Sammendrag
The main thrust of this study is to establish how street children representation may be enhanced in Zambia s media, and thus pave way for its extension to the larger adult dominant society. The theoretical basis upon which this study is based is that social movements can play a central role in the struggle for the extension of citizenship to street children. The assumption is that citizenship entails the active participation of men, women, and children - all members of a given community without exception. Social movements can do this by both working to change society s negative attitude toward these children, and engaging the media to avail these children opportunities for their voices to be heard.
I have concluded that the media in Zambia avail very little space on issues about street children and this will not change without external intervention of social movements acting on behalf of these children. Also, society at large and reporters generally have a negative attitude toward street children. This makes it even harder for these children s quest to survive. Unfortunately too, the media in Zambia whether private or state owned, as in many African countries, have numerous constraints that often hinder them from performing their public service role. I posit that the power of the media can however be harnessed toward changing this attitude. But this calls for the intervention or constructive engagement of the media by social movements. This therefore means social movements need to initiate strategies toward this goal without which the media will not act by themselves.
The partnership between social movements and the media can enhance not only more visibility of street children issues in the public sphere, but also help change society s long held negative attitude toward them. By including these growing numbers of street children into the development processes of mainstream society, a potential and looming human disaster can be averted for the safety of the country s future.