Education Colombia Project #51798

EDUCATION & SPORTS FOR KIDS IN COLOMBIAN WAR ZONE

by Fundacion Conect Vision

EDUCATION & SPORTS FOR KIDS IN COLOMBIAN WAR ZONE

Summary

The Conect Vision Foundation's VITAL program is helping to overcome mental poverty and keeping 350 children, adolescents and young people away from social scourges, while also providing opportunities for 130 adults - many of them farmers involved in coca processing and former combatants in the process of social reincorporation - through sport activities, education in social values and academics, in Puerto Asis and 18 rural areas of Putumayo, one of the unfortunate conflict zones of Colombia.

$80,000
total goal

$31,379
remaining

147
donors

10
monthly donors

2
fundraisers

2
years

Challenge

Children and young people in Puerto Asis and surrounding villages, grow up in a dangerous environment because up to 37% of them are recruited by armed groups and/or drug traffickers. In addition, the poor education they receive makes them easy targets for these criminal groups. Most of them live in broken homes. Likewise, ex-combatants in the process of reincorporation and farmers engaged in coca processing need incentives and different opportunities to change their situation.

Solution

The VITAL program offers 350 children and young people opportunities to change their lives through education and sports, which are effective tools to promote development and peace. Through agreements with a private school in Bogota and professional soccer schools, we offer them 80% scholarships. We also offer 130 men and women in vulnerable situations the opportunity to train in soccer with the objective of promoting teamwork and leadership that will turn them into drivers of change.

Long-Term Impact

The 350 children, adolescents and youth benefiting from the VITAL program will overcome mental poverty and the dangers posed by their environment thanks to the opportunities provided by education and sports. Likewise, 130 adult beneficiaries of VITAL will have the opportunity to contribute to peace building by being agents of change themselves, thanks to sports and to the opportunity to develop activities that do not represent a danger to them or their environment.