Social Capital as a Survival Mechanism

The problem of streetism is becoming rampant with the advent of urbanization and poverty in developing countries. The extent of the problem of street children and youth is worse as the level of poverty is extreme. The studies conducted so far mostly focus on discovering the causes of the problems and the interventions designed to address these problems. This research is unique in that it applied a resilience approach that looks for strengths that exist within individuals and their environment to build upon it and bring about change. Consequently this book explores social capital of the street children and youth in depth to shade light on the realities of their lives in an effort to build on opportunities for survival by studying their everyday street lives. The structure of the society that supports them and the internal structure of the groups are also addressed. The book examined varied classification of 'on', 'of' and 'high risk' street children in the age group of 5 - 24 in Addis Ababa. Cases of projects initiated by humanitarian organizations to engage them into mainstream society and make them productive citizens are also assessed.