Factors Influencing Street Children's Resistance to Rehabilitation In
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FACTORS INFLUENCING STREET CHILDREN’S RESISTANCE TO REHABILITATION IN NAKURU TOWN, NAKURU COUNTY, KENYA BETTY CHEPNGETICH A Thesis Submitted to the Board of Post Graduate Studies in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Award of Master of Arts Degree in Sociology (Community Development and Project Planning) of Egerton University EGERTON UNIVERSITY MAY, 2018 DECLARATION AND RECOMMENDATIONS Declaration This thesis is my original work and to the best of my knowledge, it has not been presented in this or any other University for conferment of degree or award of diploma. Signature _________________________ Date: _________________________ Betty Chepngetich AM17/2129/08 Recommendations This thesis has been submitted for examination with our recommendations as University Supervisors. Signature _________________________ Date: _________________________ Prof. Kibet Ngetich (PhD) Department of Peace, Security and Social Sciences Egerton University Signature _________________________ Date: _________________________ Dr. Eric Kiprono Bor (PhD) Department of Peace, Security and Social Sciences Egerton University ii COPYRIGHT © 2018 Betty Chepngetich All Rights Reserved Whole or no part of this thesis may be reproduced, transmitted or stored in any form or means such as electronic, mechanical or photocopying including recording or any information storage and retrieval system, or translated in any language without prior written permission of the author or Egerton University on that behalf. iii DEDICATION This work is dedicated to the following special people in my life; my dear husband Rev. Brian Ezekiel Rop, for all the support and encouragement throughout my study period, my sons Nathan and Mark for giving me a reason to work hard and to my parents who gave me the educational background and have been my cheerleaders all the way. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This work would not have been skillfully done without the contributions of numerous individuals and institutions. In this regard, I wish to express my gratitude to the following; First, I would like to appreciate the Almighty God for guiding me and ordering my steps up to the completion of this thesis. Secondly, I appreciate Egerton University for the opportunity that they gave me to pursue my studies. Thirdly, my heartfelt gratitude goes to Professor Kibet Ngetich and Dr. Eric Bor, for their dedication, commitment, patience and professional guidance for this study. Fourthly, I want to express my gratitude to Pr. Sammy Mwai of the Street children feeding programme for all the support he offered during my data collection process. The interviews would not have been carried out successfully without his assistance. Fifthly, I wish to recognize the following institutions for their incredible support during my study; Child Protection department of Nakuru County, Nakuru County Children‟s office, Lutheran Rehabilitation programme, God‟s Children Ministry and Nakuru County Children‟s Remand. Lastly, I thank all my respondents both in the pilot and final study, for accepting to participate in the interviews. v ABSTRACT The phenomenon of street children in urban centres globally has been increasing at an alarming rate. However, the efforts to resolve it have failed partly due to lack of adequate knowledge by the concerned stakeholders on the strategies to employ because of the street children‟s way of life in the street. Children in the streets face many challenges as the life they lead is largely inhumane with unending abuse and suffering that affects their lives. Hence, it is important to understand the reasons why they resist rehabilitation and choose to continue with suffering in the streets. Limited studies have been done on the factors that make street children resist rehabilitation and choose to continue with hard life in the streets. The main objective of this study was to examine the factors that influence street children‟s resistance to rehabilitation in Nakuru Town. Specific objectives of the study were; to establish the social factors that make street children resist rehabilitation in Nakuru town, to find out the economic factors that make street children resist rehabilitation in Nakuru town and to determine the coping mechanisms of street children to hard life of the streets in Nakuru town. The study was informed by the social network and resilience theories. The target population of the study was street children living in Nakuru Town. The unit of analysis was the street child in Nakuru Town. The study applied multi-stage sampling techniques that comprised of purposive, stratification and snowballing in selecting the respondents. Data analysis used both qualitative and quantitative methods where analyzed data was presented in tables, pie charts and cross tabulation followed by interpretations and discussions in order to address the objectives and research questions. In addressing social factors that make street children resist rehabilitation, the study established that street children are organized in groupings called bases; this is a survival group system with formal structure of leadership. It enables them to have a sense of belonging, identity, and security. The study recommends that interventions targeting rehabilitation of street children should understand the social economic and coping mechanisms of street children to street life in order to apply appropriate intervention. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION AND RECOMMENDATIONS ..................................................... ii DEDICATION.............................................................................................................. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ............................................................................................ v ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................. vi LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................................... xi LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................... xii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS ................................................. xiii CHAPTER ONE ........................................................................................................... 1 INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Background to the study ........................................................................................ 1 1.2 Statement of the Problem ...................................................................................... 3 1.3 Objectives of the study .......................................................................................... 3 1.3.1 Broad Objectives ................................................................................................ 3 1.3.2 Specific Objectives ............................................................................................. 3 1.4 Research Questions ............................................................................................... 3 1.5 Justifications for the Study .................................................................................... 4 1.6 Scope and Limitations of the Study ...................................................................... 4 1.7 Definition of Terms: .............................................................................................. 5 CHAPTER TWO .......................................................................................................... 7 LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ....................... 7 2.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 7 2.2 The Concept of Street Children ............................................................................. 7 2.3 Interventions for Street Children ......................................................................... 11 2.3.1 Various Categorizations ................................................................................... 11 2.3.2 The Social Factors Hindering Street Children‟s Rehabilitation ....................... 18 2.3.3 The Economic Factors Hindering Street children‟s Rehabilitation ................. 21 2.3.4 Coping mechanism to street life ....................................................................... 24 2.3.5 Street Children Resistance to Rehabilitation .................................................... 28 2.4 Theoretical Framework ....................................................................................... 30 2.4.1 Social Network Theory .................................................................................... 30 2.4.2 Resilience theory .............................................................................................. 32 2.5 Conceptual Framework ....................................................................................... 32 vii CHAPTER THREE .................................................................................................... 34 METHODOLOGY ..................................................................................................... 34 3.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................... 34 3.2 Description of the Study Area ............................................................................ 34 3.3 Research Design .................................................................................................