An den Rand der Unsicherheit gedrängt

The paper examines the settlement conditions of a specific group of migrant children who have moved away from their communities in the northern parts of Ghana to work in Old Fadama (Agbogloshie) in Accra. These are female migrants referred to as Kayayei. The Harris-Todaro model of labor migration and the push-pull model have been cited to explain the north-south girl migration phenomenon in this part of Ghana. An important finding of this overview paper is that most girls are primarily motivated to migrate by personal benefits. The paper reveals alarming living and working conditions of the girls, exposing them to various forms of exploitation, risks, and health hazards, pushing them to the brink of insecurity. The paper critically discusses selected government interventions to combat the Kayayei phenomenon and concludes that they have been ineffective due to funding difficulties, administrative failures, and poor project planning. The paper recommends a nationwide data collection effort to address the challenge of insufficient statistics on migrant children in Ghana.