A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the
Masters of Public Administration (MPA) of Mzumbe University
Street children are not a new phenomenon and neither is it restricted to certain
geographical areas. The street children were part of the urban landscape during the
process of industrialization and urbanization in post war Europe. The problem of street
children in Tanzania may not be new also; the number of street children has increased
rapidly and has become a growing social problem. These children are considered to be
hooligans and vagabonds with combination of multiple factors which drive them to a life
on the streets, including poverty, neglect, the breakdown of the family, losing one or
both parents with HIV/AIDS or other prevalent diseases. The consequence of this is that
these street children face daily abuse on the streets from the police, different people and
even from each other. The government of Tanzania has tried to solve the problem by
sending back street children to their rural homes and some taken to NGOs where the
Consortium for Street Children (CSC) is supporting NGOs including Mkombozi and
Caretakers of the Environment to deliver effective projects for street children and
supporting their role in the development of the National Strategy.
Under this study there were the following research objectives which guide the research
to be successful. The main objective was to find out challenges facing the Kinondoni
Municipal Council in managing street children. Other specific objectives were; To
establish the population of street children in the study area, To find out actors dealing
with street children and which strategies do they use to manage street children, To find
out factors which cause the increase of street children in urban areas, and To find out
challenges of managing street children.
The population study covers different staffs from the Kinondoni Municipal Council
where the study involves 40 respondents as the sample size. The purposive sampling,
simple random sampling, snowball sampling and accidental sampling techniques were
used to select the sample size. The data collection methods such as questionnaire,
interview, and Observation were also used. Both qualitative and quantitative methods
were used to make the collected data analyzed into meaningful and useful information.
The findings discovered are of useful to the Kinondoni Municipal Council as well as to
academicians since the data found can be used as reference in the future. In the end the
researcher provide concluding remarks with regards to the research topic, where
summary, conclusion and policy implication are structured to pinpoint how to enhance
effective management of street children.