The Effectiveness of Rehabilitation Interventions on Street Children’s Social Development in Kakamega Central Sub-County, Kenya

Abstract

Rehabilitating street children requires collective efforts of all relevant stakeholders. The study problem was the inadequacy of a comprehensive rehabilitation approach that yields significant impact in addressing street children’s social development. The objective of the study was to evaluate effectiveness of rehabilitation interventions on street children’s social development in Kakamega Central Sub-county, Kenya. This study was guided by Ecological theory by Bronfebrenner. Correlation research design was adopted. Study population included 220 street children in closed and open rehabilitation systems, 30 GOK and NGO’s rehabilitation staff, 10 social workers, 8 GOK officers, 5 counselors and 21 businessmen. Primary and secondary data were used. Primary data collection utilized questionnaires, interview guides, observation checklists and Focus Group Discussion. Cluster and snow-ball sampling were used to sample street children. Census and purposive sampling were used to sample key informants. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, specifically frequencies, percentages and mean. Inferential statistics were Chi- square test of independence and Spearman’s rank order correlation. Qualitative data analysis and interpretation utilized coding, voices and narrative analysis. Data was displayed in form of graphs, charts and tables. This research established that, 89% of street children were aware of rehabilitation interventions and 81.8% attend rehabilitation facilities while 16.1 % do not prefer going to rehabilitation facilities because they feel it is a waste of time and do not like being controlled. Faith Based Organizations were most popular service providers (40.2%). Services provided included nutrition support (28.8%) and skills training (22.7%). Some 44% street children were satisfied with rehabilitation interventions against 49% who were not satisfied because they were either refused help because of age, misbehavior, or simply because they disliked the services provided. Spearman correlation indicated a positive and significant relationship between rehabilitation interventions and street children’s social development (ϒ=0.505, ᾳ=0.000, ρ-value=0.01). Chi-Square test indicated a significant relationship between key informants’ preferences and type of rehabilitation intervention ᾳ˂ρ-value (ᾳ=0.000, ρ-value=0.05%, χ²=149.078, n=74). Therefore the study recommends a collaborative mechanism to bring on board stakeholders and partners from all sectors involved in street children rehabilitation interventions at international, national and county levels then allocate adequate resources and continuously build the capacity of staff dealing with street children so as to improve their effectiveness on enhancing street children’s social development.

Keywords: Street children, Interventions, Social Development and Rehabilitation