Growing up on the Streets: building networks of knowledge exchange for delivering impact

Street children are perhaps one of the most visible signs of poverty and marginalization in urban environments, yet their rights are often not realized. Furthermore, street children lack formal representation placing them outside the arena of policy development. Not only do they face multi-faceted problems but as a group they are difficult to define. This is both in terms of their relationship to the street and their status as both victims and perpetrators of crime; their complexity is key to their elusiveness. In addition, street children's independent status positions them outside the realms of child protection which places children under the care of adults, often resulting in limited or no access to services without adult representation. Therefore they have been replaced on the international policy agenda by other vulnerable groups whose human rights violations are much more easily pinned down, such as victims of sexual exploitation or violence, raising fundamental questions around how street children's rights and needs are defined and by whom? However, participatory research is now becoming recognized as one of the more successful ways in which children's voices are beginning to be heard and this can be utilised to offer advice for the inclusion of street children in decision-making and policy development.
The aim of this project is therefore to address the policy gap for street children through research knowledge exchange (KE). An academic-practitioner collaborative research project called Growing up on the Streets was established in 2012 collecting longitudinal data over a three year period with 198 street children from three diverse African cities: Harare, Zimbabwe; Accra, Ghana; and Bukavu, DRC. In addition an innovative participatory approach has been adopted whereby street children are actively engaged in undertaking their own research, under the mentorship of street worker project managers, to explore their capabilities on the streets. The findings from the research forms the evidence-base for this KE project which seeks to bridge the gap between current legislation and political attitudes, and street children's realities. The KE project has seven objectives fulfilled over four phases. Phase 1 develops street young people's participation in the research process from inception to policy development. This aims to include street children's views as a regular part of service provision. Phase 2 develops practitioner participation and capacity through the development of workshops that disseminate key messages from the research as well as through establishing a peer network, initially across Africa, for practitioners to discuss and share through an online forum. This network aims to develop capacity and share best practice for the better provision of services to street children. Phase 3 builds on the others for specifically targeting the policy gap. A series of workshops/events in Africa and the UK, inviting Government agencies, UN members and other key stakeholders aims to raise awareness of the research findings, develop policy recommendations and seek to translate them into concrete actions. Public engagement also forms a key strategy for raising awareness for street children's rights. Finally phase 4 includes a process of reflective evaluation during all other phases to ensure their effectiveness.
The outcomes of the project seek to offer direct benefit: to street children, by involving them in data analysis and policy dialogue as well as creating NGO training for street children's inclusion in the research process from inception to policy development; to NGOs, by developing a network hub and face-to-face workshops for sharing best practice; and to policy stakeholders (Governments, Donors, International NGOs, UN agencies) through the translation of key messages from the research into policy recommendations with the potential to advocate for direct changes to national and international policy.

Street children: Through phase 1 they will be given a voice in the process where they have been previously criminalised/ignored. This involves their participation in analyzing key messages emerging from the data. Further, the knowledge exchange (KE) activities will produce a better understanding of children's street realities and the support required to meet their basic needs and access their rights. This will create better opportunities for children's future lives through changes to policy and practice. The street researchers will also benefit from training in advanced engagement skills to enable them to present their own findings to NGOs, Governments and other stakeholders in workshops. These skills will be transferrable to other employment areas.
Practitioners: This group will be made up of NGOs, government agencies and other social welfare professionals. The training pack developed from training, undertaken in the research based on the innovative participatory methodology and the KE advanced engagement skills training, will benefit NGOs. It will ensure they are adequately prepared not only to do participatory research but to realize the value of children as experts on their own lives and, through using the training pack, more effectively include children in programme design and policy development. The peer network 'hub', as an on-going resource, will provide support for providing advice between African NGOs and street workers to share their own best practice as well as implement changes based on the findings of the research. This group will also benefit from key messages and their implications for practice as presented through briefing notes available freely to download online.
African and International policymakers: This includes Donors, NGOs, Governments and UN agencies. Through phase 2 (policy workshops) and phase 3 (All Party Parliamentary Group, Consortium for Street Children (CSC), and final KE events) the translation of key messages from the research will be developed into policy and practice recommendations through collaboration with stakeholders and could result in changes to policy. This will drive forward the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNOHCHR, 2012) agenda for realizing street children's rights by improving their lives internationally, beyond Africa, through access to evidence-based policy and practice.
Public: Public members and school children in Dundee and London will have the opportunity to learn more about street children's lives through interactive exhibitions and a public lecture to raise the profile of the work and to ensure children and other members of the public are better informed about the lives of street children, their rights, realities and capabilities. Holding this around the International Day for Street Children will boost the attention the research receives in collaboration with other activities in the UK for greater awareness raising.
Academic beneficiaries: These include researchers, students and academics working in areas of interest to the research and achieved through KE activities, specifically the CSC conference and final event. They will benefit from learning about the innovative methodological approach adopted for the research and the longitudinal nature of the data collection (something not yet achieved with street children). This responds to the call within children's studies to move beyond exploring children's daily lives but to consider them more broadly over space and time. This will have significance for influencing broader urban theories (Ansell, 2009; Horton and Kraftl, 2006; Jones, 2011). The training, peer network and evaluation components of the KE application will expect to see changes to practice during the life of the project. Policy impact at an international level is more likely to be realised after the grant ends. The team's language skills mean policy documents can be produced in English and French to reach a wide audience.