The Study on Children in Street Situation in Albania is conducted in the framework of Social Services Reform by the Ministry of Social Welfare and Youth in collaboration with UNICEF and Save the Children. ARSIS, GFK and an international expert have been appointed to carry out the Study from May 2013 to February 2014. This is the first national qualitative and quantitative assessment of children in street situation carried out in Albania, providing a baseline for this phenomenon. The main aim of the study is to give key stakeholders a thorough and extensive understanding of all issues and numbers surrounding this target group, for the definition and review of the policy agenda and to plan current and future interventions. This study is for the benefit of relevant government bodies/agencies, as well as civil society organisations to support the development of new strategies regarding children in street situation and to improve service provision for these children and other support mechanisms needed in prevention and protection for them and their families. The main demographic findings were that the majority of children in street situation are boys aged 10-17 years old: in both counting phases, twice as many boys were seen than girls (70.1% or 1476 boys, and 29.9% or 538 girls in wave 1; 74% – 1882 boys and 26% – 645 girls in wave 2), however a more even distribution between the genders is seen amongst younger children. Almost a third of children in street situation are 15-17 year old adolescents (on average 29.5% or 745 children), while children from 4-14 years of age were 66.5% (1680 on average), and there were a significant number of infant children from 0-3 years old (102 children or 4% on average). Quite a number of younger children (0-5 year olds) accompany their mothers while begging found (wave 1: 11.66% or 235 children; wave 2: 13.9% or 381 children). Children are involved in different street-related activities. The most common of these are selling different items (38% wave 1- 25% wave 2) such as cigarettes, lighters, water, farm produce and other foods, flowers, pens, pencils, car fresheners or other accessories, as well as begging for money (35% wave 1 – 21% wave 2), recycling plastic and metal (8% wave 1 – 20% wave 2), and informal jobs (12% wave 1 – 15% wave 2). Informal jobs include loading and unloading goods trucks, working in agriculture, cleaning roads, cleaning at cemeteries, looking after sun beds on beaches, working at entrances to mines, and busking. The trend in informal work is towards a greater diversity of activities and these jobs extend beyond the urban settings more than previously believed. The study based its data gathering on an inclusive definition of children in street situations adapted to the Albanian context. However from interviews in Wave 1 with children, it was also possible to group them in terms of UNICEF’s definitions: Children “of” the Street (4.3% or 19 children) – those who stay in the streets during the day and also sleep in the street, possibly due to loss or absence of parents, alcoholism, domestic violence, divorce and/or remarriage of parents; Children “on” the Street (79% or 347 children) who mainly stay in the streets during the daylight hours and return to their homes or residential care centres at night; and Street-Family Children (16.7% or 73 children) – those who live with their family on the street.

 

Childhub

You might like..

0
51
Terre des hommes (Tdh) is active in the issue of children living in street situations because these children have had their most basic rights disregarded and are especially vulnerable to all sorts of phenomena likely to endanger their life, their…
0
41
In June 2017, the Committee on the Rights of the Children adopted General Comment No 21 on Children in Street Situations. This provides States with authoritative legal guidance to ensure street-connected children can enjoy their rights under the…
yes
0
11
About the webinar: This webinar will present the results of the qualitative study "Children in Street Situations in the Republic of Moldova" and is primarily aimed at child protection and social protection specialists working directly or…
0
136
This qualitative study represents a first attempt of scientific analysis of children in street situations in the Republic of Moldova;  The main five results of the study indicate that: 1. For many children, the first experiences with the street…
0
52
Executive Summary "The purpose of this research is understanding factors or circumstances which affect or drive children in a street situation to work or beg, acts in non-compliance with their age, which do have an impact in their welfare and…
yes
0
113
In the Republic of Moldova, for many children, the first experiences with the street take place at a very early age, when they are of three or four years old. The main reasons children leave their homes are: parents’ alcohol…
0
21
This report is a part of worldwide consultations with street involved children. The European consultation for children and young people living in street situations took place in Brussels, Belgium on the 18th and 19th of April, 2016 and it was…
0
56
The Consortium for Street Children has developed a simplified and child friendly version of the United Nations General comment No. 21 (2017) on children in street situation. They have called it "How governments keep their promises to children in…
0
145
This document is a report with recommendations issued by the Ombudsperson of Republic of Kosovo related to the issue of children in street situation in the country.  This report aims to (a) analyze the phenomenon of children in street situation…
0
13
International organization and network of organizations who work with street involved children all around the world - Consortium for Street Children, has published this child friendly material "How Governments Can Keep Their Promises to Children in…
yes
0
138
After the 1999 Kosovo war, a new phenomenon was noticed: Albanian children in street situations moving from Albania to Kosovo. These children and their families, who migrate to Kosovo mainly for begging or collecting metal face challenging socio-…
0
22
The goal of the study presented in this Report was to highlight the impact that prostitution related policies have on the number of women and children trafficked and on the manners of their exploitation, i.e. to underline the correlations between…
0
3
Nations in Transit, published annually by Freedom House, is a comprehensive, comparative, multidimensional study focusing on 29 countries and administrative areas from Central Europe to Eurasia. Country reports and ratings tables are available for…
0
31
On the occasion of April 12, the International Day of Street Children, the Center for Youth Integration presented the results of a survey on the implementation of General Comment No. 21 on street children by the UN Committee on the Rights of the…
0
39
The Situational Analysis is an assessment of the current child trafficking situation in Albania and the level of progress done by actors engaged in fighting the phenomenon. It is an initiative of the Coalition Together against Child Trafficking in…