Street kids task force formed

A task force has been established to assist the rapidly increasing number of street children in Zimbabwe's capital, Harare. Ron Pouwels, UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) project officer for child protection, told IRIN on Friday that an assessment of street children would be conducted next week. Among the organisations involved in the task force are UNICEF, the Harare city council, the department of social services, Zimbabwe Republic Police, and various NGOs. Pouwels explained that while task forces had already been set up in other parts of the country, such as Zimbabwe's second city, Bulawayo, the increasing number of street children in Harare necessitated a more coordinated intervention. Previous attempts to set up the task force had failed for one reason or another, but the initiative was revived in the latter half of the year by the Zimbabwe National Council for the Welfare of Children, with the financial support of UNICEF. STREET KIDS CRISIS FUELLED BY FOOD SHORTAGES, POVERTY AND HIV/AIDS Zimbabwe's humanitarian crisis - fuelled by a combination of food shortages, rapid economic decline and the impact of HIV/AIDS - had contributed to the increase in street children. "We know that children are dropping out of school because of the food shortages, and it is definitely one reason why they end up on the street; another is the collapse of community structures and the orphan crisis [as a result of HIV/AIDS]. Communities are overstretched already because of poverty - with food insecurity and the impact of HIV/AIDS they are less and less able to cope with the increasing number of orphans, and Harare is a magnet for these children," Pouwels said. He added that while HIV/AIDS, food shortages and rising poverty had contributed to the crisis, "there is also an increase in child abuse, which is also one of the reasons why children choose to leave home. Their parents are unable to cope, they have high stress levels and take it out on children, who then feel it's enough and they leave," Pouwels explained. The main aim of the task force "is to bring together partners, so as to better coordinate the work that they are doing for street children", Pouwels said. "We've seen the numbers [of street children] increasing and, while there have been responses, these have not really been coordinated". An assessment of street children in Harare was crucial, as it would guide the response to the crisis. "There's a lot of pressure from government in terms of rounding up these children. Their numbers are increasing and government wants to take action, but our opinion is that just to round [them] up will not solve the problem. In two weeks' time they will be back on the streets. [State] institutions are full, and just sending them home does not solve the problem," Pouwels said. The assessment aims to identify where the children are coming from, why they are on the street and whether they are permanently on the street, or just there during the day and going home at night. Pouwels explained that each group of street children required different interventions. For those who are permanently on the streets, or have been there for some time, integrating them back into their home communities may not be an option, Pouwels said. It was perhaps better to "teach them life skills and vocational skills, so they can survive on their own". The assessment would allow the task force to "immediately target" children who had recently left home. "If the separation with community or family is recent, and the ties are still strong, it is easier to try and get them back to their family and community in general," Pouwels noted.