The Livelihoods and Survival Strategies of Street Children in DireDewa

Many of the street children in Dire Dewa, are rural-urban migrants. It further looks at the causes of migration of children and the social networks they maintain among themselves and to their rural villages. Children make part of the structure of the urban life and as actors are striving to adjust themselves to livelihood outcomes. Livelihood approach has been adapted to look at the diverse street based economic activities of children and how they adapt survival mechanisms to meet their basic needs. The study shows that children drifted from different parts of the country into the study area and the children left their rural villages on their own and without any parental say on their decision to migrate. They also come from families with large size in their rural localities. Migration does not lead them to lose contact with their rural folk except in few cases. Children migrate into the study area as a result of interwoven and various factors including poverty, disagreement with their families, death of parents (either both or one of their parents), in search of education and others. It has been found that increased migration of rural children was aggravated due to rural poverty.