Nowadays, the increasing number of unsupervised children working or/and living on streets has become one of urban social problems, particularly in developing nations. Ethiopia as one of the developing countries with rapid urbanization is also facing rapid increase in the size of street children. The purpose of the study was to investigate the factors that lead children to street, challenges they face on streets and their coping mechanisms with particular reference to street children in Nekemte town; a capital of East Wallega Zone, Oromia National Regional state of Ethiopia. Nekemte as one of the growing large urban centers in Western Ethiopia and due to its strategic location attracts large number of immigrants including street children. The study was qualitative in nature. Data were gathered through interview, focus group discussion and observation. Research informants were selected through snowball and purposive sampling. Twenty children were interviewed and two focus group discussions were held. The size was determined during data collection based on the principle of data saturation. Poverty was found to be the main factor that leads children to street as many children are working on street to support themselves or their families. Besides, abuse and mistreatment at home, harassment at school, urban life attraction, and displacement and peer pressure were also found to be among the causes. Street children face several challenges while working or/and living on urban streets. Difficulty of securing basic necessities of life, abuse by adults including police and older street children, stigma and marginalization, lack of toilet facility and place to bath and extreme weather conditions (cold and hot) were the main challenges they face. The study indicated that street children use both positive and negative coping mechanisms to overcome these challenges. Positive coping strategies include carrying personal belongings of passengers, engaging in various petty businesses, shoe shinning and doing errands of persons. The study indicated that most children try to survive engaging in these positive or socially acceptable coping strategies. Street children also resort to negative coping mechanisms when positive coping strategies fail to support children’s living, especially to get basic necessities of food, clothing and shelter. These strategies include: begging, stealing, selling sex, chewing and drinking alcohol.
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