Relational network of street children in Tanzania

Summary

These briefing papers report on the emerging findings and evidence from the Growing Up on the Streets research project. The research aims to highlight the complex lives and difficult choices experienced by young people living in poverty on the streets and informal settlements of African cities.

Gemma Pearson investigated the social and relational aspects of lives of street children in northern Tanzania for her PhD at Royal Holloway University.

The evidence, collected through this research, is intended to contribute to a better understanding of the conditions and consequences of growing up on the streets to inform the design and delivery of policies and services targeted at street children and youth.

The research is taking place over three years with young people aged 14-20 in the cities of Accra, Ghana; Bukavu, Democractice Republic of Congo; and Harare, Zimbabwe. In each city six young people have been trained in basic ethnographic methods to be research investigators – reporting on their own lives and experiences on the street and engaging with a group of 10 young people within their social network.