Fundación Telefónica

• Fundación Telefónica
• Versión Español

Proniño

To help achieve the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, which include eradication of the worse forms of child labor in Latin America by 2015 and all child labor by 2020, the Proniño program is working in a total of 13 countries in Latin America.

• Proniño is currently underway in 13 Latin American countries: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela.
• 107,602 boys, girls and adolescents directly benefited, a 103 % increase from the previous year.
• The program operates continuously in 2,596 education centers (2,177 schools and 419 care centers).
• Its basic support comes from the 105   internationally respected NGOs with whom it works directly, in addition to the public and private schools and institutions it collaborates with in each country.
• 74 Fundación Telefónica classrooms created and put into operation.
• 11.842 teachers and educators trained by 672 workshops.
• Proniño has set up 259 partnerships with public and private agents and agents from the Third Sector. In addition, the NGOs and social agents affiliated with the program have set up a further 648 alliances, which will increase the resources mobilized against child labor.
• 6.501 Social workers trained in 222 training cycles.
• 15 studies and research projects done on child labor.
• 136 public events and awareness campaigns  held in various countries.
• 27.9 million Euros invested in the program.

Created in 1998, Proniño is Telefónica’s social action program, designed to help eradicate  child labor, which violates the rights of children and adolescents in Latin America. The program was added to Fundación Telefónica in 2005 as a new line of action.

At the time Proniño was added, several strategic decisions were adopted under the theme of “Quality Growth". Proniño was to be transformed into a corporate program run by Fundación Telefónica and Movistar (operator of Telefónica Móviles); the program was to be extended to all Latin America countries where the company operates; the models of social intervention were to adhere to the latest concepts of Corporate Social Responsibility, and Proniño’s profile and visibility was to grow among Telefónica employees and society as a whole. The International Labor Organization (ILO) defines child labor as all economic activity done by children and adolescents below the general minimum working age specified in each country, whatever their occupational category or pay, or anything that basically infringes upon the child’s rights, particularly the right to be protected and to study. In view of the magnitude of this phenomenon, the ILO has proposed a Collective Agreement of urgent measures to eliminate what are regarded as the worst forms of child labor.

According to the latest report of this organization from 2006, entitled “The End of Child Labor: Within Reach”, considerable progress is being made. According to the latest data available (2004), the number of children affected has dropped by 11.8 percent. In Latin America, there has been even more success, with these figures reducing by several million, to approximately 5 million child labor victims.

This good news is that concern among societies and governments has led to enacting general policies to contain poverty and, specifically, rescuing working minors. However, it is also thanks to social initiatives such as the Proniño program. Nevertheless, certain facts must be examined. This reduction is not homogenous and simultaneous in all Latin American countries; macroeconomic improvements do not always translate into reductions in the rate of child labor. Moreover, since the phenomenon is linked to many social practices that might be termed “opaque”, it is very hard to quantify it with any real precision

More information:
http://www.fundacion.telefonica.com/pronino