Fundación Telefónica

Together We Can Eradicate Child Labor.
Under the slogan, "Together We Can Do It", a international event was held last June in Madrid. Fundación Telefónica brought together an outstanding group of intellectuals and artists committed to fighting child labor. The meeting highlighted Telefónica’s commitment to this cause through its Proniño program. The problem of child labor was tackled from a variety of perspectives, making it clear that it is everyone’s responsibility and that through the commitment of individuals, public authorities and private organizations, this scourge can be eradicated.
The chairman of the company, Cesar Alierta (accompanied by distinguished individuals, including two Nobel laureates), explained that “Child labor is a scourge that violates the basic rights of childhood. It’s socially unjust, morally unacceptable and  restricts the socio-economic development of countries concerned. For this reason, we are committed to doing all we can to meet the goals of eradicating the worst examples of child labor by 2015 and all types of child labor by 2020. We prove our commitment on a daily basis through the Proniño program”.

World Day against Child Labor
In order to make the population aware of the need to fight this problem, 12 June 2008 was celebrated as “World Day Against Child Labor", promoted by the ILO. For this event, the Proniño program conducted special activities in Spain and in the other 13 countries where it is present. Awareness campaigns, debate forums on the topic, games, and visiting days for the public at Proniño education centers, served to publicize Proniño’s work and the achievements of  children and adolescents involved. All the activities were supported by local authorities and the general community.

II International Proniño Conference
With the slogan, “Prevention and Eradication of Child Labor ", the second International Proniño Conference was held in September in the Peruvian city of Lima, an event organized by Fundación Telefónica, attended by more than 700 experts from 19 countries. The conference produced significant results. Its goal as to debate the roles of private and public partnerships and the Third Sector in combating child labor. The initiative was supported and attended by representatives from UNICEF, the ILO, the International Youth Foundation and the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation, among other organizations.

Proniño Children at Campus Party - Digital Inclusion 
More than 1,000 children and adolescents from the Proniño program in El Salvador participated in the so-called “Internet Baptisms” organized during the first Ibero-American Campus Party held in November with the occasion of the XVIII Ibero-American Summit. Through this activity, the young people took their first steps on the Internet with the help of training in new technologies. Queen Sofia of Spain, along with the first ladies of Colombia, Mexico, Honduras and El Salvador, attended the working sessions with Proniño beneficiaries.

Tenth Anniversary of Proniño in Ecuador
Proniño in Ecuador celebrated its tenth anniversary in November. This was the country where the first program began work in 1998. With the slogan, “Working Hard So They Don’t Have to”, this initiative has managed to ensure that 7 out of 10 sponsored Ecuadorian children permanently quit working. The program celebrated its anniversary by organizing an International Social and Labor Forum. The guest of honor was Bernardo Kliksberg, a specialist in development, eradication of poverty and social management. Over this period of time, Proniño has established itself as the largest private initiative in Ecuador for the elimination of child labor, as recognized by the National Government and the City of Quito.

Telefónica Spain and Universal Children’s Day
On November 20, Universal Children’s Day, as declared by the United Nations, Telefónica Spain donated all its media advertising space, an unprecedented act, in order to spread the message about child labor and its drastic impact on children and society as a whole. It was also a way to promote the Proniño program as an example of what can be done to change this reality.

Proniño’s “We Love to Paint” Contest 
For the third year running, this contest was held in 2008 , offering two categories, pictures for “I Learn at School" and narrative, where stories had to begin with “When I grow up I want to be….”  This event was designed to stimulate children’s school work, to encourage creativity and to reward artistic ability and expression. The works selected from each of the 13 participating countries compete on an international level. The prize took the form of an improvement in the winner’s school infrastructure or equipment.  All possible allocations of Proniño prize money had to be formally presented to Proniño in advance.       

Live the Proniño Experience
Finally, a new initiative called “Live the Proniño Experience” was started in 2008. This is a participative project for anyone associated with Telefónica who wants to experience the realities of the program. Official visits are organized to Proniño schools where one can participate in various activities with beneficiary children and adolescents. Thus, minors come into contact with company directors and other professionals, reinforcing the importance of education for their development.

The Proniño Caravan Tour of Spanish Cities
With the occasion of “World Day Against Child Labor”, Fundación Telefónica set up “the Proniño Caravan Tour” in Spain, a travelling information campaign that visited 33 Spanish cities, covering nearly 15,000 kilometers in 48 days. Through activities, games and information videos, the caravan has shown the reality lived by millions of children and adolescents in Latin America and the work of Proniño in more than 13 countries of the region. Altogether, nearly 4,000 participants took part in the caravan activities with close to 16,000 people learning about Proniño.
The project, which will continue on its way in 2009, had assistance from AECID (Spanish Agency of International Development Cooperation) and support from the ILO.