Education for 250 working children in Chiapas

Dear GlobalGiving Donors

From February to May, this is what we´ve been doing in the working children program:

Annual Birth Certificate Campaign

From February to April, we ran our annual birth certificate campaign. The goal is to support the city’s indigenous families in obtaining birth certificates for their daughters and sons.

The campaign was conducted at markets and public spaces where children commonly work and we also broadcasted spots in Spanish and in Tzotzil Maya on local radio.

We held 2 information sessions with the families where we explained the procedures and the documents that they needed to gather. We helped obtained 64 birth certificates.

Strengthening School Attendance and Performance

We had weekly sessions in four different markets and in the organization, dedicated to reinforcing academic skills. This year topics are: a) improving reading and writing; b) basic mathematical skills; c) reading circles and; d) history.

We are also working with children and families to ensure that they are enrolled for the next school year and providing special workshops for the girls and boys who need to take the secondary school test.

At the moment 31 children and adolescents have a scholarship; we have monthly meetings with them and the families to monitor their progress at school and to provide guidance in case they need it.

So far, 222 working children have benefitted from the work that the organization does and we are only able to do it thanks to the invaluable support and generosity of all our donors around the world.

Kind regards 

Links:

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Dear GlobalGiving donors,

It is with great pleasure, that we present to you the annual report for the funds we received this year. Your contribution makes a real difference for the children that we work with.

Last year we work with 528 working children. With the program we help to promote their rights such as education, identity and a life free of violence.

a)      Annual Birth Certificate campaign

 From January to May we held the annual birth certificate campaign, it was focus mostly in the markets and public areas where children work, but we also produced radio spots that were broadcast in local radio stations.

 We help to obtain 69 birth certificates.

 b)      Educational activities

 We did weekly educational activities in different places like markets, downtown and in the organization office. The activities were focus to help children to learn abilities such as reading comprehension, writing, mathematics, technology; abilities that are useful in school contributing to prevent drop-out. But also, we taught them about their rights and life skills such as work team, frustration tolerance, patience, self-esteem, etc.

c)       Annual Campaign: Right to Education

Melel Xojobal ran a campaign to promote the enrolment of working children in school. The campaign took place in three markets where there are children working without attending school. We performed a play and we also placed posters and gave out leaflets with information for parents.

The play´s title was: “The story of Lupita: the girl who sold flowers at Merposur”.  Lupita is an 8 year old child, who sells flowers at a market, she doesn’t have a birth certificate, so she can´t go to school. The play analyzes the different problems of education for children who have to work as well the importance of having a birth certificate. It also encourages parents to support their children to attend and to stay in school, providing a new perspective about the long term benefits that education will have on their children.

d) Scholarships

 We were able to award 31 scholarships to families in greatest need to help with the costs associated with schooling.

                                                     We want to thank all of you your priceless support