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

街头儿童也许是城市环境中贫穷和边缘化的最明显标志之一，但他们的权利往往得不到实现。此外，街头儿童缺乏正式代表，使他们置身于政策制定的舞台之外。他们不仅面临多方面的问题，而且作为一个群体，他们很难被定义。这既体现在他们与街头的关系上也体现在他们作为受害者和罪犯的地位上；它们的复杂性是它们难以捉摸的关键。此外，街头儿童的独立地位使他们处于儿童保护范围之外，而儿童保护是由成年人照料的，这往往导致他们在没有成年人代表的情况下获得有限的服务或无法获得服务。因此，他们在国际政策议程上被其他易受伤害的群体所取代，这些群体的侵犯人权行为更容易被确定，例如性剥削或暴力的受害者，这就提出了关于街头儿童的权利和需要如何界定以及由谁界定的基本问题。然而，参与性研究现在被认为是一种比较成功的方法，使人们开始听到儿童的声音，可以利用这种方法为将街头儿童纳入决策和政策制定提供咨询意见。因此，该项目的目的是通过研究知识交流来解决街头儿童的政策差距。2012年，一项名为“街头成长”的学术与实践合作研究项目成立，该项目收集了来自三个不同非洲城市的198名街头儿童三年的纵向数据：津巴布韦哈拉雷；阿克拉,加纳;以及刚果民主共和国的布卡武。此外，还采取了一种创新的参与性办法，使街头儿童在街头工作人员项目经理的指导下积极从事自己的研究，以探索他们在街头的能力。这项研究的结果构成了该项目的证据基础，该项目旨在弥合当前立法和政治态度与街头儿童现实之间的差距。该计划分四个阶段完成七个目标。第一阶段发展街头青年参与从研究开始到政策制定的过程。其目的是将街头儿童的意见作为提供服务的常规部分。第二阶段发展从业者的参与和能力，方法是举办讲习班，传播研究的关键信息，并首先在整个非洲建立一个同行网络，供从业者通过在线论坛进行讨论和分享。该网络旨在发展能力并分享最佳做法，以便更好地向街头儿童提供服务。第三阶段以其他阶段为基础，专门针对政策缺口。在非洲和英国举办的一系列讲习班/活动邀请了政府机构、联合国成员和其他主要利益攸关方，旨在提高对研究成果的认识，制定政策建议并寻求将其转化为具体行动。公众参与也是提高对街头儿童权利认识的一项关键战略。最后，第四阶段包括在所有其他阶段进行反思性评价的过程，以确保其有效性。该项目的成果旨在通过让街头儿童参与数据分析和政策对话，以及为将街头儿童纳入从开始到政策制定的研究过程建立非政府组织培训，为街头儿童提供直接利益；对非政府组织，发展网络中心和面对面研讨会，分享最佳做法；并向政策利益攸关方（政府、捐助者、国际非政府组织、联合国机构），通过将研究的关键信息转化为政策建议，有可能倡导直接改变国家和国际政策。

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.