Street Outreach

Aim

This project aims to identify and establish contact with working children by providing educational, recreational, social and health oriented activities in locations with dense populations of working children such as markets. Its primary goals are to provide stability and routine in the children’s lives, to provide social services, to familiarize the families with CENIT’s programs and to help prepare the children for entrance into formal schooling.

Project Information

The street and market outreach program is one of the largest programs at CENIT, and is the foundation of the organization. CENIT mobilizes the daily assistance of 25-60 national and international volunteers, as well as Ecuadorian social workers, to go to 6 different market sectors in which there are dense populations of child workers. Once there, the volunteers engage the children in a variety of activities designed specifically to give them a break from working, by providing them with recreational, educational, social and health oriented activities. A Street Volunteer's goal is to convince their parents to enroll their child in a suitable educational program. For those children who are already enrolled in school, the volunteers encourage the families to utilize programs such as CEA, the after school center, or many of CENIT's other educational, social and health services. 4 out of 6 markets work with children who average between 5 and 10 years old. The two remaining markets work with teenage boys, the majority of which are shoeshine boys. In these markets, a volunteer’s primary role is providing the boys with constructive activities, such as soccer matches, and to be positive role models. Many of these boys are already deeply entrenched in the street life, and the presence of CENIT volunteers help these boys to better cope with gang pressures and street realities, such as drug use and petty crimes. An average of 160 working children and 30 adult family members regularly participate in this program.

Volunteer Requirements

Volunteers need to be committed to working in a group environment every weekday morning. Volunteers must have a working knowledge of Spanish since they will be working directly with working children and their parents. Volunteers are expected to be punctual, patient, caring and very motivated. They must be innovative and flexible, and able to modify plans as needed. Volunteers must develop and maintain constant communication with the children, their families, other volunteers, and coordinators. The Street Outreach volunteer must be at CENIT for a minimum of two months, and must speak a basic level of Spanish.

Video