Street-connectedness and education in Kenya: Experiences of formal schooling as rationale for inclusive pedagogies of practice

This paper contributes to the literature on street-connectedness and inclusive education, presenting original research findings from two Kenyan studies aiming to understand street-connected young people’s experiences of education. The first focused on transitioning from the street into education or training to explore the challenges of making that transition. The second, on young people who had lived on the street for extended periods of time and were still there at the time of data generation. From these studies, significant understandings emerged concerning: a) education as motivating initial migrations to the street; b) the role of fear, embarrassment and shame in preventing young people going (back) into formal education; and c) how acceptance and support are key to overcoming feelings of not belonging and challenges faced when transitioning from the street into schools. The paper provides empirical evidence that should be considered when planning inclusive education provision for street-connected young people globally

The effect of competition and ownership policies on the housing market

This dissertation consists of five studies presented in seven essays. The overall objectives are to investigate the extent and consequences of competition on the rental housing market as well as the importance of national government policies for the substitute good, i.e. owner-occupied housing. However, each essay also has specific objectives. Due to the characteristics of the housing market, one should not expect competition to be very fierce. The market characteristics are, for instance, capital-intensive, complicated and time-consuming construction processes as well as a limited supply of land in many areas. In fact, firms have a lot to gain from colluding and to avoid e.g. price wars. It is therefore theoretically more likely that housing companies will engage in “functional” or “strategic” competition such as the quality of housing services. Essay I and IV analyze the unique municipal housing market in Sweden where apartment rents are determined by negotiations between the local municipal company and the local Union of Tenants. A regression analysis is applied on data from 30 municipalities. There was a strong correlation between apartment rents at local municipal markets and the level of “external” competition (measured by the price level on the market for single-family owner occupied housing), but not with “internal” competition (measured by the market share of the municipal housing company) or the capital expenditure of the municipal housing company (presumed to reflect historical construction and renovation costs for the apartments). The dissertation also investigates the consequences on rents (essay II) and on the quality of housing services (essay III) from a local Swedish municipal housing company selling a substantial part of its apartment stock (15-40 percent) and thereby theoretically creating more competition. These essays use a quasi-experimental methodology whereby the development of the housing market in a privatization town is compared with the development in a very similar comparison town. It is found that privatization has lead to lower rents in the short- and medium-term in six out of seven privatization towns. The development of the quality of housing services was more related to the performance of each individual company and not a specific category of companies. In essay V, these results are merged and developed further. Essay VI presents a wide range of policies available for governments wishing to increase access to home ownership for low-income households and thereby increasing the pressure on rental housing companies to reduce rents. A systematic overview of policies is provided based on the four distinct time periods of a typical ‘housing career’ of a household; i.e. down payment accumulation stage, transaction stage, ownership stage and selling stage. It is found that many policies are required to meet the specific and differing needs of households for governments wishing to encourage home ownership. Essay VII describes that home ownership rates have increased in almost all industrialized countries during the period from World War II until mid-1990s. The essay analyses the implications of government policies and some other factors (e.g. national wealth, income distribution) on home ownership rates in 13 industrialized countries during the period 1970﷓2000. A fixed-effect model is applied on a panel data set. The most important result is that a statistically significant and positive correlation between government support and home ownership rates was found although this is only a preliminary conclusion since data was scarce.Avhandlingen består av fem studier presenterade i sju essäer. Den övergripande målsättningenär att undersöka konkurrensens omfattning och effekter på bostadshyresmarknaden samtbetydelsen av statliga stödsystem för substitutvaran till hyresbostäder, nämligen olika formerför bostadsägande. Varje essä har också specifika målsättningar.Inledningsvis så bör man inte förvänta sig omfattande konkurrens på bostadshyresmarknadenpga dess särdrag, exempelvis så är byggprocessen kapitalintensiv, kompliceradoch långsam och tillgången på mark är ytterst begränsad på flera delmarknader. I själva verketså har företagen mycket att vinna från att samarbeta och undvika tex priskrig. Teoretiskt så ärdet därför mer sannolikt att bostadsföretag ägnar sig åt ”funktionell” eller ”strategisk” konkurrenssom exempelvis kvaliteten på bostadstjänster.Essä I och IV analyserar konkurrensen på den unika svenska hyresmarknaden där bostadshyrorsätts i förhandlingar mellan det lokala allmännyttiga bostadsföretaget och hyresgästföreningen.Data från 30 kommuner analyseras med hjälp av regressionsanalys. Resultatetvisade en stark korrelation mellan hyresnivån i allmännyttans bostadsbestånd på kommunnivåoch ”extern” konkurrens från liknande ’produkter’ (motsvarande prisnivån på egnahem), meninte med ”intern” konkurrens från andra bostadsföretag (motsvarande allmännyttans marknadsandel)eller allmännyttans kapitalkostnader (som antas främst motsvara byggkostnadernaför lägenheterna).Avhandlingen undersöker även konsekvenserna på hyra (essä II) och kvalitet (essä III) frånen försäljning av en omfattande del (15-40%) av en allmännyttas bostadsbestånd. Teoretisktskapar detta mer konkurrens. Dessa essäer använder sig av en kvasi-experimentell metodikvarvid utvecklingen på en konkurrensutsatt bostadsmarknad i en tätort jämförs med utvecklingeni en annan snarlik tätort. Det visade sig att hyresnivån i sex av sju konkurrensutsattatätorter hade sjunkit på kort och medellång sikt. Däremot visade sig kvalitetsnivån främstvara beroende på den enskilda hyresvärden och inte på hyresvärdens kategori (privat ellerkommunal). Essä V slår samman dessa resultat och utvecklar materialet ytterligare.Essä VI diskuterar ett stort antal medel (eng ’policies’) för en statsmakt som önskar attgöra ägande av bostaden mer tillgängligt för låginkomstgrupper och därigenom bl a ökapressen på hyrorna på bostadsmarknaden. Medlen är systematiskt beskrivna i enlighet med defyra distinkta tidsperioderna för en ’typisk’ bostadskarriär; nämligen stadiet när kontantinsatseninsparas, överlåtelsestadiet, ägandestadiet och försäljningsstadiet. Studien visade attdet troligen behövs ett flertal medel för att möta hushållens specifika och skilda behov omman avser att uppmuntra hemägande.Essä VII beskriver att andelen som äger sin bostad har ökat i nästan samtliga industriländerfrån andra världskriget fram till mitten av 1990-talet. Essän analyserar konsekvenserna avmyndighetsstöd och flera andra faktorer (tex BNP-utveckling, inkomstfördelning) för andelenhushåll som äger sin bostad i 13 industriländer under perioden 1970-2000. En fix-effektmodell appliceras på ett paneldataset. Det främsta resultatet var att det fanns en statistisktsignifikant och positiv korrelation mellan andelen som äger sin bostad och omfattningen påmyndigheternas stöd. Resultatet är dock endast preliminärt då tillgången på data varbegränsad.QC 2010083

From Children of the Garbage Bins to Citizens : A reflexive ethnographic study on the care of “street children”

The aim of the study on which this thesis is based was to gain an understanding of the life situation of street children in Kenya and to investigate how caring institutions care for these children.  A reflexive ethnographic approach was used to facilitate entry into the children’s sub-culture and the work contexts of the caregivers to better understand how the children live on the streets and how the caregivers work with the children. A fundamental aim of the research was to develop interventions to care; one of the reasons why we also used the interpretive description approach. Method and data source triangulation was used. Field notes, tape, video, and photography were used to record the data.  Participant observation, group discussions, individual interviews, home visits, key informant interviews, participatory workshops and clinical findings were used for data collection in Studies I and II.  In addition to observation, interviews were conducted with caregivers for study III, while written narratives from learners attending adult education developed and implemented during the research period provided data for study IV.  Study I indicated that food, shelter and education were the main concerns for the children and that they had strong social bonds and used support networks as a survival strategy.  Study II provided a deeper understanding of the street culture, revealing how the boys are organised, patterns of substance use, home spaces in the streets and networks of support. The boys indicated that they wanted to leave the streets but opposed being moved to existing institutions of care. A group home was therefore developed in collaboration with members of the category “begging boys”.  Study III indicated how the caregivers’ interactions with the children were crucial in children’s decisions to leave the streets, to be initiated into residential care, undergo rehabilitation and to be reintegrated into society.  Caregivers who attempted to use participatory approaches and took time to establish rapport were more successful with the children.  Study IV suggested that the composition of learners, course content grounded on research, caregivers’ reflections and discursive role of researchers and facilitators, all contributed to adult learning that transformed the learners’ perspectives and practice

From Children of the Garbage Bins to Citizens : A reflexive ethnographic study on the care of “street children”

The aim of the study on which this thesis is based was to gain an understanding of the life situation of street children in Kenya and to investigate how caring institutions care for these children.  A reflexive ethnographic approach was used to facilitate entry into the children’s sub-culture and the work contexts of the caregivers to better understand how the children live on the streets and how the caregivers work with the children. A fundamental aim of the research was to develop interventions to care; one of the reasons why we also used the interpretive description approach. Method and data source triangulation was used. Field notes, tape, video, and photography were used to record the data.  Participant observation, group discussions, individual interviews, home visits, key informant interviews, participatory workshops and clinical findings were used for data collection in Studies I and II.  In addition to observation, interviews were conducted with caregivers for study III, while written narratives from learners attending adult education developed and implemented during the research period provided data for study IV.  Study I indicated that food, shelter and education were the main concerns for the children and that they had strong social bonds and used support networks as a survival strategy.  Study II provided a deeper understanding of the street culture, revealing how the boys are organised, patterns of substance use, home spaces in the streets and networks of support. The boys indicated that they wanted to leave the streets but opposed being moved to existing institutions of care. A group home was therefore developed in collaboration with members of the category “begging boys”.  Study III indicated how the caregivers’ interactions with the children were crucial in children’s decisions to leave the streets, to be initiated into residential care, undergo rehabilitation and to be reintegrated into society.  Caregivers who attempted to use participatory approaches and took time to establish rapport were more successful with the children.  Study IV suggested that the composition of learners, course content grounded on research, caregivers’ reflections and discursive role of researchers and facilitators, all contributed to adult learning that transformed the learners’ perspectives and practice

Are street children beyond rehabilitation? Understanding the life situation of street boys through ethnographic methods in Nakuru, Kenya

This paper describes the social organisation of street boys, the complexities and dilemmas of accessing them for interview, and removing the youngest and most vulnerable from the streets. The data were collected from three groups of street boys over a period of eight months: 20 "market boys"; four "plastic bag sellers" and their group leader; and twelve "begging boys" and their group leader. The study employed a reflexive ethnographic approach with participant observation, informal interviews and group discussions as data collection strategies. A participatory workshop was arranged for the highly mobile "begging boys" who could not be interviewed directly on the streets. Key informants helped in gaining access to the three groups of street boys, providing "insider information" about the boys and their contexts as well as in building trust. Through this research process, a deeper understanding of the street culture emerged, showing who the street boys are as well as how they are organised, their hierarchies and socialisation; patterns of substance use, home spaces in the streets, and networks of support.Street boys Street children Reflexive ethnography Research methodology Child participation Kenya