CURRENT
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
PAST PROJECTS
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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International Projects