The Exodus: the Growing Migration of Children from Ghana's Rural Areas to the Urban Centres
Author(s): E. Beauchemin
The main idea of this paper is to identify the reasons that lead children from rural areas to undertake migration. The paper is based on a mixed methods research in five regions across Ghana: Upper East, Northern, Ashanti, Western and Eastern. The research involved interviews with official representatives from the District and Municipal Assembly, regional Departments of Social Welfare, the Ministry of Agriculture, the National Youth Council, non-governmental organisations dealing with street migrant children, headmasters, teachers, religious leaders, chiefs, village elders, assemblymen and unit committee members, as well as questionnaires completed by 805 pupils. The research shows that pull factors play an important role in the decision-making process, e.g. children and adolescents who have relatives in the city are far more likely to dream of leaving and actually depart than those who know no one. On the other hand, children are also turning to the streets because of parental negligence and abuse, excessively large families and growing poverty. For example, three percent of Accra's street children cite sexual abuse as the main reason for being on the street, while another three percent say they left home because of regular beatings.