Street children in Tanzania, what needs to be done: a case study of Dar es Salaam city.

This study tries to examine the root cause of the problem of street children and the implementation of the government policy on the issue. Chapter One gives a general introduction to the problem of street children as well as defining main concepts used in this study. Chapter Two deals with the historical perspective of the problem of street children in both developed and developing countries. Several arguments from different scholars on the case of street children are found in this chapter. All of the arguments show that the problem of street children exists and poverty emerges as a major factor leading to the issue although some scholars argue that there are immediate causes of the problem apart from poverty: child abuse, family disintegration and cost of education are some of the immediate causes. Chapter Three concentrates on research methodology. The area of study, research design and tools of data collection are explained. Chapter Four discusses the research findings. Typology of Dar es Salaam street children is taken into account. The major group is that comprised of candidates for the streets. Cause of street children is examined as well as government policy. It has been found that todate, Tanzania has no policy on children worse still, many NGOs are mushrooming to deal with street children on business basis. As a result, children continues to suffer. Suggestions are given under the subheading "What Needs to be Done". Chapter Five suggests 'What Needs to be Done' and concludes.