Lessons learned from the Ecuadorian experience

Ecuador has the highest rate of child labor in Latin America, and, as rural and indigenous people are starting to migrate to the cities, problems will increase in future (see Notes about the current juncture in Ecuador). However, there are not so many children in the streets of Quito and Guayaquil as in other cities of a comparable size. Thus, in Ecuador, the most successful programs are those focusing on prevention, community development and on the family as a whole. Lessons learned on recent years include:

1. Sports motivate! Arts are used as incentives to leave the streets in Brazil and Colombia – dance, music, theater and circus, all serve this purpose wonderfully. The experience of Fundación Su Cambio por el Cambio shows that sports can play the same role.
   
   This program uses a similar model to Axé, in Brazil: if children return to live with their families, attend school and give up work, then they can go and practice sports every day. There is good coaching and a serious attitude, which increases children’s self-esteem and skills.
   
   
2. There is a strong relationship between economic development and young people’s growth. Mi Cometa, in Guayaquil, was created to improve children’s and youth’s lives in the marginal neighborhood of Guasmo. After a short time, youth organized themselves to improvetheir own and adults’ lives: they planted trees, started micro-businesses, built houses and participated in politics.
   
   Young people’s activism motivated adults to get more involved in the community. They created a community bank, did voluntary communal labor to clean the neighborhood and built more houses. The result is a transformed neighborhood and a group of youth that is a model for national programs.
   
   
3. Digital technology can transform material circumstances. The experience of Chasquinet in Quito, Esmeraldas, and in the provinces, teaches us that the Internet is more than chat rooms and pornography. In Esmeraldas, Chaquinet and Proyecto Salesiano trained gang members in cyber skills, and the youths set up an Internet Café. In the Somos Telecentros project, poor communities use e-mail to find solutions to their common problems.
   
   
4. Working with families can eliminate child labor. Niñez y Vida in Quito and JUCONI in Guayaquil have improved the lives of child workers through their parents. Niñez y Vida trains mothers in the community in pre-school education, and they manage schools for the community children. Education and the mothers’ new income limit the need for child employment.
   
   JUCONI holds family therapy sessions for families of street child workers. It teaches them to find solutions to their own problems and to be loving families, as well as promoting education. It has succeeded in 80% of the cases, a wonderful result.