Street children, illegal hawking and commercial sex workers remain a big challenge in the City of Kigali, officials have said.

As part of efforts to address these issues, officials from the City of Kigali (CoK), yesterday, met with representatives of International Non-Governmental Organisations (INGOs) operating in Rwanda with whom they discussed long-lasting solutions.

Research conducted by the Institute of Policy Analysis and Research (IPAR Rwanda) and backed by CoK, entitled, "street vending, street connected children and young people, delinquency and on-street prostitution in Kigali city: problems and practical solutions”, shows that, despite several government responses, street connected challenges have persisted.

CoK Vice Mayor in charge of Social Affairs, Judith Kazayire, said government interventions need to be supplemented by other stakeholders.

We want to work together with our partners to try to end these issues, she said.

She said international NGOs can play a big role in sensitising and educating the people to embrace government’s policies like promotion of cooperatives, family planning and joining social works, among others.

Innocent Habimfura, the country director of Hope and Homes for Children, said their intervention is in reintegrating children into families and empowering communities.

"We may have good leaders at the grassroots but they need more understanding about family welfare and children’s issues, that is why we created a network which brings together all those actors. We discuss issues and tangible actions are really being implemented on the ground,” Habimfura said.

We believe in addressing such issues at the root rather than waiting until they are visible on the street and elsewhere, he added.

Habimfura said that children who were reintegrated into the community have settled in families due to the efficiency of the programme.

"After reintegration we continue with the post placement, and post placement has shown us that all children that were placed in families are there, so we need to keep working in a professional way,” Habimfura explained.

Evariste Murwanashyaka, the IDay International Rwanda coordinator, told The New Times that poverty, illiteracy and conflicts in families are the major causes of street vendors, street kids and commercial sex work.

He promised their organisation’s continued role in trying to address the issues.

editorial@newtimes.co.rw