Caretakers of the Environment Tanzania

Caretakers of the Children:
The Street Children Project


Street Children are seen in all large cities in Tanzania: children of all ages living, begging and working on the streets. Their number keeps increasing all over the country and their situation is degenerating. Street children are at high risk of exploitation and physical and emotional abuse, especially through prostitution and violence in the streets.
Caretakers of the Environment Tanzania (COET) is now offering creative and exciting responses to working with street children, their families and their communities in the Mwanza Region and beyond.
Get in contact with us to discover more about street children and our work with them. Let’s work together, so that no child ever has to live or work on the streets again!



Overview of COET
COET started working in 2005 and was officially registered in January 2007. The initial direction of the project focused on sustaining the natural environment. COET set up programs entailing environmental education, tree planting and promoting clean environments in secondary schools. The aims of these programs are to educate the students, integrate them with their environment, and encourage them to keep it clean.
Since these initial programs in 2005, COET has branched out, to focus also on the human environment. This is due to the urgent problem of the ever, increasing number of orphans and street children in Tanzania’s cities.

What are ‘street children’?

They are children (under 18 years old) who spend most of their time on the streets. There are between 10 and 100 million street children worldwide, depending on the exact definition used.
The street children phenomenon is increasing rapidly worldwide. In 2001, the United Nations estimated that the population of street children (3 to 18 years of age) worldwide was 150 million, with the number rising daily. Approximately 40% of these children are homeless and the other 60% work the streets to support their families. Some sources estimate that this number will increase to 800 million by the year 2020.
UNICEF has identified three types of street children: Street Living, Street Working, and Street Family.
Street Living Children: children who cut ties with their families and live alone on the streets.
· In Mwanza City: 1,200 children (Caretakers of the Environment Tanzania survey June 2005-2007);
· 20% girls;
· Mostly 12-18 years old.
Street Working Children: children who spend all their time or most of their time working on the streets to provide income for their families or for themselves. These children have a home to return to and do not usually sleep on the streets.
· In Mwanza City: 500 to 2,000 children (depending on definition)
· 50% girls
· Mostly 6 to 15 years old
Street Families: children who live with their family on the streets.
· In Mwanza City: from 100 to 1,000 (depends on situations in the surburbs)
· 50% girls
· All ages

Factors affecting the increase of street children
Urbanization: an increasing percentage of the rural population are migrating to the cities, which are unable to absorb the sudden increase, forcing the migrants into slums and squatter areas in Mwanza hills, where basic services are unavailable. Children and youths have no access to education and spend most of their time on the streets.
Under-employment: a large number of adults are without employment or under-employed. All the members of the family must therefore seek income, forcing children to work on the streets at a very young age.
HIV/AIDS: as parents become sick from AIDS related diseases, children become the sole providers for their family, working for food and money. Once their parents have passed away, these children remain on the streets and live there permanently. This phenomenon is very acute in Mwanza Region and Tanzania (in general).
Family Dysfunctions: children and families are victims of the weakening of traditional social and family structures. As instability increases and the families break up, children are often left without support.
Attraction to the cities: as the countryside remains poor, cities are getting richer. Young people perceive a better future by living in the cities, a message reinforced by the mass media.
Peer Pressure: young people often leave in groups to go to the cities, supporting and encouraging each other.
Unrest: many children and families are victims of civil unrest or domestic violence. As violence erupts, children are forced to migrate and end up on the streets of large cities, often after being separated from their families.


Risks street children are exposed to
Drugs: a high number of children use drugs to escape their daily lives and problems. Many are also abusing drugs through peer pressure.
Sexual Abuse: children are the prey of adults in search of immediate sexual gratification. Girls especially are at risk of rape. A substantial number of children turn to prostitution as a means to make an income. Additionally, some children are kidnapped and sold to the international sex trade.
HIV/AIDS: because of the risk of abuse and because of early sexual activity, children are at high risk of HIV infection. Contamination rates among this segment of the population are usually proportionally higher than the national averages (for example in Tanzania, 15% of street youth are HIV positive compared to the national average of 8%)
Violence: living on the streets inevitably leads to daily violence: physical violence (by police, sellers, gangs etc), emotional violence, and psychological violence.

Caretakers of the Environment Tanzania

Caretakers of the Children:
The Street Children Project