Retrak, Chisomo Children’s Club, and the Malawi Ministry of Gender, Children, Disability, and Social Welfare sought to address the lack of information on the number of children living and working on the streets in Malawi, a common problem throughout the world. The research team undertook an enumeration study of children on the streets in Lilongwe and Blantyre, using the capture/recapture methodology.
The study estimates the number of children living and working on the streets in Lilongwe to be 2,389 and in Blantyre to be 1,776; this is based on children reporting or being observed to sleep or work on the streets or other public locations. In addition the study found that only 1 in 5 children on the streets is a girl and only 10% are sleeping on the streets - that’s around 200 children in each city - most children return home to family.
