Hindawi Publishing Corporation

Child Development Research

Volume 2016, Article ID 3582101, 13 pages
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2016/3582101

Review Article
Livelihood of Street Children and the Role of Social
Intervention: Insights from Literature Using Meta-Analysis

Habtamu Wandimu Alem and Arindam Laha

Department of Commerce, The University of Burdwan, Burdwan, India

Correspondence should be addressed to Arindam Laha; arindamlaha2004@yahoo.co.in

Received 15 April 2016; Revised 19 July 2016; Accepted 3 August 2016

Academic Editor: Randal X. Moldrich

Copyright © 2016 H. W. Alem and A. Laha. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution
License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly
cited.

As studies done by different scholars indicate that the present status of street children is remarkably insightful, this invites us
to systematically review the existing literature by using meta-analysis. In this paper 31 studies were reviewed by applying a
predetermined set of inclusion and exclusion criteria as part of meta-analysis. These studies were compiled mainly from three
continents (Africa, Asia, and Latin America), which are often observed to be diversified economically, politically, socially, and
environmentally. Empirical evidences based on data generated from reviewed studies provide a holistic picture on the predominance
of male street children among a total sample size of 68014 street children. Working as a daily labourer is considered as the most
predominant informal occupation for street children. Empirical evidences suggest that majority of street dwellers were categorized
into children working on the street in Africa, while in Asia a sizable proportion of them were abandoned from their house.
Interestingly, it suggests that children coming to a street may be due to push factors like coercion by family, lack of access to
education, and the existence of displeasing life in Africa, while in Asia children were pushed by family to beg and act as a day
labourer and street vendor to assure the livelihood of their abandoned families. Statistical evidence based on odds ratio suggested
no association between location of the study region and the characteristics of street children. Analysis of variance results showed
that there exists a significant variation within a continent for all four variables (living condition, education, gender, and livelihood
strategies). In fact, daily labour was the most acceptable means of livelihood earning and it is followed by street vendor and others.
The present condition of street children necessitates social intervention to address the present problems of street dwellers by
ensuring sustainable livelihood options among them.

1. Introduction problem are originated, by and large, in the rural villages.

The enormous problems faced by the street children in the
last several years were stated by different scholars in different
times and topic of diverse philosophy [1, 2]. The problems are
widely dispersed (psychological, physical, and sexual abuses),
but for several years they were not in societies’ programme
[3]. They are excluded from economic, social, and political
process. However, only few institutions are involving in
helping them to sustain their livelihood. This may lead the
future of hopeful children as well as the coming generation to
uncontrollable bad habits, which have an impact on political
(peace), social (norms, culture), and economy (on GDP,
GNP) conditions of these countries.
Even though the problem of street children is understood
as an urban phenomenon, the factors exacerbating the
Rural-urban migration to urban towns across the countries
of the world (a brief overview of migration of children has
been documented in a report prepared by Whitehead and
Hashim [4]) is not dominated by a single factor but caused by
a combination of multiple interrelated push and pull factors
[5, 6]. It is usually in response to the deterioration of the
living conditions in rural villages. Most of these children are
compelled to work or live on the street in order to sus-
tain themselves and their families. For many of them, the
perceptions that larger towns offer greater economic oppor-
tunities make the street a more attractive destination com-
pared to a poverty stricken rural economy [7]. However, the
life waiting in the city is often difficult. They often do not
have education and basic skills necessary to deal with the risk
factors and cope with adversity. In this context, it is expected
2 Child Development Research

Outcomes
(i) Job related outcomes
(ii) Service related outcomes
(iii) Health related outcomes

Social intervention

Street children

Push factors Pull factors

(i) Poverty (i) Search for independence
(ii) Family disintegration (ii) Urbanization (attractions of
the cities, peer influences, etc.)
(iii) Violence at home

Other factors
(i) Environmental (drought, flood,
land degradation)
(ii) Social outlook (early marriage,
load of activities)
(iii) Health (HIV, chronic disease,
disability)
(iv) Access to education

Figure 1: Conceptual framework on the problems of street children and the role of social intervention.

that social intervention by the government or nongovern-
ment organizations would address the problem of livelihood
opportunities of the street children.
It is well known that the NGOs in every sphere of the
world seek to provide a reasonable solution for the economic,
social, and environmental problems of the societies and
thereby try to fulfil the gap that could not be served by local
government or state. Tracing back to the historical impor-
tance of NGOs, Epstein [8] found that the origins of NGOs
were northern and southern part of USA. The northern
NGOs were established after the end of First World War
and at the begging of Second World War they extended
their scopes throughout the world. de Benitez [9] illustrated
the role of NGO Committee on UNICEF (the committee
comprises a worldwide network of 125 international NGOs
working on behalf of children in more than 110 countries
of the world) in providing basic needs of street children
throughout the world. While evaluating “broad based initia-
tive” implemented by UNICEF for destitute children, it was
found that this programme encourages children to achieve
their primary school education, endorses physical and psy-
chological development of children, protects against endemic
and chronic disease, and last of all serves children to have
a positive impact on their life. Besides these international
organizations, some other local organizations are also work-
ing for the interest of street children in different countries
of the world [3, 10]. A social intervention group in Mexico,
EDNICA, is working not only for providing them with basic
needs but also for imparting different training and economic
support to street children [10]. In a similar intervention in
Ethiopia, NGOs in cooperation with the Bureau of Labour
and Social Affairs address the socioeconomic problems of
street children in Hawassa City of Ethiopia [3]. Even though
empirical results suggested that majority of children were
excluded from the purview of NGOs working in the area,
but it has been expected that these organizations can promote
the welfare of disadvantaged children by planning, financing,
managing, and providing advice and counselling services.
The majorities of these programmes were designed on the
basis of the principle of “curative approach” in short run and
thereby neglect “preventive approach” based on long term
solution. Under this backdrop, this paper uses meta-analysis
to explore the livelihood options available to the street
children and the role of social intervention in protecting their
livelihood opportunities across countries of the world.
2. Conceptual Framework
In this twenty-first century, it is well known that the street
children are facing a lot of physical and mental problems
throughout the world. In this context, it is desirable to design
an appropriate road map to address such problems. The con-
ceptual frame work is designed to identify the causes of the
problems of street children and the role of social enterprise
intervention in overcoming such problems (Figure 1).
Several causes of becoming street children, such as the
interplay of push and pull factors (environmental, social, and
health factors) and the lack of educational access, have been
identified in the existing literature [3, 24, 34]. Social inter-
ventions are expected to promote wellbeing of the children
through job skills, service linkages to local resources, income
generating activities, and engagement. Unlike the earlier
outreach model, this alternative model of social intervention
has certain far-reaching implications, namely, socioeconomic
(increased employment, income, savings, job skills, service
utilization, housing stability, and social and labour networks)
and physical or mental health related outcomes (increased
self-esteem, motivation, and quality of life and decreased high
risk behaviours) [46].
Child Development Research
Articles and journals assembled
− studies were in the context of southern part of Asia; 3 studies
(n = 158)
Reason of exclusion
Redundancy = 19
Qualitative = 42
Language = 10
Articles and journals screened
(n = 87) − exclusively based on social intervention. Thus altogether we
Reason of exclusion
Age = 22
Potential articles and journals (n = 65)
−
Reason of exclusion
Accuracy of data = 9
Final papers under consideration Only 1&2 variable/s = 25
(n = 31)
Figure 2: The flow diagram on selection of studies for meta-analysis.
3. Materials and Methods
3.1. Collection of Data. In this paper, a systematic attempt has
been made to review the existing empirical literature from
countries of Africa, Asia, and Latin America through the lens
of meta-analysis. The search was done as follows. Scholarly
written published documents in English were searched from
Google Scholar and archive (like JSTOR) during September
2015–December 2015. During the searching time, phrases
like “street children”; “homeless children”; “children on, of,
abandoned on the street”; and “social intervention” were
commonly used.
In the process of executing meta-analysis as presented
in Figure 2, the study collected altogether 158 documents on
street children. Inclusion and exclusion of studies were per-
formed on the basis of some predetermined criterion in the
studies: (i) age of the children being below 24; (ii) appropriate
representation of sample size, which provides information
on gender composition, educational background, livelihood
sources, type of street stay, and average age; (iii) the studies
written and published in English language; (iv) the study
providing amenable data; and (v) the study employing quan-
titative or mixed research method.
Then from 158 collected documents, in the first step 19
studies were excluded due to redundancy, 42 articles because
of having qualitative nature only, and 10 articles due to
being written in regional languages. Finally 87 articles were
screened. But still there was also vagueness in defining the
age of street children in 22 studies and ultimately 65 potential
articles were identified. By applying other exclusion criterion,
34 studies were further excluded: 9 studies were excluded
due to lack of data accuracy and 25 of them do not have
the required variables. Finally 31 studies were considered for
our study on this meta-analysis. The data compiled from
31 articles were written in the context of three different
continents (Asia, Africa, and Latin America) of the world.
Among 31 articles, a majority of 18 studies explored the
situation of street children and their problems of livelihood in
3
the context of east, south, and western portions of Africa; 10
were from the southern part of America.
In the selected list of 31 articles, three articles dealt with
the role of social intervention in addressing the problems of
street children. To provide a meaningful analysis on social
intervention, we have collected eight new studies, which are
have eleven studies to explore the role of social intervention
in addressing the problems of street children.
3.2. Data Analysis. Historically meta-analysis was known
and applied in health studies. But nowadays it is being famil-
iar in many fields in social sciences like economics and busi-
ness, as well. In this paper we have used meta-analysis, which
is considered as the application of a set of statistical tools
and a process used to combine the results of different studies
[47, 48]. The following statistical tools have been employed
to examine cross-country variations in the salient character-
istics of the street children.
Odds Ratio and Funnel Plot. In a systematically review process
using meta-analysis, we are often familiar with odds ratio
(OR) and its diagrammatic presentation, funnel plot, to
measure the association between two nominal variables. In
our study we have defined odds ratio as follows:
Odds ratio = Odds of street children characteristics
for Group I (say, Africa)/Odds of street children
characteristics for Group II (say, Rest of the world).
The confidence interval of the odds ratio has been
calculated by following the same procedure as that used in
the confidence interval for a population mean or population
proportion, that is, Point estimate (ln(OR) in original scale)
± Margin of errors, where Margin of error = Critical value of
the statistic (standard normal distribution at 95% confidence
interval, i.e., 1.96) ∗ Standard error.
In order to calculate ln(OR), we have converted ln(OR)
value measured in the natural log scale into original scale by
using exponential function. If the 95% confidence interval
for the OR does not contain 1.0, then it can be concluded
that there is a statistically significant association between the
characteristics of street children and the location of the study
area (i.e., continent).
Funnel plot is carried out to test the presence of publica-
tion bias by considering confidence interval of the odds ratio.
It usually represents confidence interval of the odds ratio on
the horizontal axis and category variable chosen from review
studies on vertical axis.
Analysis of Variation (ANOVA). ANOVA is one such sta-
tistical tool used to partition the total variation present in
the sample data (collected from different studies across three
continents) into a number of components associated with
the nature of classification of data. For simplicity, we have
classified sample data from different studies into two broad
categories: the studies relating to Africa and the studies
relating to rest of the world. In fact, data arising from a series
of 𝑘 independent studies are divided into 𝑝 disjoint groups
4 Child Development Research

(here two groups: Africa and rest of the world, i.e., 𝑝 = 2) on 4. Results and Discussion
the basis of predefined independent studies in Africa and rest
of the world. The number of estimates on the characteristics 4.1. Demographic Characteristics. Altogether, our ultimate
of street children in the groups is denoted by 𝑚𝑖 , where 𝑖 = sample of 31 studies exposed the presence of 68014 street chil-
1, 2, . . . , 𝑝. An estimate calculated from each study is denoted dren in three different continents. Table 1 briefly presented
by 𝑋𝑖𝑗 with variance V𝑖𝑗 . The group mean effect estimate for the demographic profile of the street children. It has been
seen that 71.84 percent (48863) of them were boys and the
the 𝑖th group (𝑋𝑖0 ) can be written by remaining 28.16 percent (19151) were girls in the composition
𝑚 of street dwellers. In this composition a less percentage of
∑𝑗=1
𝑖
𝑤𝑖𝑗 𝑋𝑖𝑗 young women were observed. This may be the reflection of
𝑋𝑖0 = 𝑚 , (1)
∑𝑗=1
𝑖
𝑤𝑖𝑗 the nonresponse bias of the hidden nature of street girls’
activity for sustaining livelihood in the street [3].
where the weight 𝑤𝑖𝑗 is the reciprocal of the variance of 𝑋𝑖𝑗 ; In regard to the educational background of children, no
that is, variation across continents (specially in Africa and Asia)
was noted. The reason for high record of poor educational
1 background of the street children was that they often got
𝑤𝑖𝑗 = . (2)
V𝑖𝑗 used to the street life in their early years of life [35]. In
Africa among 25755 children in the sample size studied, 23.28
In most of the underlying studies, variance is not percent of them were illiterate and the residual 50.65 percent
reported. As an alternative, we have started with our analysis were literate. And we observed 27.37 percentage gap in the
by considering equal weight to all studies under consider- literacy level of the street dwellers in Africa. A similar gap in
ation. Then the paper assigned weights to the studies. In literacy (26.02) was revealed in Asia. But studies surveyed in
this analysis, we have conveniently replaced the unknown Latin America exhibited the lowest gap in literacy level (6.73).
variance by the estimated variance, which is a function of This gap in literacy specially in Latin America necessitates a
the within-study sample size and the effect size estimate. social intervention in promoting education status of the street
However, we have carried out the analysis by considering children; otherwise the problem of illiteracy may drastically
both equal and unequal variances. increase in the future.
The grand mean is given by
𝑝 𝑚 4.2. Classification of Street Children and Living Condition.
∑𝑖=1 ∑𝑗=1
𝑖
𝑤𝑖𝑗 𝑋𝑖𝑗
𝑋00 = 𝑝 𝑚 . (3) Following UNICEF classification, street children can be
∑𝑖=1 ∑𝑗=1
𝑖
𝑤𝑖𝑗 categorized into children working on the street (on the street),
children living on the street (of the street), and children from
To test that there is no variation of the population street families (abandoned) [49]. Accordingly data collected
estimates on the characteristics of street children within the from reviewed literature as shown in Table 2 showed that,
groups of studies in a continent, we have used 𝑄 test statistic. out of 25755 street children in Africa, 37.55 percent of them
The calculated value of 𝑄 test statistic within a group is given work daytime on the street and return to their home in the
by evening; 11.10 percent were living on the street on a whole
time basis. The number of abandoned children was extremely
𝑝 𝑚𝑖
2 low. Among those children living on the street, 38.15 percent
𝑄𝑤 = ∑ ∑ 𝑤𝑖𝑗 (𝑋𝑖𝑗 − 𝑋𝑖0 ) . (4) live with their family and 11.96 percent live alone or with their
𝑖=1 𝑗=1
friends.
Under the null hypothesis of no variation of the popula- Ten selected studies on Asia indicated that a majority 60
percent of street children (out of 41650 street children) were
tion estimates, 𝑄𝑤 test follows 𝜒2 distribution with (𝑚𝑖 − 𝑝)
living on the street with their family. Unlike other continents,
degrees of freedom.
Asian studies showed that parents in low economic status
Similarly we have carried out a test on the variation
migrated to urban street corners with their children [1, 32]
between groups, that is, variation on the characteristics of
and thereby faced several challenges on street due to unsafe
street children between continents. The test statistic 𝑄𝑏 is
environment in which they live [36, 50]. Due to insufficient
given by
number of studies in Latin America, no systematic conclu-
𝑝 sions can be drawn. However, no significant variation exists
2
𝑄𝑏 = ∑ 𝑤𝑖0 (𝑋𝑖0 − 𝑋00 ) . (5) in the percentage share of the children working on the street
𝑖=1 vis-a-vis living on the street.
A comparison on the natures of street children in three
Under the null hypothesis 𝑄𝑏 test statistic follows 𝜒2 continents suggested that in Africa majority of street dwellers
distribution with (𝑝 − 1) degrees of freedom. were categorized as living on the street due to the existence of
Finally, total variation 𝑄𝑡 can be computed as push factors like motivation of family members, unfavourable
educational environment, and lack of basic needs, while
𝑄𝑡 = 𝑄𝑤1 + 𝑄𝑤2 + 𝑄𝑏 . (6) in Asia children were pushed to begging and act as daily
 Table 1: Demographic characteristics of the street children identified from studies for review.
First author (reference Gender Average Education
SN Year Country Sample
number) Boy (%) Girl (%) age Illiterate (%) Literate (%) No response (%)
1 Sorsa [11] 2002 Ethiopia (Hwassa) 479 435 (90.81) 44 (9.19) 13 118 (24.63) 361 (75.37) 0
2000 Ethiopia (Addis Ababa) 240 153 (63.75) 87 (36.25) 11 13 (5.42) 227 (94.58) 0
2000 Ethiopia (Bahir Dar) 440 320 (72.73) 120 (27.27) 14 88 (20.00) 352 (80.00) 0
2 UNICEF [12]
2000 Ethiopia (Dessie) 339 224 (66.08) 115 (33.92) 14 23 (6.78) 316 (93.22) 0
2000 Ethiopia (Kombolcha) 312 227 (72.76) 85 (27.24) 14 49 (15.71) 263 (84.29) 0
3 Mulugeta [13] 2005 Ethiopia (Addis Ababa) 191 146 (76.44) 45 (23.56) 11 11 (5.76) 180 (94.24) 0
4 Habtamu [14] 2013 Ethiopia (Addis Ababa) 422 314 (74.41) 108 (25.59) 15 39 (9.24) 383 (90.76) 0
Child Development Research

5 Kebede [3] 2015 Ethiopia (Hwassa) 170 139 (81.76) 31 (18.24) 13 — — —

6 Ikechebelu, [15] 2008 Nigeria 186 0 186 (100.00) 14 24 (12.90) 162 (87.10) 0
7 Owoaje [16] 2009 Nigeria 360 210 (58.33) 150 (41.67) 14 14 (3.89) 346 (96.11) 0
8 Ekpiken-Ekanem [17] 2014 Nigeria 3036 2916 (96.05) 120 (3.95) 13 — — —
9 Ballet [18] 2010 Madagascar 100 57 (57.00) 43 (43.00) 8.5 — — —
10 Anarfi [19] 1997 Ghana (Accra) 1147 688 (59.98) 459 (40.02) 16 427 (37.23) 720 (62.77) 0
11 Asante [20] 2014 Ghana (Accra) 227 122 (53.74) 105 (46.26) 14 69 (30.40) 157 (69.16) 0
12 WERK [21] 2002 Kenya (Nairobi) 9981 7476 (74.90) 2505 (25.10) 12.5 4566 (45.75) 3061 (30.67) 2354 (23.58)
2270
13 Ouma [22] 2004 Kenya 5152 2882 (55.94) 14 418 (8.11) 3757 (72.92) 977 (18.96)
(44.06)
14 Omondi [23] 2015 Kenya (Kitale) 99 74 (74.75) 25 (25.25) 13.5 4 (4.04) 95 (95.96) 0
15 Kipyegon [24] 2015 Kenya (Eldoret) 75 58 (77.33) 17 (22.67) 13 — — —
16 Snell [25] 2003 South Africa 30 0 30 (100.00) 13 3 (10.00) 27 (90.00) 0
17 Cummings [26] 2006 Sierra Leone 166 71 (42.77) 95 (57.23) 12.5 130 (78.31) 36 (21.69) 0
2603
18 Al-Dien [27] 2009 Egypt 2603 2053 (78.87) 550 (21.13) — 0 0
(100.00)
18565 13046
Subtotal (Africa) 25755 7190 (27.92) 13.15 5996 (23.28) 3331 (12.93)
(72.08) (50.65)
19 Gaidhane [28] 2008 India (Mumbai) 163 163 (100.00) 0 16.5 — — —
20 Bal [29] 2010 India (Kolkata) 554 362 (65.34) 192 (34.66) 13 258 (46.57) 296 (53.43) 0
21 Gupta [30] 2012 India (Sangam Vihar) 100 84 (84.00) 16 (16.00) 10 85 (85.00) 15 (15.00) 0
22 Mukherjee [31] 2014 India (Kolkata) 600 392 (65.33) 208 (34.67) 9 170 (28.33) 430 (71.67) 0
25960 11099 19871
23 TISS [32] 2015 India (Mumbai) 37059 9 8940 (24.12) 8248 (22.26)
(70.05) (29.95) (53.62)
24 Chande [33] India (Thane) 121 80 (66.12) 41 (33.88) 11 42 (34.71) 79 (65.29) 0
25 Ahmed [34] 2003 Bangladesh 2573 2509 (97.51) 64 (2.49) 13 1562 (60.71) 1011 (39.29) 0
26 Islam [35] 2013 Bangladesh 100 50 (50.00) 50 (50.00) 13 34 (34.00) 41 (41.00) 25 (25.00)
27 Vedadi [36] 2013 Pakistan 250 115 (46.00) 135 (54.00) 9 33 (13.20) 217 (86.80) 0
28 Baker [37] 1997 Nepal 130 130 (100.00) 0 13 — — —
29845 11805 21960
Subtotal (Asia) 41650 11.65 11124 (26.71) 8273 (19.86)
(71.66) (28.34) (52.73)
29 Campos [38] 1994 Brazil 379 291 (76.78) 88 (23.22) 13.5 — — —
30 Raffaelli [39] 2005 Brazil 69 35 (50.72) 34 (49.28) 14.5 28 (40.58) 41 (59.42) 0
31 de Carvalho [40] 2006 Brazil 161 127 (78.88) 34 (21.12) 14 53 (32.92) 81 (50.31) 27 (16.77)
Subtotal (Latin America) 609 453 (74.38) 156 (25.62) 14 81 (13.30) 122 (20.03) 27 (4.43)
48863 17201 35128
5

Total (all continents) 68014 19151 (28.16) 12.9 11631 (17.10)

(71.84) (25.29) (51.65)
 Table 2: Category of street children and their living condition identified from studies for review.
First author Category of children Living condition 6
SN Year Country Sample
(reference Working on the Living on the Alone/friends
Abandoned (%) Others (%) With family (%)
number) street (%) street (%) (%)
1 Sorsa [11] 2002 Ethiopia (Hwassa) 479 201 (41.96) 278 (58.04) 0 0 201 (41.96) 278 (58.04)
Ethiopia (Addis
2000 240 66 (27.50) 174 (72.50) 0 0 66 (27.50) 174 (72.50)
Ababa)
2 UNICEF [12] 2000 Ethiopia (Bahir Dar) 440 224 (50.91) 216 (49.09) 0 0 224 (50.91) 216 (49.09)
2000 Ethiopia (Dessie) 339 134 (39.53) 197 (58.11) 0 8 (2.36) 134 (39.53) 197 (58.11)
Ethiopia
2000 312 191 (61.22) 121 (38.78) 0 0 191 (61.22) 121 (38.78)
(Kombolcha)
Ethiopia (Addis
3 Mulugeta [13] 2005 191 — — — — — —
Ababa)
Ethiopia (Addis
4 Habtamu [14] 2013 422 113 (26.78) 309 (73.22) 0 0 43 (10.19) 379 (89.81)
Ababa)
5 Kebede [3] 2015 Ethiopia (Hwassa) 170 — — — — — —
6 Ikechebelu, [15] 2008 Nigeria 186 — — — — — —
7 Owoaje [16] 2009 Nigeria 360 — — — — 234 (65.00) 126 (35.00)
Ekpiken-
8 Ekanem 2014 Nigeria 3036 — — — — — —
[17]
9 Ballet [18] 2010 Madagascar 100 95 (95.00) 5 (5.00) 0 0 95 (95.00) 5 (5.00)
10 Anarfi [19] 1997 Ghana (Accra) 1147 — — — — — —
11 Asante [20] 2014 Ghana (Accra) 227 — — — — — —
12 WERK [21] 2002 Kenya (Nairobi) 9981 8499 (85.15) 1482 (14.85) 0 0 8499 (85.15) 1482 (14.85)
13 Ouma [22] 2004 Kenya 5152 — — — — — —
14 Omondi [23] 2015 Kenya (Kitale) 99 — — — — — —
15 Kipyegon [24] 2015 Kenya (Eldoret) 75 35 (46.67) 39 (52.00) 1 (1.33) 0 27 (36.00%) 48 (64.00)
16 Snell [25] 2003 South Africa 30 — — — — — —
17 Cummings [26] 2006 Sierra Leone 166 112 (67.47) 37 (22.29) 2 (1.20) 0 112 (67.47) 54 (32.53)
18 Al-Dien [27] 2009 Egypt 2603 — — — — — —
Subtotal (Africa) 25755 9670 (37.55) 2858 (11.10) 3 (0.01) 8 (0.03) 9826 (38.15) 3080 (11.96)
19 Gaidhane [28] 2008 India (Mumbai) 163 83 (50.92) 80 (49.08) 0 0 83 (50.92) 80 (49.08)
20 Bal [29] 2010 India (Kolkata) 554 83 (14.98) 0 471 (85.02) 0 — —
India (Sangam
21 Gupta [30] 2012 100 74 (74.00) 26 (26.00) 0 0 74 (74.00) 26 (26.00)
Vihar)
22 Mukherjee [31] 2014 India (Kolkata) 600 0 0 600 (100.00) 0 328 (54.67) 272 (45.33)
23 TISS [32] 2015 India (Mumbai) 37059 9056 (24.44) 2973 (8.02) 24120 (65.09) 910 (2.46) 9056 (24.44) 27093 (73.11)
24 Chande [33] India (Thane) 121 27 (22.31) 94 (77.69) 0 0 27 (22.31) 94 (77.69)
25 Ahmed [34] 2003 Bangladesh 2573 149 (5.79) 2424 (94.21) 0 0 0 2573 (100.00)
26 Islam [35] 2013 Bangladesh 100 43 (43.00) 57 (57.00) 0 0 43 (43.00) 57 (57.00)
27 Vedadi [36] 2013 Pakistan 250 21 (8.40) 229 (91.60) 0 0 — —
28 Baker [37] 1997 Nepal 130 — — — — — —
Subtotal (Asia) 41650 9536 (22.90) 5883 (14.12) 25191 (60.48) 910 (2.18) 9611 (23.08) 30195 (72.50)
29 Campos [38] 1994 Brazil 379 157 (41.42) 152 (40.11) 0 70 (18.47) 157 (41.42) 222 (58.58)
30 Raffaelli [39] 2005 Brazil 69 — — — — — —
de Carvalho
31 2006 Brazil 161 — — — — — —
[40]
Child Development Research

Subtotal (Latin America)

609 157 (25.78) 152 (24.96) 0 70 (11.49) 157 (25.78) 222 (36.45)
Total (all continents) 68014 19363 (28.47) 8893 (13.08) 25194 (37.04) 988 (1.45) 10210 (15.01) 6404 (9.42)
Child Development Research
labourer and street vender to ensure the livelihood of their
abandoned families. Thus, in both the continents, children
often sacrificed to secure the life of their hidden parents living
in their home in Africa and unhidden parents living in the
street in Asia.
4.3. Livelihood of the Street Children. To examine the diversity
of livelihood options exercised by the street children, existing
literature provided information on three broad categories
of informal activity: street beggar, street daily labourer, and
street vendor. In this approach, even though we have reviewed
31 studies from three continents, no information on the
livelihood diversification was observed for as many as 15
studies. Most specifically, studies in Africa and Latin America
reported no quantitative information on livelihood. As stated
in Table 3, out of the total sample size of street children in
African countries, few of them supported themselves and
their families through begging (1.06%) and street vending
(4.13%) and the other 7.68% engaged on daily labour. In
Latin America only 69 respondents among a sample size
of 609 street children reported their alternative means of
livelihood opportunities. Considering total sample size of the
street children, it has been exhibited that 0.66% of them were
involved in begging, 2.13% were in daily labour, and 8.54%
perform different kinds of other duties.
Interestingly, 99% of the respondents in Asia participat-
ing in 10 different studies reported their various means of
livelihood options; 8.18% of street children were involved in
begging, 30.18% were on daily labour, and 11.06% of them
occupied street vending, and a majority of 49.55% engaged in
different types of other duties. In particular, majority of street
children working as daily labourer were involved in hardship
duties in industries. They were compelled to work as daily
labourers in hazardous environment of industries. A study
done in Kolkata showed that nearly 38% of a total of 468 street
children work as daily labourers in a hazardous environment
[31].
4.4. Social Intervention on the Street Children. We have re-
viewed eleven articles to identify the role of social interven-
tion in addressing the problems of street children. Among the
selected articles, eight articles have newly been incorporated
to explore the role of social intervention. In addition, we have
made a sincere effort in searching number of street children
served by these organizations from their respective websites.
However, from the reviewed articles, it has been seen that
a total of 18 NGOs and one community service association
were working in these three continents (Table 4). In Africa,
particularly in Ethiopia, there are a number of NGOs working
for street children. Among them, 12 NGOs were working
exclusively in Ethiopia. According to data revealed from four
articles in Ethiopia 359,960 children were supported by these
12 NGOs. It has been found that Abebech Gobena Orphan
and School, a local NGO in Ethiopia, supported 2,50,832
street children through provision of education.
4.5. Confidence Interval of Odds Ratio: Funnel Plot. In the
study we have chosen a priori classification of street children
7
5
4
3
2
1
0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5
Living condition Gender
Literacy Livelihood
Figure 3: Funnel plot on the confidence interval of different
characteristics of street children.
in the existing literature, that is, studies relating to Africa and
studies relating to the rest of the world. Depending on four
individual characteristics of street children (namely, living
condition, literacy level, gender composition, and livelihood
opportunity), case group and control group have been iden-
tified for Africa and the rest of the world. Accordingly we
have computed odds ratio for the case group and control
group and presented them in Table 5. For example, children
not living in the street fall in the category of control group,
while those living in the street were included in the case
group. Empirical evidence suggests that the odds ratio of
living condition for Africa compared to the rest of the world is
1.75, thereby indicating almost equal odds of living condition
in Asia and the rest of the world. Moreover it is observed that
the confidence interval (95%) of the odds ratio does include
the value 1.0. Figure 3 shows the diagrammatic presentation
of the confidence interval in a funnel plot. Thus, it tells us
of no significant association between living condition of the
street children and the continent considered in the studies. In
other words, the location of the study has no significant effect
on the living condition of the street children. Interestingly,
two other criteria of street children (namely, gender and
literacy) are not found to be associated with the location of
the study area. However, the higher value of odds ratio in
the category of livelihood condition (i.e., 2.957) suggests the
increasing odds of livelihood condition in Africa. In other
words, the probability of daily labour as the predominant
source of livelihood condition in Africa is found to be higher
compared to the rest of the world. The association of location
of the study region and the livelihood condition of the street
children is statistically significant.
4.6. Variation in the Characteristics of Street Children across
Continents: ANOVA. The study attempts to examine the
variation within a group and between the groups (Africa and
rest of the world) in the framework of ANOVA. Based on four
criterions (living condition, education, gender, and livelihood
strategies) of the street children the variations within a con-
tinent and between continents are identified. Cross-country
variation on the characteristics of street children in a world
map is presented in Figure 4.
8 Child Development Research

Table 3: Livelihood opportunities of the street children identified from studies for review.

Livelihood
First author
Study Daily
(reference Year Country Sample Begging Street
number labourers Others (%)
number) (%) vender (%)
(%)
1 Sorsa [11] 2002 Ethiopia (Hwassa) 479 — — — —
2000 Ethiopia (Addis Ababa) 240 0 140 (58.33) 69 (28.75) 4 (1.67)
UNICEF [12] 2000 Ethiopia (Bahir Dar) 440 0 207 (47.05) 199 (45.23) 34 (7.73)
2
2000 Ethiopia (Dessie) 339 32 (9.44) 203 (59.88) 104 (30.68) 0
2000 Ethiopia (Kombolcha) 312 0 155 (49.68) 91 (29.17) 66 (21.15)
3 Mulugeta [13] 2005 Ethiopia (Addis Ababa) 191 0 95 (49.74) 69 (36.13) 29 (15.18)
4 Habtamu [14] 2013 Ethiopia (Addis Ababa) 422 0 336 (79.62) 49 (11.61) 37 (8.77)
5 Kebede [3] 2015 Ethiopia (Hwassa) 170 65 (38.24) 92 (54.12) 13 (7.65) 0
6 Ikechebelu, [15] 2008 Nigeria 186 — — — —
7 Owoaje [16] 2009 Nigeria 360 — — — —
Ekpiken-Ekanem
8 2014 Nigeria 3036 — — — —
[17]
9 Ballet [18] 2010 Madagascar 100 100 (100.00) 0 0 0
10 Anarfi [19] 1997 Ghana (Accra) 1147 8 (0.70) 718 (62.60) 415 (36.18) 6 (0.52)
11 Asante [20] 2014 Ghana (Accra) 227 — — — —
12 WERK [21] 2002 Kenya (Nairobi) 9981 — — — —
13 Ouma [22] 2004 Kenya 5152 — — — —
14 Omondi [23] 2015 Kenya (Kitale) 99 — — — —
15 Kipyegon [24] 2015 Kenya (Eldoret) 75 — — — —
16 Snell [25] 2003 South Africa 30 — — — —
17 Cummings [26] 2006 Sierra Leone 166 69 (41.57) 31 (18.67) 55 (33.13) 11 (6.63)
18 Al-Dien [27] 2009 Egypt 2603 — — — —
Subtotal (Africa) 25755 274 (1.06) 1977 (7.68) 1064 (4.13) 187 (0.78)
19 Gaidhane [28] 2008 India (Mumbai) 163 — — — —
20 Bal [29] 2010 India (Kolkata) 554 21 (3.79) 172 (31.05) 0 361 (65.16)
21 Gupta [30] 2012 India (Sangam Vihar) 100 9 (9.00) 64 (64.00) 27 (27.00) 0
22 Mukherjee [31] 2014 India (Kolkata) 600 118 (19.67) 294 (49.00) 56 (9.33) 0
23 TISS [32] 2015 India (Mumbai) 37059 2934 (7.92) 10117 (27.30) 4263 (11.50) 19745 (53.28)
24 Chande [33] India (Thane) 121 — — — —
25 Ahmed [34] 2003 Bangladesh 2573 274 (10.65) 1612 (62.65) 195 (7.58) 492 (19.12)
26 Islam [35] 2013 Bangladesh 100 0 27 (27.00) 48 (48.00) 25 (25.00)
27 Vedadi [36] 2013 Pakistan 250 26 (10.40) 207 (82.80) 17 (6.80) 0
28 Baker [37] 1997 Nepal 130 — — — —
Subtotal (Asia) 41650 3406 (8.18) 12570 (30.18) 4606 (11.06) 20637 (49.55)
29 Campos [38] 1994 Brazil 379 — — — —
30 Raffaelli [39] 2005 Brazil 69 4 (5.80) 13 (18.84) 0 52 (75.36)
31 de Carvalho [40] 2006 Brazil 161 — — — —
Subtotal (Latin America) 609 4 (0.66) 13 (2.13) 0 52 (8.54)
Total (all continents) 68014 3684 (5.42) 14560 (21.41) 5670 (8.34) 20876 (30.69)

In the framework of ANOVA, at first, we have started
with assigning equal weights to all studies (Table 6) and then
presented results with unequal weights to studies based on
the observed standard deviation (Table 7). Accordingly, the
results show that there exists a significant variation within a
continent for all four criterions in both the unweighted and
weighted analysis. But there is no significant mean difference
between two groups (Africa and rest of the world) except in
education. This indicates that average percentage of literate
street children in Africa is higher compared to the rest of the
world. This may be possible due to the active involvement of
Africa NGOs in the promotion of literacy campaign for the
Child Development Research 9

Table 4: Profile of Social Interventions in the Literature on Street Children.

Collection of data on
First author number of street
Form of children
SN (reference Year Country Intervener name Established
organization
number) From Research
website reviewed
Centre for the Defence of the
1 Scanlon [41] 1993 Brazil Community 1980 3,000
Child (CDM)
National Movement of Street
2 Scanlon [42] 1998 Brazil NGO 1985 44,000
Children
3 Mukherjee [31] 2014 India Awas Yojina 155
4 O’Kane [43] 2003 India Butterflies NGO 1989 54,000
CWIN (Child Workers in
5 Baker [37] 1997 Nepal NGO 1987 130
Nepal)
Undugu Society of Kenya
6 Ouma [22] 2004 Kenya NGO 1973
(USK)
7 Al-Dien [27] 2009 Egypt Hope Village Society NGO 1988 2,603
8 Farias [44] 2012 Ethiopia Seed Africa NGO 2008 600
9 Kebede [3] 2015 Ethiopia Centre of Concern NGO 2005 170
10 Habtamu [14] 2013 Ethiopia — — — 84
Birhan Integrated Community
Ethiopia NGO 1,812
Development Organization
Abebech Gobena Orphan and
Ethiopia NGO 1980 250,832
School
Alem Children Support
11 Williamson [45] 2000 Ethiopia NGO 1994 1300
Organization
Godanaw Rehabilitation
Ethiopia Integrated Project for Street NGO 1995 1,332
Children
Jerusalem Association
Ethiopia NGO 1985 3,200
Children’s Homes
Kind Hearts Children Aid
Ethiopia NGO 1995 843
Development Organization
Rifit Valley Children and
Ethiopia Women Development NGO 1993 10,496
Association (RCWDA)
Integrated Family Service
NGO 1995 2,891
Organization
Children Aid—Ethiopia NGO — 86,400

street children. In other words, a majority of 79 percent of
the children on the street and those of the street and those
abandoned are attending their literacy mission programme
in Africa compared to the rest of the world (54 percent).
Overall, the statistical evidences based on the findings of
the systematic reviewed paper acknowledge the contribution
made by the social interventions in educating street children
of Africa. It is necessary to expand the reach the activities of
the social intervention in ensuring livelihood opportunities
for the street children across continents of the world.
5. Conclusions
This paper attempts to systematically review the existing
literature by using meta-analysis on the problems of liveli-
hoods of street children across countries of the world and
the role of social intervention in addressing such problems.
In the process of executing meta-analysis, the study collected
altogether 158 papers through searching at Google Scholar
and JSTOR. Then, from those collected articles, finally 31
studies were considered for this meta-analysis study. By
applying inclusion and exclusion criteria, we have selected
a total of 31 articles for the purpose of collecting informa-
tion on the salient characteristics of street children (e.g.,
demographic profile, livelihood options, living condition, and
types of social intervention) from three continents (namely,
Africa, Asia, and Latin America) of the world. In fact, these
31 studies covered 68014 street children in three different
continents. The sample data from these three continents were
processed to provide meaningful insights on the livelihood
opportunities of three categories of street children (children
on, of, and abandoned on the street). The sample data were
10 Child Development Research

Table 5: Odds ratio on the different characteristics of the street children.

Living condition: living in the street Yes No
Africa 2858 9681
Rest 6035 35864
OR 1.754379
ln(OR) = Point estimate 0.562115
Var[ln(OR)] 0.000647
SE 0.025432
Upper limit in the confidence interval in LN scale 0.611961
Lower limit in the confidence interval in LN scale −1.1988
Upper limit in the confidence interval in original scale 1.844044
Lower limit in the confidence interval in original scale 0.301557
Literate Yes No
Africa 16377 5996
Rest 30382 11205
OR 1.007322
ln(OR) = Point estimate 0.007295
Var[ln(OR)] 0.00035
SE 0.018708
Upper limit in the confidence interval in LN scale 0.043963
Lower limit in the confidence interval in LN scale −0.08582
Upper limit in the confidence interval in original scale 1.044944
Lower limit in the confidence interval in original scale 0.917761
Gender Boy Girl
Africa 18565 7190
Rest 30298 11961
OR 1.019341
ln(OR) = Point estimate 0.019157
Var[ln(OR)] 0.00031
SE 0.017594
Upper limit in the confidence interval in LN scale 0.053641
Lower limit in the confidence interval in LN scale −0.10483
Upper limit in the confidence interval in original scale 1.055106
Lower limit in the confidence interval in original scale 0.90048
Livelihood: daily labour Yes No
Africa 1977 1525
Rest 12583 28705
OR 2.957401
ln(OR) = Point estimate 1.084311
Var[ln(OR)] 0.001276
SE 0.035719
Upper limit in the confidence interval in LN scale 1.15432
Lower limit in the confidence interval in LN scale −2.26119
Upper limit in the confidence interval in original scale 3.171867
Lower limit in the confidence interval in original scale 0.104226

then analyzed by using statistical methods like descriptive
statistics, odds ratio, and ANOVA. Empirical evidences based
on meta analysis provides a clear trend of male dominance
in the gender composition of street children. A sizable
number of street children are categorized as children on
the street (rather than children of the street or children
abandoned from their family) and they work as a daily
labourers for their livelihood. However, the results of ANOVA
show the presence of significant variation within a group
(i.e., continent) in regard to the different characteristics of
street children. Interestingly, the study does not support
the presence of significant variation on gender, livelihood,
and living condition between the continents (i.e., Africa
and rest of the world). However, literacy is observed as
Child Development Research 11

Percentage of literate street children Percentage of girls children

Percentage of street children living on the street Percentage of street children working as daily labourer

Figure 4: Cross-country variation in the characteristics of street children.

Table 6: ANOVA results for the different criteria of street children from 31 studies (unweighted).

Group Mean t-test

Criteria Group Label Mean 𝑄𝑤1 (Critical Value)∗ 𝑄𝑤2 (Critical Value)∗ 𝑄𝑏 (Critical Value)∗ 𝑄𝑡
size (𝑝 value)∗
Living on 1 Africa 10 44.61 0.02 4926.80∗∗ 11620.45∗∗ 0.03 16547.28
the street
2 Rest 10 44.37 (0.99) (15.51) (15.51) (3.80)
∗∗ ∗∗ ∗∗
1 Africa 17 78.77 2.94 8076.67 3463.43 338.60∗∗ 11878.70
Literate
2 Rest 10 53.58 (0.01) (25.00) (15.51) (3.80)
1 Africa 21 36.74 1.33 12013.67∗∗ 3434.44∗∗ 51.47∗∗ 15499.59
Girls
2 Rest 13 26.87 (0.19) (30.14) (19.68) (3.80)
∗∗ ∗∗
Daily 1 Africa 10 48.66 −0.06 4870.75 4253.38 0.19 9124.31
labourer
2 Rest 9 49.27 (0.95) (15.51) (14.07) (3.80)
Note. ∗ Significant at the 0.05 level of significance.

Table 7: ANOVA results for the different criteria of street children from 31 studies (weighted).

Group Mean t-test

Criteria Group Label Mean 𝑄𝑤1 (Critical Value)∗ 𝑄𝑤2 (Critical Value)∗ 𝑄𝑏 (Critical Value)∗ 𝑄𝑡
size (𝑝 value)∗
Living on 1 Africa 10 44.61 0.02 45.35∗∗ 24.25∗∗ 5.16∗∗ 74.76
the street
2 Rest 10 44.37 (0.99) (15.51) (15.51) (3.80)
1 Africa 17 78.77 2.94∗∗ 224.97∗∗ 83.61∗∗ 21.05∗∗ 329.63
Literate
2 Rest 10 53.58 (0.01) (25.00) (15.51) (3.80)
∗∗ ∗∗
1 Africa 21 36.74 1.33 67.20 39.09 4.55∗∗ 110.84
Girls
2 Rest 13 26.87 (0.19) (30.14) (19.68) (3.80)
∗∗ ∗∗
Daily 1 Africa 10 48.66 −0.06 52.75 49.09 8.93∗∗ 110.76
labourer
2 Rest 9 49.27 (0.95) (15.51) (14.07) (3.80)
Note. ∗ Significant at the 0.05 level of significance.
12
an exception, where a significant variation persists between
the continents. In fact, mean literacy level among street
children in Africa is higher compared to the rest of the world.
Social intervention in Africa, as documented in the reviewed
studies, may explain the variation in literacy level across
continents in a meaningful way. Therefore, the study calls for
active participation of the decision-makers and academicians
in drawing a roadmap of social intervention for addressing
the problems of street children.
Competing Interests
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
References
[1] A. Maposa, “Who and where should they turn to? The plight of
street children,” International Journal of Science and Research,
vol. 2, no. 7, pp. 33–35, 2013.
[2] A. Goldblatt, Z. Kwena, M. Lahiff et al., “Prevalence and cor-
relates of HIV infection among street boys in Kisumu, Kenya,”
PLoS ONE, vol. 10, no. 10, Article ID e0140005, 2015.
[3] S. K. Kebede, 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, 2015, http://
www.academicresearchjournals.org/IJARER/PDF/2015/April/
Kebede.pdf.
[4] A. Whitehead and I. Hashim, “Children and migration,” Back-
ground Paper for DFID Migration Team, 2005, http://www
.childtrafficking.com/Docs/dfid 05 child mig bac 0408.pdf.
[5] L. Young, “Journeys to the street: the complex migration geogra-
phies of Ugandan street children,” Geoforum, vol. 35, no. 4, pp.
471–488, 2004.
[6] K. McAlpine, R. Henley, M. Mueller, and S. Vetter, “A survey
of street children in Northern Tanzania: how abuse or support
factors may influence migration to the street,” Community
Mental Health Journal, vol. 46, no. 1, pp. 26–32, 2010.
[7] P. A. Kopaka, “The problem of street children in Africa: an
ignored tragedy,” in Proceedings of the International Conference
on Street Childrenand Street Children’s Health in East Africa,
Dar-es-Salaam,Tanzania, April 2000.
[8] I. Epstein, “Educating street children: some cross-cultural per-
spectives,” Comparative Education, vol. 32, no. 3, pp. 289–302,
1996.
[9] S. T. de Benitez, “Reactive, protective and rights-based ap-
proaches in work with homeless street youth,” Children Youth
and Environments, vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 134–149, 2003.
[10] R. Magazine, “An innovative combination of neoliberalism and
state corporatism: the case of a locally based NGO in Mexico
City,” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social
Science, vol. 590, no. 1, pp. 243–256, 2003.
[11] S. Sorsa, T. Kidanemariam, and L. Erosie, “Health problems of
street children and women in Awassa, Southern Ethiopia,”
Ethiopian Journal of Health Development, vol. 16, no. 2, pp. 129–
137, 2002.
[12] UNICEF, Children Working on the Streets of Ethiopia,
A UNICEF Report, http://www.unicef.org/evaldatabase/files/
ETH 2000 800.pdf.
[13] E. Mulugeta, “Working on the streets to cope with childhood
poverty: problems and resilience of working children in Addis
Child Development Research
Ababa,” Journal of Ethiopian Studies, vol. 38, no. 1-2, pp. 151–173,
2005.
[14] D. Habtamu and A. Adamu, “Assessment of sexual and repro-
ductive health status of street children in Addis Ababa,” Journal
of Sexually Transmitted Diseases, vol. 2013, Article ID 524076,
20 pages, 2013.
[15] J. I. Ikechebelu, G. O. Udigwe, C. C. Ezechukwu, A. G. Ndinechi,
and N. N. Joe-Ikechebelu, “Sexual abuse among juvenile female
street hawkers in Anambra State, Nigeria,” African Journal of
Reproductive Health, vol. 12, no. 2, pp. 111–119, 2008.
[16] E. T. Owoaje, A. O. Adebiyi, and M. C. Asuzu, “Socio-dem-
ographic characteristics of street children in rural communi-
ties undergoing urbanization,” Annals of Ibadan Postgraduate
Medicine, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 10–15, 2009.
[17] R. Ekpiken-Ekanem, A. E. Ayuk, and P. M. A. Adadu, “Causal
effects of street children in Nigeria: implications for coun-
selling,” Journal of Education and Practice, vol. 5, no. 8, pp. 154–
158, 2014.
[18] J. Ballet, A. Bhukuth, F. Rakotonirinjanahary, and M. Rako-
tonirinjanahary, “Family rationales behind child begging in
antananarivo,” Population, vol. 65, no. 4, pp. 695–712, 2010.
[19] J. K. Anarfi, “Vulnerability to sexually transmitted disease: street
children in Accra,” Health Transition Review, vol. 7, pp. 281–
306, 1997, https://digitalcollections.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/
41316/2/Anarfi6.pdf.
[20] K. O. Asante, A. Meyer-Weitz, and I. Petersen, “Substance use
and risky sexual behaviours among street connected children
and youth in Accra, Ghana,” Substance Abuse Treatment, Pre-
vention, and Policy, vol. 9, article 45, 2014.
[21] Women Educational Researchers of Kenya (WERK), The
Story of Children Living and Working on the Streets of Nairobi,
SNV/Kenya and GTZ PROSYR, 2002, http://www.ismo-online
.de/logicio/client/ismo/file/downloads/street children nairobi
report.pdf.
[22] W. G. Ouma, Education for Street Children in Kenya: The Role
of the Undugu Society, International Institute for Educational
Planning, Paris, France, 2004, http://unesdoc.unesco.org/
images/0013/001390/139032e.pdf.
[23] S. A. Omondi, Factors influencing influx of street children in
Kitale town, Trans-nzoia country, Kenya [Doctoral disserta-
tion], University of Nairobi, 2015, http://erepository.uonbi.ac
.ke:8080/xmlui/handle/11295/90624.
[24] K. Kipyegon, F. N. Nyachwaya, C. A. Okirigiti, and I. K.
Kipchirchir, “Factors influencing rising number of street chil-
dren in urban centers in Kenya: a survey of Eldoret Munici-
pality, Kenya,” European Open Urban Studies & Development
Journal, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 1–14, 2015.
[25] C. L. Snell, “Commercial sexual exploitation of youth in South
Africa,” The Journal of Negro Education, vol. 72, no. 4, pp. 506–
514, 2003.
[26] P. Cummings, Factors related to the street children phenomenon
in major towns in Sierra Leone: a comparative study of the city’s
street children and children in normal family homes [Disserta-
tion], 2012, http://stclements.edu/grad/gradcumm.pdf.
[27] M. M. Z. Al-Dien, “Education for street children in Egypt: the
role of hope village society,” Journal of Contemporary Issues in
Education, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 37–56, 2009.
[28] A. Gaidhane, Q. S. Zahiruddin, L. Waghmare, S. Shanbhag, S.
Zodpey, and S. R. Joharapurkar, “Substance abuse among street
children in Mumbai,” Vulnerable Children and Youth Studies,
vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 42–51, 2008.
Child Development Research 13

[29] B. Bal, R. Mitra, A. H. Mallick, S. Chakraborti, and K. Sarkar, [47] D. C. Adams, J. Gurevitch, and M. S. Rosenberg, “Resampling
“Nontobacco substance use, sexual abuse, HIV, and sexually tests for meta-analysis of ecological data,” Ecology, vol. 78, no. 4,
transmitted infection among street children in Kolkata, India,” pp. 1277–1283, 1997.
Substance Use & Misuse, vol. 45, no. 10, pp. 1668–1682, 2010. [48] M. S. Rosenberg, “The file-drawer problem revisited: a general
[30] A. Gupta, “Social determinants of health—street children at weighted method for calculating fail-safe numbers in meta-
crossroads,” Health, vol. 4, no. 9, pp. 634–643, 2012. analysis,” Evolution, vol. 59, no. 2, pp. 464–468, 2005.
[31] C. Mukherjee, “A study on socio-educational and rehabilitation [49] S. Parveen, “Conceptual meaning and definition of street chil-
status of street children in Kolkata,” IOSR Journal of Humanities dren: worldwide,” Sociology, vol. 12, no. 11, pp. 78–80, 2014.
and Social Science, vol. 19, no. 7, pp. 65–102, 2014. [50] S. S. Sherman, S. Plitt, S. Ul Hassan, Y. Cheng, and S. T. Zafar,
[32] TISS & Action Aid India, Making Street Children Matter: A “Drug use, street survival, and risk behaviors among street
Census Study in Mumbai City, 2015, http://actionaid.org/sites/ children in Lahore, Pakistan,” Journal of Urban Health, vol. 82,
files/actionaid/mumbai street children v3.pdf. no. 4, pp. iv113–iv124, 2005.
[33] H. A. Chande, “A study of the street and working children living
in Thane city,” Journal of Humanities and Social Science, vol. 1,
pp. 1–4, 2015.
[34] K. S. Ahmed, M. M. Uddin, S. Islam, M. N. Huq, S. Nehar, and
Z. Nessa, A Baseline Survey of Street Children in Bangladesh, The
Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, National Child-Labor Survey,
Dhaka, Bangladesh, 2003.
[35] M. S. Islam, M. E. Rahman, and R. Khatun, “Street children
struggle for survival where protection of human resource devel-
opment: (a study on Khulna city, Bangladesh),” International
Journal of Scientific & Technology Research, vol. 2, no. 11, pp. 36–
49, 2013.
[36] S. Vedadi, S. M. J. Iqbal, and S. Muneer, “Street children and
its impact on educational attainment in north-western state
(Punjab) of Pakistan,” Journal of Education and Vocational
Research, vol. 4, no. 12, pp. 366–372, 2013.
[37] R. Baker, C. Panter-Brick, and A. Todd, “Homeless street boys in
nepal: their demography and lifestyle,” Journal of Comparative
Family Studies, vol. 28, no. 1, pp. 129–146, 1997.
[38] R. Campos, M. Raffaelli, W. Ude et al., “Social networks and
daily activities of street youth in Belo Horizonte, Brazil,” Child
Development, vol. 65, no. 2, pp. 319–330, 1994.
[39] M. Raffaelli and S. H. Koller, “Future expectations of Brasilian
street youth,” Journal of Adolescence, vol. 28, no. 2, pp. 249–262,
2005.
[40] F. T. de Carvalho, L. Neiva-Silva, M. C. Ramos et al., “Sexual
and drug use risk behaviors among children and youth in street
circumstances in Porto Alegre, Brazil,” AIDS and Behavior, vol.
10, no. 7, pp. S57–S66, 2006.
[41] T. Scanlon, F. Scanlon, and M. L. N. Lamarao, “Working with
street children,” Development in Practice, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 16–26,
1993.
[42] T. J. Scanlon, A. Tomkins, M. A. Lynch, and F. Scanlon, “Street
children in Latin America,” British Medical Journal, vol. 316, no.
7144, pp. 1596–1600, 1998.
[43] C. O’Kane, “Street and working children’s participation in pro-
gramming for their rights,” Children, Youth and Environments,
vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 167–183, 2003.
[44] C. Farias and M. Sands, “A case study: seeds of Africa—the
flowering of education and entrepreneurship,” ACRN Journal of
Entrepreneurship Perspectives, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 149–160, 2012.
[45] J. Williamson, Assessment of the street children and orphans
component of the pact NGO sector enhancement initiative in
Ethiopia, USAID Displaced Children and Orphan Fund and
War Victim Fund Contract, http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf docs/
Pdabs670.pdf.
[46] K. M. Ferguson, “Implementing a social enterprise intervention
with homeless, street-living youths in Los Angeles,” Social Work,
vol. 52, no. 2, pp. 103–112, 2007.
  Child Development 
Research

Autism
Research and Treatment
Hindawi Publishing Corporation
http://www.hindawi.com
Economics
Research International
Hindawi Publishing Corporation
Volume 2014 http://www.hindawi.com
Journal of
Biomedical Education
Hindawi Publishing Corporation
Volume 2014 http://www.hindawi.com
Nursing
Research and Practice
Hindawi Publishing Corporation Hindawi Publishing Corporation
Volume 2014 http://www.hindawi.com Volume 2014 http://www.hindawi.com Volume 2014

Journal of
Criminology

Journal of

Hindawi Publishing Corporation

Archaeology
Hindawi Publishing Corporation
http://www.hindawi.com Volume 2014 http://www.hindawi.com Volume 2014

Submit your manuscripts at

http://www.hindawi.com

International Journal of Education

Population Research Research International
Hindawi Publishing Corporation Hindawi Publishing Corporation
http://www.hindawi.com Volume 2014 http://www.hindawi.com Volume 2014

Depression Research Journal of Journal of Schizophrenia

Sleep Disorders
Hindawi Publishing Corporation
http://www.hindawi.com
and Treatment
Hindawi Publishing Corporation
Volume 2014 http://www.hindawi.com
Anthropology
Hindawi Publishing Corporation
Volume 2014 http://www.hindawi.com
Addiction
Hindawi Publishing Corporation
Volume 2014 http://www.hindawi.com
Research and Treatment
Hindawi Publishing Corporation
Volume 2014 http://www.hindawi.com Volume 2014

Geography Psychiatry
Journal Journal
Current Gerontology
& Geriatrics Research

Journal of Urban Studies

Hindawi Publishing Corporation
http://www.hindawi.com
Hindawi Publishing Corporation
Volume 2014 http://www.hindawi.com
Aging Research
Hindawi Publishing Corporation
Volume 2014 http://www.hindawi.com
Hindawi Publishing Corporation
Research
Hindawi Publishing Corporation
Volume 2014 http://www.hindawi.com Volume 2014 http://www.hindawi.com Volume 2014