Tourism and Street Children in Antananarivo, Madagascar

Abstract

The interaction of tourists and marginalised population groups in developing countries has remained poorly researched. In particular, the relevance of tourism for street children as one of the most vulnerable groups in urban agglomerations has never been investigated. In this contribution, the situation of street children in Antananarivo, Madagascar is analysed. The paper seeks to discuss whether tourism encourages begging, thus increasing the number of street children and depriving them of access to education — which would represent a process of long-term disempowerment — or if tourism supports the survival of human beings living on the edge of society, as claimed by pro poor tourism advocates.

Conceptualizing the Survival Sector in Madagascar

“…Street children may also get occasional jobs from local salesmen to carry away garbage, to fetch drinking water, or to run errands. The survey focused on street children between 5 and 14 years, as teenagers were rarely observed begging: success rates decline rapidly for older children due to the non‐acceptance of begging in Malagasy society (Gössling et al 2004; Morelle 2007).…”

“…Healthy begging adults are perceived as “ lazy and irresponsible people ” in Malagasy society (Gössling et al 2004:143), and consequently only very old, handicapped, crippled, blind, or mentally disabled people can be observed begging in Antananarivo, that is, people who generally have no other options to access money (as noted earlier, mothers of small children are an exception). Even though their work is not productive in an economic sense, beggars themselves consider begging equivalent to carrying out work (cf Kassah 2008).…”

“…While beggars are tolerated in Malagasy society as long as they are severely impeded from carrying out economically productive work, the attitude is different with regard to street children. Residents see children rather as victims of misguided policies or the failure of parents to provide food and shelter (Gössling et al 2004). As children are treated with great respect in Malagasy society, with one national idiom being “ l'enfant est le roi ” (“the child is king”), there is considerably greater understanding and acceptance of their begging.…”

“…Such non‐monetary donations are almost entirely made by tourists. Overall, the survival sector in Antananarivo can thus be said to be largely dependent on tourism (cf Gössling et al 2004), while the rest of the informal economy is not.…”

“…To improve the situation of those living and working in the survival sector, three aspects appear to be of particular relevance: the external conditions (political stability, food production) affecting work, income and food availability in the formal and informal economy; health care access as the most important vulnerability issue; and the implementation of mechanisms for empowerment, addressing issues such as illiteracy or the lack of micro‐credits to initiate entrepreneurial activities (see also Benería 1992; Olufemi 2000). Considering the characteristic poverty structures in the survival sector as presented in this article could thus help to better address the situation of marginalized people in regulatory and policy frameworks, by focusing on the key vulnerability issue in the survival sector (health care), the need of strategies to address the specific situation of street children (see Gössling et al 2004; Morelle 2007), and the considerable potential to empower women in the survival sector; but also accepting the need of social security systems for those unable to engage in economically productive work.…”