Regions: Africa   Asia   Latin America


Name of Organization: Centro Boliviano de Investigacion y Accion Educativas (CEBIAE)

Country: Bolivia

Project Title: "Potosi Education City"

Project Timeframe: 12 months

Location of Project: Potosi

Budget Amount: $77,500

NGO contact and website:
Marisabel Paz Céspedes
Executive Director
Av. 6 de Agosto, Nº 60,
Ciudad: Potosí
Estado / provincia: Bolívia, Código
postal: 1479
www.cebiae.edu.bo

Project's Primary Objective: To strengthen the work and coordination of institutions and organizations in Potosí's municipality to generate policies and programs in the field of education; and to focus on the prevention and eradication of child labor.

Description of Organization: CEBIAE (Bolivian Research Center and Action Educational–CEBIAE) started its activities in February 1976 as an institution of ecumenical character specialized in education and educational research. CEBIAE has its main offices in La Paz, Bolivia. It has had a program-in-residence in Potosí since 2001. It is a non-governmental organization whose focus and contribution to education is highly recognized and valued, both in Bolivia and in the Andean region of Latin America

Description of Project funded by CIRCLE: There exists a weak link between school education, local public policies, and the promotion of actions orientated to prevent and eliminate child labor. This situation is in part due to the following points: 1) the municipality has not conducted integral studies on the reality of child labor; 2) the lack of institutions and organizations who study the problem of child labor from the vantage point of education; 3) insufficient development of institutional and personal capacities within the school to recognize and participate in the fight against child labor; 4) conceptions and cultural practices which lack sufficient levels of dialogue and consensus in relation to child labor; 5) the lack of sufficient organizations dealing with children and adolescents, and the weakness of those which do exist.

As such, the project aims to address the prevention and eradication of child labor in the context of the “Potosí Education City” program. The project proposes a first stage which will design and execute three processes: empowering the public, empowering the social actors, empowering the public schools.

The first process emphasizes the management of information and the consolidation of public spaces. The second process focuses on the articulation of inter-institutional actions and on the make-up and functioning of an inter-institutional education network called “Potosí Educational City.” It will undertake the sensitization and strengthening of the aptitudes of executives in institutions and organizations, as well as the political authorities of local and regional governments. The focus is to help them to develop a strategic vision to address child labor, particularly developing a program for creating identity documents for the young children and adolescents in the labor force. The third process proposes to add to the regional curriculum, material related to child labor and to develop workshops for executives, parents and children, as well as hard-working teenagers, in order to promote changes in the educational curriculum offered by the schools.

In the context of "guaranteeing that in childhood, youth -- with special emphasis on girls and those who live in difficult circumstances -- have access to a free and good quality complete primary education," (Jomtien 1990, Dakar 2000 and the goals of the Millennium 2001, Children and Adolescent Convention), the project proposes as its specific goal: To strengthen the work and coordinate the institutions and organizations of Potosí's municipality, with the perspective of helping to generate policies and programs in the field of education, involving wide social participation, and focusing on the prevention and eradication of child labor as part of the program “Potosí, Education City.”

The target of the project is children and adolescents in the labor force, particularly those who are in still in school. However, the problem of child labor is more complex and needs the inclusion of other actors. For this reason the project considers other strategic actors: a) institutions and organizations linked to education and/or child labor; and b) teachers and parents in public schools with a high percentage of children and adolescents in the labor force.

The sustainability of the project is based on the integral way it approaches child labor: the make-up of the Potosí Educational City project aims to integrate numerous institutions and organizations, (including organizations of working children). It aims not only to coordinate the actions of the organizations, but also to define and oversee the development of local public multi sectoral policies that are aimed at reducing and eliminating child labor.

Project Targets (Common Indicators):
Enrollment:
Persistence:
Transition:
Completion: