PAST
PROJECTS
TOWARDS A CULTURE OF CHILDREN'S RIGHTS IN CHILE
PARTNER: Caleta,
Santiago Chile and other departments
Beneficiares: 300-400 youth and children benefit directly and
thousands of community members benefit indirectly.
Like nearly every country in the world, Chile has
ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). However,
like a great many countries in the world, few steps have been
made to ensure that the rights enshrined in this document –
participation, education, health to name but a few – are
meaningful realities for all of Chile’s children and youth.
CFCA’s Chilean partner, La Caleta, believes that for the
CRC to truly make a difference in children’s lives, it needs
at least two things behind it: political will and the support
of children and youth. Change for Children’s current project
in Chile works to build these two things.
By providing children and youth with information
and education about their human rights and then by engaging them
in the critical process of raising awareness and generating political
will, the project is about children finding ways to change their
own lives. A ‘magic bus’ will travel around Chile,
bringing resources about human rights – from books, to art
exhibits, to inspiring performers – to children and youth
in impoverished rural communities and marginalized urban slums.
These children and youth will then create a media campaign, using
television, radio and visual media, to spread the word about children’s
rights and about government’s responsibility to promote
and protect them. The project will also coordinate key meetings
between youth leaders, children’s advocates and the children
and youth who emerge as protagonists of this project and officials
in Chile’s government.
The project will directly benefit between
300 and 400 children and young people around Chile; thousands
more will see, hear and be inspired by the media campaign. This
project is a key step in building momentum towards a culture of
respect for children’s rights in Chile.
This project is supported by the Wild Rose Foundation
SOCIAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS IN CHILE Partner:
CEPPAC
CEPPAC's, a Chilean NGO, has three principle programs
of social assistance: a education and risk prevention program
for child street workers; a vocational training program for youth
and women entrepreneurs; and an adult formal education program
providing basic education for individuals to obtain their secondary
and possibly post-secondary education.
The progressive increase in poverty in Chile is
due to low quality jobs and low salaries. The majority of Chilean
jobs are insecure, and there is a marked inequality in the distribution
and access to available work. The unemployment rate among the
poorest 20% of the Chilean population is currently three times
the national average. Unequal income distribution over the past
30 years has resulted in 70% of Chilean households earning less
than the national average. Continued financial crisis will likely
affect the poorest segments of society most severely. 
In association with CEPPAC, CFCA with funding from
CIDA, has supported a project whose principal objective is to
provide income generation opportunites for the families of 60
women in the comunas of San Bernardo and El Bosque. The project
also sought to increase community participation and amplify micro-enterprise
support networks, resulting in the social and economic integration
of poor women into the skilled labour market. Vocational qualification
and income generation opportunities offer a sustainable self-employment
alternative to menial low-paid labour. This project allowed for
the introduction of technical, formative and organizational tools
to a marginalized sector of the population. As the project promotes
the economic participation of women, it decreased social inequalities
between men and women as well as improved quality of life for
women. Although the project was directed towards women, it indirectly
improved conditions for their families and the community at large.
 CEPPAC
Chile Women Flyer
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