Uruguay
Since 2001, the Proniño program in Uruguay has been run by Telefónica, with the support of the NGO Gurises Unidos, which began its work with 60 children in 2001, covering 2,500 beneficiaries in four departments of the country in 2007: Montevideo, Canelones, Treinta y Tres and Paysandú. For 2008 the goal is 5,000 children.
The aim 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.
Proniño Uruguay has been developing an integral intervention model based on methodologies, the Family Education Agreement (AEF) and the School Education Agreement (AEE).
The Family Education Agreement is implemented through close cooperation with schools and other educational organisations in the areas in which Proniño acts. After a general presentation of the project in an educational centre, an overview is given of those child labour situations existing at school, and which are appropriate for Proniño to deal with.
Once the family has signed up to the project, they and the Proniño technical team will draw up a Family Educational Agreement containing commitments and goals for an improvement in the quality of life of the whole family unit. This agreement allows for an economic scholarship to cover the basic needs of the child or adolescent and their nuclear family, substituting the money that children and adolescents contribute from their work.
Social and educational intervention is also carried out with personalised monitoring at the family, school and community level with children and adolescents working with Proniño. The educational monitoring of each child and teenager is carried out through interviews coordinated with the appropriate principals and teachers. This is a way to continue the joint work between the project, the school and the community.
Work is also carried out with adults, encouraging the development of employment alternatives and training based on their skills and individual and collective possibilities.
On the other hand, the School Education Agreement grew from our joint work with schools. From the actions carried out we realised there was a need for a proposal within the educational centre to encourage the inclusion of children and teenagers into formal education, as well as the possibility of strengthening the educational institution as an agent for change (educational quality), on the understanding that a strong school can reduce levels of absenteeism and drop-out rates (integral protection), thus contributing to preventing and reducing child labour.
The AEE is a direct intervention in schools selected by the Proniño technical team, in close cooperation with the inspectorate and management of the educational centre. Said proposal -part of the educational quality area, but also related to integral protection thanks to this methodology- requires institutional support including proper coordination between the inspectorate, management and teaching team, as well as the interest, concern and availability of the educational community with respect to all child labour issues.
In general terms, the AEE and AEF seek to contribute to the schooling of child and teenage workers through joining school (when they do not attend), improving relations with the school (when they do), and avoiding situations of child labour, especially those which risk and limit the development of children and adolescents.
Key to achieving this is the better coordination and cooperation of the public and private sectors, reaching agreements with national and municipal public bodies, civil society organisations and companies in the private sector, where each party contributes various elements according to their specific abilities: economic resources, technical resources, methodology, knowledge of the target audience and local realities.
Finally, the program seeks to have an impact on public opinion, with greater impact year on year, developing awareness of the social issue of child labour, as well as spreading information on the rights of children and adolescents in the framework of integral protection and the Convention of the Rights of the Child, in general, and more specifically child labour, as a result of infringements.