Say Yes, Winter 2007: The Child in the Street is Running Away from Poverty
Photograph by Rana Mullan © UNICEF Turkey 2006
An inter–ministerial committee was set up in 2004 with the mandate to examine the problem of children living and/or working on the streets in Turkey and to make recommendations for a solution. Under the coordination of the Social Services and Child Protection Agency (SHÇEK), the committee, which includes the Ministries of Justice, Interior, National Education and Health, prepared a New Service Model for Children Living and/or Working on the Streets outlining a preventive strategy for ten pilot provinces where the problem is most acute. The vital next step is to develop and implement these action plans in the provinces.
The increasing incidence of children resorting to street life is a symptom of the widespread poverty and social exclusion that many families are suffering.
Photograph by Rana Mullan
© UNICEF Turkey 2006
Children on the streets
One of the most obvious symptoms of the widespread social exclusion that so many families in Turkey are suffering is the rise in numbers of children living and/or working on the streets.
Although the greater number of children on the street are working to supplement their family income, offering small services such as shoe polishing or selling sundries to passers–by, a smaller number are estranged from their families due to conflict between or with their parents and relatives, living by their wits in gangs or on their own. In both cases, these children are not adequately protected, supervised or guided by a responsible adult and as such they are very vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. It is also very likely that they are not attending school.
One of the major problems that the committee faced from the outset has been the lack of reliable data on the numbers and situation of children on the street in Turkey. Typically, these children and their families are excluded, relegated to the edge of society where they live in a cycle of poverty, largely invisible to social services, the health and education systems and the general public. The new DevInfoTurk system, developed with the generous support of the European Union, which measures the overall quality of life of children in Turkey will help stakeholders to plan an accurate strategy of poverty reduction for these children and their families.
A new service model
SHÇEK organised a conference in June 2005 with support from the European Delegation to Turkey and UNICEF, that focused on how to establish, implement and monitor preventive measures that would provide a sustainable solution for children and their families. Participants included more than 225 delegates from concerned ministries, parliamentarians, provincial governors, NGOs, academics, the media and children — whose views were considered central to the synthesis of any workable plan for the prevention of children resorting to street life.
Participants produced a Declaration of Commitment outlining the course of action necessary to create a protective environment for children that called for:
- research and development of preventive measures tailored to each province;
- allocation of budgets at local level;
- capacity development of those working with children on the streets;
- improved inter–sectoral coordination;
- the involvement of municipalities, civil society and the media;
- development of a monitoring system to assess progress.
Many children working on the street to support their families with additional income are missing out on their education as a result.
Photograph by Rana Mullan
© UNICEF Turkey 2006
Provinces plan for action
SHÇEK determined that each of the ten pilot provinces of Adana, Ankara, Antalya, Bursa, Diyarbakir, Erzurum, Gaziantep, İstanbul, İzmir and Mersin should prepare a Provincial Action Plan (PAP) to implement the new service model, focusing on the twin components of:
- prevention of children resorting to street life;
- and protection for those who already have.
Since various ministries, NGOs and agencies have been addressing one or more of the problems that contribute to children resorting to street life for some time, the need for close inter–sectoral collaboration was identified during the earliest discussions. An integrated multi–disciplinary approach that would avoid duplication of roles and ensure the best disposition of resources is considered essential to the success of the PAPs.
A vitally important requirement in the development of the PAPs was that they should be ‘tailored’ to take account of the specific dimensions of the problem in each city, making optimal use of the services available from local NGOs and focusing on prevalent social issues that exacerbate the problem in the area. UNICEF organised preliminary field visits to the pilot provinces, contracting the International Child Centre (ICC) to ascertain which NGOs were operating locally, what services they offer and how they could be involved in the implementation of the PAP.
The views of children — particularly those who are living on the street or at risk of resorting to street life — were sought for inclusion in the PAPs at special workshops organised in advance of action plan meetings. One of the requests that children consistently made was for the provision of parenting education since many felt that their families tended to be out of touch with the modern world.
With the exception of Erzurum and Gaziantep, PAPs have been formulated for all of the pilot provinces and better profiles of children involved in street life as well as their families are already emerging. Suggestions for further implementation of PAPs include:
- provision of parenting education;
- identification of children at risk;
- ensuring that all children attend primary school;
- establishment of monitoring committees;
- establishment of an inter–sectoral database at the provincial level;
- awareness raising campaigns;
- involving NGOs for social mobilisation and re–integration;
- mobilising funds for implementation.
The most important next step is to make a budget and obtain the necessary funding to implement the PAPs in the pilot cities.
The long term
Perhaps unsurprisingly, child poverty has emerged as the single most important factor in the backgrounds of children who have been profiled so far.
Speaking at the meeting to discuss the PAP for Mersin in December 2006, İsmail Bariş, Director of SHÇEK emphasised that:
The root cause of children living or working on the streets is poverty and the tens of thousands of vulnerable boys and girls on the streets of our towns and cities are the manifestation of this pressing social issue.
UNICEF agrees that eradicating the problem of widespread child poverty is the only long term approach to preventing children resorting to street life but insists that without an accurate system of data collection, monitoring and long term investment in sufficient budgets for prevention, the problem will not go away.
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SAY YES, WINTER 2007
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