Sarah Thomas de Benitez 1 November 2011 Start with Children Listen observe discuss reflect Stories of multiple deprivations before touching urban streets My stepmother used to say she and my father quarreled because of me she did not want to take me in with her other children B ID: 592462
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Slide1
Making Global Connections: children, the streets and us
Sarah Thomas de Benitez1 November 2011Slide2
Start with Children
Listen, observe, discuss, reflect
Stories of multiple deprivations - before touching urban streets
‘
My stepmother used to say she and my father quarreled because of me – she did not want to take me in with her other children. But my father wanted to take me. After big arguments my stepmother used to beat me – even when it was not any fault of mine. My father never used to defend me or stopped my stepmother
.
’
Geeta, a girl aged 11 or 12, India
‘I am always asking myself about the things that happened to me, did I do something wrong to pay for it every day? All the things that I faced with my father and the persons who I worked with and all the abuse that I faced on a daily basis must be punishment for a thing that I didn’t do…
’
a 15-year old boy in Alexandria, Egypt’Slide3
Children and connectionsSlide4
Developing street connections
‘Push’ factors – Deprivations
The fewer/weaker connections a child has with home, extended family, school, neighbourhood clubs and activities… the stronger the urge to develop significant connections in other environments. Whether alongside or instead of…
‘Pull’ factors – Choice / Tactical Agency
‘Street-connectedness’ suggests that children start to develop or strengthen their connections with and within the street when other connections are weakened, temporarily fractured, chronically damaged or broken…
Slide5
‘street-connectedness’
a paradigm shiftOn the street:Child as social actor developing
relationships
with people and places (in everyday lives)
Focus on children’s emotional and cognitive
associations
with public spaces as well as physical presence on the street (children can be street-connected even when in a shelter or home) Child who spends time working, hanging out or living on the street forms attachments there (not dependent on categorization such as in/of street)
Recognises that street-based experiences make particular contributions to identity developmentSlide6
Children with Street Connections
‘’Children for whom the street is a central reference point – one which plays a significant
role in their
everyday lives
and
identities’Slide7
Useful for Research: Typology of street-connectedness Slide8
Useful for interventions
Connections with street (nature/type & intensity)Connections with family, neighbourhood, school, services
Understanding rights deprivations in a holistic context
Restoring, building on existing, and developing new connections to rightsSlide9
Systemic Support
- Gill & Jack (2008) Poverty 129Slide10
Useful for child protection systems
Strengthen healthy connections Prevent multiple deprivations
Partnerships – with NGOs and private sector
Data collection around connections
Connected children who trust adults and know their rights are better able to defend them Slide11
Street-connections, policies and governance… and us. Must include:
Law Enforcement for children (+ sanctions)
Budgets for childhood
Data Collection with children
Economic Policies for child development
Social protection policies for child inclusion (social connections)
International support for children