Growing up on the streets: research with and for young people on the streets

Growing up on the Streets is an innovative participatory research project following the lives of street children and youth as they grow up on the streets of African cities (Accra, Ghana; Bukavu, DRC and Harare, Zimbabwe). 

The research design was developed by street children and youth (aged 14-20), employing a capability (rather than vulnerability) approach to their lives.

Street youth were engaged across project inception, research, dissemination, to data analysis: defining research objectives, training as researchers, conducting ethnographic research to directly sharing their knowledge with stakeholders who have power over their lives.

Involving a network of 229 participants and hundreds more in 198 focus groups, Growing up on the Street training, developed as the Growing up on the Streets Knowledge Exchange Training Pack (with UKRI ESRC funding) was used and adapted globally in consultations for the UN General Comment on Children in Street Situations.

The research created a unique and substantial data set of 2478 ethnographic reports (plus images, films, and story maps) which is in use in several ongoing projects and contributing to key international policy discussions. For example, in October 2024, Growing up on the Streets co-organised a UN satellite event, Growing up on the streets and realising children’s rights, for the 1st Ministerial Conference on Ending Violence Against Children which took place in Bogotá, Colombia, sharing promising practices and lessons to achieve the SDG target 16.2 to end all forms of violence against children. 

See our story maps made with street youth:

• Street Life in the City on the Edge: Street youth recount their daily lives in Bukavu, DRC
• Growing up on the Streets: A Story Map by Accra's Street Youth
• In the Shadow of a Pandemic: Harare's Street Youth Experience COVID-19 (A story map)
• Read more about Growing up on the Streets impact 

Growing up on the Streets aims to bridge the gap between the realities for young people living on the streets, challenging the prevailing binary view that children are simply at risk ‘on’ and safe ‘off’ the streets. From young people’s own accounts, street life is complex – a source of social networks, income and identity. 

By recognising young people’s agency and resilience, but also their need to access their basic rights such as food, shelter, health care, education, and fair and just treatment, the research seeks to provide an evidence base that will challenge accepted thinking, improve policies and practice, and transform the lives of street children.

The research was jointly developed and led by the University’s Professor Lorraine van Blerk, independent consultant Dr Wayne Shand and the late Father Patrick Shanahan of the NGO StreetInvest (now part of the Consortium for Street Children), and funded by the Backstage Trust. 

The team has strong ongoing relationships with young people, local project teams, and practitioners across Africa.

External partner: Consortium for Street Children