The proportion of the Kenyan population living in poverty has risen from 48.8% in 1990 to more than 56% in 2003.  The impact of extreme poverty combined with the effects of the HIV/AIDS pandemic has left orphans and vulnerable children in circumstances that force them onto the street in an attempt to provide for themselves.

Women and girls constitute the majority of the poor in Kenya. They lack education and vocational skills, and therefore employment opportunites.

The majority of young girls are forced to drop out of school at a young age when they succumb to early marriages, or turn to the streets for survival. On the streets they resort to stealing, petty trade, drug taking and trafficking, and are exposed to sexual exploitation. Prostitution absorbs the highest number of girls on the streets.

Girls on the streets live with the constant threat of rape, physical abuse and forced prostitution. They are exposed to all sorts of health problems, such as STD's, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, skin diseases, malnutrition, and even death. They lack life's basic needs such as food, clothing, medical care, shelter and education.