Ecuador
Proniño was founded in Ecuador in 1998, and its goal in 2008 is to help 11,000 children and adolescents.
Its mission is to contribute to the eradication of child labour, which infringes children's rights, through school attendance which ensures significant educational achievements in school careers, and the knowledge of new information and communication technologies.
The NGOS collaborating with Proniño are:
PROGRAMA DEL MUCHACHO TRABAJADOR - BANCO CENTRAL DE ECUADOR (PMT)
Proniño's partnership with the PMT guarantees the intellectual and emotional development of beneficiaries through the integral re-insertion of children into schools, and participation in the 14 Panita Centres. These are alternative spaces for learning, protection, socialisation and recreation, their work focusing on training children in citizenship, through full awareness of their rights and responsibilities.
Children attend school, know their rights and stand up for them. Through PMT mediators we identify marginal and at risk child workers in urban areas. Awareness raising talks and workshops lead to parents agreeing to send their children to school and reduce working hours or, if possible, take them out of work altogether.
Children attend one of the 14 Panita centres in the country, where there receive educational support in math, languages, rights, sex education and, above all, how to play and laugh. Their education is complemented by informal educational measures.
Each term, teachers are trained and give awareness raising so that they can give more comprehensive training, prioritising basic principles such as equality, liberty, solidarity, democracy and tolerance.
All these actions are complemented by an integral health plan, which offers preventive medicine, oral health and general check-ups.
The progress of beneficiaries is monitored on an ongoing basis; we check performance levels, make regular visits to schools and homes, visit children's places of work to see whether they have continued working or reduced working hours. We always encourage them to study.
DESARROLLO Y AUTOGESTION (DYA)
Desarrollo y Autogestión, in partnership with Proniño, promotes alternative sources of income for parents, to avoid children and adolescents having to bring in money to cover the family budget.
In cooperation with Desarrollo y Autogestión (DYA) we seek the gradual eradication of dangerous child labour, promoting the transformation of values, attitudes and practices based around this concept.
Through DYA we select scholarship recipients, follow their development and assess children in risky situations, which see their possibilities of attending school limited by having to work in mines, recycle materials, look after pigs on garbage dumps or work on farms. Once awareness has been raised among parents, we promote alternative income for parents or older siblings to get them to allow their children to study.
These include jewellery making, which helps people replace the contribution made by children to the family finances, using the raw materials they work with on a daily basis.
FUNDACIÓN UNIDAD VIRTUAL IBEROAMERICANA (FUVIA)
Through its partnership with FUVIA, Proniño supports children, young people and adults in five indigenous communities in Napo who, because they are or have been child workers, have been unable to complete their studies.
FUNDACIÓN NUESTROS JÓVENES
In a joint program, Proniño and Fundación Nuestros Jóvenes support adolescents who have been victims of commercial sexual exploitation.
FUNDACIÓN GENERAL ECUATORIANA (FGE)
Proniño, with the support of FGE, contributes to improving the quality of life of mentally disadvantaged children, through training and studies providing with the tools for a better future.