(OUR CHILDREN)
PRESENTATION
The Our Children Program, created in 1993 aims to strengthen the performance and qualify the service of Civil Society Organizations (OSCs). For this, financial resources are transferred from donors to OSCs that provide direct and free care to children and adolescents, between 0 and 18 years old, who are in a situation of social vulnerability, as well as offering technical and administrative advice so that organizations can improve institutional management and expand their care, making improvements in physical spaces, acquiring pedagogical materials and food.
In 1999, Our Children Network was created to foster coordination and debate among OSCs already contracted to the program and received the support from Fundação Abrinq. The initiative seeks to mobilize and train organizations to influence policies in the childhood and adolescence area and develop actions transforming the situation of social vulnerability. Therefore, monthly meetings are held dedicated to the sharing and exchange of experiences between the participating organizations.
The network management is carried out by a committee, composed of elected representatives, in which the OSCs members may choose to act in accordance with their areas of interest, in the following working committees:
• Political action, which qualifies the performance of the Our Children Network with governmental and non-governmental institutions, aiming at strengthening social public policies;
Co-financer
• Coordination of partnerships, which qualifies the coordination between the organizations of the Our Children Network and enables partnerships with institutions, companies, funding agents, universities, volunteers, and independent professionals, aiming at strengthening their actions;
• Communication, which guarantees communication between the organizations of the Our Children Network and increases the visibility of their actions for children, adolescence, and youth with society;
• Institutional development ensuring and expanding the credibility and legitimacy of the Our Children Network, promoting quality training and experiences exchange between organizations and society.
At the end of 2020, the committees were replaced by working groups, carried out according to the needs raised by the organizations themselves.
ACTIVITIES PERFORMED IN 2020
Funded by the Brazilian Association of Toy Manufacturers (ABRINQ) and by donors, the program is organized by biennial cycles. That is, the associated organizations are advised for 24 months. The current association has 19 institutions which will receive support up to 2021.
In 2020, the program monitored the supported projects and carried out training with representatives of the participating organizations. As of April, all technical advisory visits were adjusted for the remote model as a result of the pandemic.
The emergency situation intensified many existing weaknesses and many families, which were in a situation of social vulnerability, became even more vulnerable. To circumvent the situation, Fundação Abrinq authorized organizations to use the monthly financial transfers to meet the possible needs of the children and adolescents
cared of and their families. Flexibilization provided the purchase and donation of food staples with food and hygiene and cleaning items, delivered to families who were facing difficulties.
Understanding the urgency of these people for help, Fundação Abrinq also carried out the Do not let hunger kill more than Coronavirus campaign to raise funds for the purchase of food staples. In this way, the support for the organizations of the Our Children Network was expanded and, consequently, benefited even more families, thanks to the support of people and companies that became aware of the problem.
In addition, an exclusive action was also organized to remodel the physical spaces of the organizations participating in the network. Through a notice, Fundação Abrinq analyzed the proposals registered and carried out several technical visits in virtual format to assess the needs and benefits of remodeling.
Twelve organizations were selected, which began
15,311
children and adolescents benefited;19
participating organizations;12
organizations with renovated spaces;197
organizations members of the Our Children Network;43,887
children and adolescents benefit from the Our Children Network.24,309
food stapples donated;15,836
families benefited from donations.OUTCOMES:
remodeling in August and completed by the end of the year. More than BRL 213,000 was allocated in this activity, with the purpose of improving the spaces of the institutions and providing more comfort, safety, and quality of life for more than 5,300 children and adolescents who use the spaces daily.
In September, the 20th Annual Meeting of the Our Children Network was held. Under the circumstances, the event was held online, through an exclusive broadcast to the organizations of the Our Children Network, with the theme Child and Adoslencent’s Mental Health: What should the educators know?. In the midst of the pandemic, we understood the intense need to address this issue with educators and the meeting –
aimed at professionals from civil society organizations in the Education, Social Assistance and Health areas – aimed to discuss the promotion of the mental health of children and adolescents and the strategies to be applied by educators in their pedagogical practices. It had the voluntary participation of Adriana Fóz, expert in Neuropsychology and Psychopedagogy, and with several partner organizations.
As face-to-face contact was limited, the use of digital platforms was intensified for actions such as biweekly meetings called Dialogue Rounds with the organizations. The meetings sought to bring about topics that would discuss the demands and difficulties of organizations, identified during technical and financial advice, such as the difficulty of intersectoral work with the local network, the
SUCCESSFUL CASES
THE PEDAGOGICAL PRACTICE OF THE C E N T R O D E E D U C A Ç Ã O P O P U L A R COMUNIDADE VIVA (COMVIVA)
The Center, located in the city of Caruaru (PE), has social educators who seek to welcome children and adolescents in the community, using the collective space to work and strengthen bonds in a recreational manner, through games, music, and social interaction. Through the Street Educational Presence action, it promotes activities that seek to include children and adolescents, developing social coexistence and playfulness.
In the context of the pandemic, the project rescued the life stories of many children in these moments of interaction, preventing them from being forgotten or invisible. The practice presents a continuity of the organization’s inclusive actions, which goes to the child and/or adolescent to care for him/ her.
CHILDHOOD WITHOUT BORDERS PROJECT Together with Capricorn Textile, the Childhood without Borders Project was developed, in São Paulo (SP), aimed at 61 immigrant children and adolescents or refugees, aged 6 to 14 years old, assisted by the Centro Social Nossa Senhora do Bom Parto – an organization that is part of the Our Children Network.
The action made adequacies in the spaces and infrastructure for the expansion of the organization's service, as well as a schedule of music and computing workshops to expand the cultural universe of these children, in addition to recognizing and valuing their culture of origin. The workshops were essential for the interaction and integration of participants with the Portuguese language, since many were only familiar with their country’s language.
lack of mastery of financial management and the challenges of monitoring and evaluating actions, as well as specific issues of each context.
The online meeting model allowed to double the number of representatives of organizations, since many of them are located in other cities and states of Brazil. Thus, the Our Children Network gained more interaction and connection between its members.
Among the actions carried out, the program also had the support of some companies that made donations to some organizations. They are:
• ABRINQ: donated 56 telephones and 53 computer equipment;
• Cidadão Pro Mundo: donated 72 children’s books;
• Elooc Agency: donated 18 furniture;
• Shopper: donated 504 alcohol in gel units.