioural experiences of homelessness. Global Social Welfare, 3, 33–43. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40609-015-0039-8

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oppong Asante, K., & Meyer-Weitz, A. (2015). International note: Association between perceived resilience and health risk behaviours in homeless youth. Journal of Adolescence, 39, 36–39.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oppong Asante, K., & Meyer-Weitz, A. (2017). Prevalence and predictors of suicide ideation and attempts among a sample of homeless children and adolescents in Ghana. Journal of Child & Adolescent Mental Health, 29(1), 111. https://doi.org/10.2989/17280583.2017.1287708

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Patel, S. (1990). Street children, hotel boys, children of pavement dwellers and construction workers in Bombay – How they meet their daily needs. Society for the Promotion of Area Resource Centres (SPARC).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Thomas de Benitez, S. (2011). State of the world’s street children. Consortium for street children Retrieved from https://www.streetchildren.org/wpcontent/uploads/2013/02/State_of_the_Worlds_Street_Children_Research_final_PDF_online.pdf

  • Ungruhe, C. (2019). Beyond Agency’s limits. “Street Children’s” Mobilities in southern Ghana. Cadernos de Estudos Africanos 37.

    Google Scholar 

  • van Blerk, L. (2012). Berg-en-see street boys: Merging street and family relations in Cape Town, South Africa. Children’s Geographies, 10(3), 321–336. https://doi.org/10.1080/14733285.2012.693381

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Veeran, V. (2004). Working with street children: A child-centred approach. Child Care in Practice, 10(4), 359–366.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Young, L. (2003). Journeys to the street: The complex migration geographies of Ugandan street children. Geoforum, 35(4), 471–478.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Social Policy Studies, College of Humanities, University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana

    Ernestina Korleki Dankyi

Authors
  1. Ernestina Korleki Dankyi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ernestina Korleki Dankyi .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Brown School, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA

    Fred M. Ssewamala

  2. Brown School, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA

    Ozge Sensoy Bahar

  3. Brown School, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA

    Mary M. McKay

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2022 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Dankyi, E.K. (2022). Children Living on the Street: Current Efforts in Policy Research and Practice in Ghana. In: Ssewamala, F.M., Sensoy Bahar, O., McKay, M.M. (eds) Child Behavioral Health in Sub-Saharan Africa. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-83707-5_14

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-83707-5_14

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-83706-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-83707-5

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation