BASELINE STUDY—KIDSS PROJECT

Street Children in Bamenda, , and Yaoundé Disclaimer This publication has been supported by the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under the terms of Cooperative Agreement No. AID-624-A-14-00004. The contents are the responsibility of Catholic Relief Services and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.

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ii Acknowledgements

This report would not have been possible without the kind support and help of many individuals and organizations. All of them are hereby acknowledged and appreciated.

We are highly indebted to several representatives of the Government of the Republic of Cameroon at national, subnational, and operational levels for the information, guidance, and support they provided to the consultants. We want to also acknowledge and appreciate the valuable contributions from KIDSS project focal points in the three key ministries, including Jean Pierre Edjoa, Ms. Caroline Wendjel, and Théodore Ngue from the Ministry of Social Affairs (MINAS); Ms. Queenta Ayukotang and Jean Vincent de Paul Atangana from the Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and Promotion of the Family (MINPROFF); and Ms. Laureen Motanga from the Ministry of Public Health (MINSANTE).

KIDSS project staff, including Dr. Carl Stecker, Berenger Tchatchou, Oliver Mokom, and Dr. Celestin Kouambeng, were relentless in their efforts to improve the report through editing, reviewing multiple drafts of the report, and facilitating the selection, guidance, and supervision of the consultants to arrive at this final published version.

Special thanks go to the Ms. Aisatou Ngong, the representative of the KIDSS project Agreement Officer at USAID, for her diligence, thorough review and final approval of this report for publication.

Our thanks and appreciation also go to Mr. Vincent Ruffin for his excellent copy-editing skills and to Ms. Sharon Calandra for the English translation of this publication.

Finally, we would like to express our gratitude to CRS/HQ colleagues for facilitating final editing, artwork, and layout for publication of this report.

x Preface

REPUBLIQUE DU CAMEROUN REPUBLIC OF CAMEROON Paix – Travail – Patrie Peace – Work - Fatherland ...... MINISTERE DES AFFAIRES SOCIALES MINISTRY OF SOCIAL AFFAIRS ...... Preface of Study on Street Children in Bamenda, Douala, and Yaoundé

Promoting and protecting the rights of every with conflict and armed groups, and children living child is one of the priorities of the social policy of the or working in the streets. Government of the Republic of Cameroon, under the distinguish leadership of the president, H.E. Mr. As part of its mission to formulate and implement . It is in this respect that Cameroon has the government’s policy on prevention, assistance, already ratified all the child protection international and care of the socially vulnerable, the Ministry of legal instruments, while adopting at the domestic Social Affairs, with the support of partners, daily level all measures to guarantee and ensure the conducts programs and projects for the safeguard, harmonious and full development of the child. reeducation, rehabilitation, and reintegration of children in difficulty. This increased interest in child wellbeing is rooted in Cameroonian tradition and culture and For example, over the last few years the is justified, among other things, by the need to Government of the Republic of Cameroon, with perpetuate the lineage, to ensure the protection support of the United States Agency for International and development of the family and the community Development (USAID) and Catholic Relief Services as well as the need for belonging and integration, (CRS), has provided care for vulnerable children in valorization and self-relief development. four pilot sites, namely Bamenda, Northwest Region, Douala in the Littoral, and Yaoundé in the Center In this context, it is essential that children are Region, through the “Key Interventions to Develop protected from all forms of violence, abuse, and Systems and Services for Orphans and Vulnerable exploitation; enjoy good physical and mental health, Children” (KIDSS) project. lead healthy lives; explore and develop their potential, are preserved from socio-economic hazards likely to A key strategy of KIDSS project in the hinder their growth, and wellbeing; and are positively improvement of child protection systems, is the involved in community life and society as a whole. conduct of thematic studies on the issue of vulnerable children. It is within this framework that the study Unfortunately, due to some internal and external on Street Children in Bamenda, Douala and factors, individual, family, economic and social Yaoundé was carried out. emanations, certain categories of children live today on the margins of the normative social field and Through a systematic and comprehensive therefore require special protection measures. These analysis of the phenomenon of children living include children with disabilities, children infected outside of households, this study helps to understand and affected by HIV and AIDS, orphans and other demographic and socio-economic characteristics of vulnerable children who are abused, exploited, in street children, and analyzes their level of exposure emergencies, trafficked, involved in child labor, are to violence, abuse, and disease. It also provides from vulnerable indigenous populations, associated explanatory data on the factors and effects of this

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xi phenomenon, and evaluates the effectiveness of common responsibility of solidarity towards these current interventions. The results show, overall, children, and to take collective, effective, and that the problem of children living outside sustainable measures. The vision of development households is complex and varies according to targeted by the State of Cameroon by 2035 whether one is studying street children, children requires the construction of a fair and equitable living in specialized institutions, children living in society, working for the well-being of all citizens. rehabilitation centers, or children in conflict with the law. The Minister of Social Affairs,

Faced with such a situation, it is important Pauline Irène NGUENE to raise the awareness of all social actors on our

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xii About KIDSS

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) awarded Catholic Relief Services (CRS) a cooperative agreement grant (AID-624-A-14-00004) to implement the “Key Interventions to Develop Systems and Services for Orphans and Vulnerable Children” (KIDSS) project. KIDSS is funded under the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). Over a five-year period (2014-2019), CRS, in partnership with the Archdioceses of Bamenda, Douala, and Yaoundé, and eight civil society organizations (CSOs), is addressing the challenges of providing quality and sustainable care and support to orphans and vulnerable children (OVC). Through the KIDSS project, CRS is strengthening the capacities of the Government of the Republic of Cameroon (GRC), civil society, communities, and households to deliver quality and sustainable care and support to OVC.

The three principal expected results of KIDSS are:

Result 1: Improved Government of the Republic of Cameroon (GRC) systems and policy environment for sustainable care and treatment of OVC infected and affected by HIV;

Result 2: Improved capacity of communities, vulnerable households, and local providers to provide HIV services to achieve 90-90-90 targets;

Result 3: Increased use of targeted services by OVC and their households at the community and facility levels.

xiii Executive summary

The goal of this study is to present the situation of children living outside households, and more specifically, street children. To a lesser extent, it deals with the situation of children living in orphanages or who are in conflict with the law, for whom information is presented in the Appendix of this report, based on collected data, notably in the cities of Bamenda, Douala, and Yaoundé. More concretely, this report provides an analytical description of the framework set up to care for these categories of orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) in Cameroon, as well as some of their characteristics, particularly sociodemographic factors, and to make concrete recommendations to improve their living conditions. To achieve this goal, the methodological approach predominantly focused on documentary research and the collection of both qualitative and quantitative data.

Thus, the study investigated a sample made up of 1,221 children, who were mostly aged 11 to 18 years, on a population sub-group estimated at approximately 2,500 for the three cities covered in the study. The school enrollment rate among these children is very low (15.5%), particularly for boys. Overall, 53% are from single-parent or blended families or polygamous households, while 11% are full orphans. Some reasons why the surveyed children slip on to the streets include: seeking their personal livelihoods (53.1%), the death of at least one of the child’s parents (21.8%), and seeking family livelihoods (19.6%). They mostly live on small income-generating activities, primarily geared toward meeting their food needs and purchasing clothes. Their parents or guardians are generally involved in agricultural activities. Approximately 44% of these children smoke cigarettes and 64.1% use marijuana. Street children are often victims of discrimination, stigmatization, and abuse, as well as psychological, emotional, sexual, and physical violence. The majority of street children have a solid understanding of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), as well as how they are transmitted and prevented.

The phenomenon of children living outside households—and more specifically the situation of street children—are our collective responsibility. Accordingly, we have drawn up the following recommendations, in terms of prevention and protection, to improve living conditions for street children:

1. Develop strategies for community mobilization to develop surveillance and early warning systems and to identify children at risk of ending up on the streets by offering them alternatives.

2. Develop alternative and viable income sources for families at risk of seeing their children end up on the streets. These alternative income mechanisms could be incorporated into the social sector strategy, as part of its revision, and implemented by key ministries (MINAS, MINPROFF, MINEFOP) and other relevant agencies.

1 / STREET CHILDREN IN BAMENDA, DOUALA, AND YAOUNDÉ 3. Extend conditional cash transfer projects, such as the World Bank Social Safety Net Project, to families at risk of seeing their children turn to the streets. These programs could provide financial or material support to poor families, provided that they send their children to school, who, in turn, must actually complete their courses. These incentives would promote an increase in child enrollment by providing families with additional resources (income effect).

4. Reduce the vulnerability of households by setting up social protection measures in areas where street children come from. Savings and Internal Lending Communities (SILCs), micro-insurance, tontines, and micro-credit programs should also be promoted and developed within the framework of the National Social Protection Strategy.

5. Provide support for transitional emergencies designed to reduce the extreme vulnerability of street children. For the government and other actors, such as non-governmental organization (NGOs), this means establishing permanent or mobile centers providing medical services, food, and clothing, as well as setting up temporary first-aid facilities and providing a safe shelter where children can sleep.

6. Facilitate children’s re-integration into the family. Measures to remove children from the streets and re-integrate them into their families and communities should be developed and accelerated, in support of actions already undertaken by the MINAS.

7. Strengthen the skills and expertise of law-enforcement staff (particularly police officers from the Special Brigade for Minors, responsible for identifying and protecting children in “moral danger”) to ensure better protection of street children. Relevant officials and NGOs should improve their social protection programs so that children who have been rescued from the streets are able to access the social services they need (including emergency shelters, temporary placement in a family, medical care, needs assessment, psychosocial assistance, legal support, search for families and their assessment, post-integration monitoring, learning opportunities for a “second chance,” etc.).

8. Organize awareness raising campaigns to change attitudes and behaviors within target populations. This involves using innovative methods to sensitize and inform families of their parental responsibilities, the harsh living conditions for street children (health, food, hygiene, lodging, etc.), and the importance of education.

9. Ensure that having access to free, compulsory, and high-quality primary education for all children, both girls and boys, is a fundamental principle for the provision of comprehensive basic education. Moreover, gender disparities in primary and secondary education must be eliminated.

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