Transcript Maurizia Tovo, Lead Social Development Specialist, World Bank

CHILD BEGGARS IN DAKAR
CONTEXT
 The perception that there are increasing numbers of child
beggars on the streets of Dakar
 Begging is detrimental to the physical and mental
development of a child
 Government engagement in the fight against begging by
children
2
OBJECTIVES OF THE
STUDY
• Establish a solid information base through a quantitative and
qualitative study
• Assess the dimensions of the phenomenon
• Analyse child beggars’ characteristics and life conditions
• Propose strategic options to accelerate and strengthen
national efforts against child begging
3
ORGANIZATION OF THE
STUDY
 Technical Team: UCW Rome, FAFO, ENEA,
and 3 NGOs (Avenir de l’Enfant, ENDA GRAF
et Samusocial)
 Steering Committee : Government, Civil
Society, Partners (legitimacy, technical support,
supervision– from questionnaire development to
report validation)
4
THE METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY: CHILD
BEGGARS IN DAKAR
The target group: Child beggars in Dakar
Children in the
streets
Children
from the
streets
Handicapped
children
Child
beggars
Children living
with their families
Talibés
Children with
disableded adults
5
THE METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY: CHILD
BEGGARS IN DAKAR
Obstacles to data collection:
• Few child beggars compared to overall population (would require
an enormously large sample to find enough subjects)
• Child beggars move around (risk of counting the same child more
than once)
• Child beggars may hide
 Child beggars constitute a ‘scarce’ and ‘difficult to
access’ population
6
Two sampling methods
 Capture-recapture (CR):
To measure the size of the population.
 Respondent-driven sampling (RDS):
To obtain data on the characteristics of the
population.
THE METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY: CHILD
BEGGARS IN DAKAR
CAPTURE-RECAPTURE (CR)
The CR methodology allows for an estimatate of
population size where an exhaustive census is
impossible
Example: fish in a lake
 You throw a fishing net into a lake, catch fish, and mark
them before letting them go
 Re-catching : you throw the net back in and observe
how many fish are already marked and how many are
not marked
8
Data collection:
THE METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY: CHILD
CAPTURE-RECAPTUREBEGGARS
cont’d IN DAKAR
4 hypotheses:

The study population is closed;

Each person has a non-zero chance of being
captured;

People already surveyed can be identified
precisely; and

Having been caught does not have any
correlation
with the probably of being recaught.
9
CR method
Prepare two separate lists: Capture I and Capture II
 Count the number of persons in each list
 Count the number of persons appearing in both lists
 Population size estimates aer based on the figures obtained
Capture I Recap(Marking)
ture
Capture II
(RDS)
Capture
Make an exhaustive census of all child
beggars found at specific gathering sites
The list of sites is put together with help
from specialized NGOs
Number of children counted – CAPTURE I
Respondent Driven Sampling (RDS)
 Snow ball sampling to identify populations
hidden or difficult to access
 Double motivation for respondents
Reward for being surveyed : 1 packet of cookies
Reward for recruiting other respondents : 2 cans of
sardines
RECAPTURE
Question asked:
« Have you already been asked questions or
were you put on a list last week?».
If the answer is yes, the child is
considered « recaptured ».
RECAPTURE
Percentage of recaptured children
Estimate total population of child
beggars
(Petersons method)
N=Estimated Number

M=Child beggars counted in Capture I

C= Child beggars counted in Capture II

R= Recaptured children
(
M

1
)(
C

1
)
ˆN 
1
R 1
Estimated child beggar population in greater
Dakar
Questions
 Have all sites where children beg been
properly identified (and surveyed)?
If the process were to continue (more
waves of CR) would the estimates
change?
Results
There are about 8000 child beggars in
Dakar
 Almost 90% are Koranic students (talibés)
 Almost all are boys (98%)
 Almost half were born abroad (Guinea and
Guinea Bissau)
 Being an orphan has very little impact on the
probability of being a beggar (the proportion of
child beggars that are orphans is very low)
CHARACTERISTICS OF CHILD
BEGGARS
Ethnic origin constitutes a distinctive element among child
beggars
Soninké
Other child beggars
Koran disciples
Mandingue
Bambara
Peuhl
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
20
CHARACTERISTICS OF CHILD
BEGGARS
 Child beggars are very young.
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
2 à 5 ans
6 à 8 ans
9 à 11 ans
12 à 14 ans 15 à 17 ans
K or ani c di sci pl es
2 à 5 ans
6 à 8 ans
9 à 11 ans
12 à 14 ans 15 à 17 ans
Ot her chi l d beggar s
2 à 5 ans
6 à 8 ans
9 à 11 ans
12 à 14 ans 15 à 17 ans
A l l chi l d beggar s
21
LIFE CONDITIONS OF CHILD BEGGARS
Begging is a full-time ‘job’
 The children dedicate an average of six hours per day to
begging.
 The children are in the streets every day of the week.
10
9
8
8
5
6
6
8
6
5
8
5
0
2 to 5 years
6 to 8 years
9 to 11 years
Koran disciples
12 to 14 years 15 to 17 years
Not Koran disciples
The children that
aren’t Koranic
students spend, on
average, more time
begging than
Koranic students
22
LIFE CONDITIONS OF CHILD BEGGARS
Revenues of child beggars
 97% of child beggars earn less than 1000 Francs CFA
per day (1.50 Euros)
 Child beggars who are not Koranic students earn more
than those who are
1000
900
800
726
700
600
500
411
444
400
300
200
100
0
Non Koran disciples
Koran disciples
Revenue
Average
23
CONSEQUENCES OF CHILD BEGGING
Education of child beggars
School enrollment of child beggars by type of school (%)
 No child beggar goes
Child beggars
that aren’t
Koran students
Child beggars
that are
Koran
students
Average
Koranic
school
21
100
91
Fraco-arabic
school
1
0
0
Formal school
0
0
0
None
78
0
8
to a formal school
 All of the child beggars
that are Koran students
go to Koranic school
24