Improving community participation in supporting most vulnerable children: case study of children petty hawkers /vendors in Morogoro municipality
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Date
2009
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Sokoine University of Agriculture.
Abstract
Community participation is active and genuine involvement by community in defining
issues of concern to them, deciding priorities for action, formulating policies to address
them, designing plans, implementing, managing and monitoring solutions and evaluating
outcome. Good community participation starts in the early stages of life during which
individuals children develop the skills and knowledge necessary to function within their
culture and environment. This study explores achievement made in using community
participatory approach to children hawkers in Morogoro Municipality. Specific objectives
were to determine the main socioeconomic aspect of community participatory approach to
support children petty hawkers, to investigate factors for increase on number of children
petty vendors and to determine socio-economic condition that may lead to the reducing of
children petty hawkers. The study was carried out in Morogoro Municipality. A cross
sectional design was adopted. A representative sample of 100 respondents was drawn from
a sampling frame. The SPSS was used for data analysis. The study shows that there is an
effect over lack of community participation in children petty hawkers. Children who
engage in business lack community care. The children petty hawkers develop a deviant
behavior which leads the community not to care for their social services needs. This makes
the children develop a group of their own age with a unique behaviour. The study shows
that the major forces for the community participation failing to help children are due break
of down moral and copying western style life. It also shows that the major forces for the
children to engage in petty business are the breakdown of the family, death of the parents,
peer group pressure and poverty. The study recommends that there is a need to have a
comprehensive and implementation policy on the community and family and how to
empower these families economically and morally.
Description
Dissertation
Keywords
Improving community, Vulnerable children, Petty hawkers, Morogoro municipality, Improving children