A Participatory Communication Approach in The Rehabilitation of Street Children: A Case of Mathare Slum in Nairobi County.

Abstract

The phenomenon of street children is a social dilemma faced in different counties in Kenya. Efforts to rehabilitate children living and working on the streets have been employed both by the government and non-governmental organizations working with children. One of these interventions is participatory communication which is used to involve the children in programmes designed for them within the rehabilitation centres. There are several studies on the interventions applied in the rehabilitation of street children, however, the role and impact of participatory communication approach in the rehabilitation of street children is insufficiently explored. This study sought to identify the role of participatory communication and its effectiveness in the rehabilitation of street children in rehabilitation centres in Mathare Sub-County, in Kenya. This exploratory study sought to understand the experiences, views and needs of the street children and to examine the communication approach used in rehabilitation centres. Additionally, to establish the rehabilitation centres’ level of involvement of street children in the interventions and the challenges they encounter in the delivery of communication approach during rehabilitation. The theory that guided the study was the Participatory Communication Theory which advocates for a two-way process of communication which is engaging and collaborative. Primary data collection was done in four rehabilitation centres. The researcher focused on participants who had frequent (daily) interaction with the children in the rehabilitation centres. The participants for the study were purposively selected and the researcher adopted the exploratory research design. Data collection tools included an in-depth interview guide with sixteen participant, 10 social workers and 6 children aged 11-17 years. Data was analysed using thematic summary analysis where the researcher focused on the major themes emerging from the responses. Key themes were identified: formed connections; rehabilitation process; participatory communication approaches; language; child participation; psychoeducation; withholding information; survival tactics; trauma; child experiences in the rehabilitation centre; child involvement; and child empowerment. Participant’s responses evidenced that participatory communication approaches are being applied in the rehabilitation of the street children but there is need for trust. The study revealed that both the social workers and the street children acknowledged that there was involvement of both parties in the rehabilitation process. However, there were levels of participation evidenced in the study and some of the challenges to participatory communication include mistrust, trauma, drug and substance abuse and language barrier. This study recommends an end to end participatory communication approach in the rehabilitation of street children from the point of rescue to their rehabilitation, rather than the segmented approach which does not begin at the point of rescue. The researcher recommends that future research delve deeper into exploring the role of communication approaches in the rehabilitation of street children in different contexts. Such studies can use comparative research to determine the different approaches to describe and explain similarities and differences of the study problem.