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"We
are exploring risks and opportunities using information and communication
technologies
for social development.”
The
Street Children´s
Project
is funded
and supported by
IDRC
PAN
DFAIT
from Canada
in cooperation with
ChasquiNet
(Ecuador)
and
Renacer
(Colombia)
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NEWS Update
June
8, 2000
Internet to help street kids in Latin America
OTTAWA. Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC)
and the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade will
contribute $280,000 to the development of an Internet project that
will enable street kids in Latin America to create opportunities
for a better life. “We are exploring risks and opportunities using
information and communication technologies for social development,”
says Ricardo Gomez, Senior Program Specialist of IDRC’s Pan Networking
Program Initiative. “Exploring these issues with street kids in
Latin America challenges the way we think about these kids, and
about the social implications of communication technologies.”
The project will allow telecentres in Ecuador and Colombia to help
marginalized kids exchange experiences and knowledge to find solutions
to their own problems. It will help change their lives by providing
tools in informal education, training, and alternatives for income
generation. The project will establish a street kids portal and
an initial network. This network is meant to expand throughout Latin
America and the Caribbean.
Fundación Renacer, in Colombia, and Fundación Chasquinet, in Ecuador,
will lead the project. These nonprofit organizations are playing
an active role in providing alternatives that give marginalized
kids the opportunity to build a better life. They have developed
programs and support processes that help educate children and youth
and reintroduce them into their families or into an economic activity
with lower personal risks. “I am lucky to have this telecentre,”
says Oscar, a 15-year-old street kid in Ecuador. “I am learning
to scan photographs, take pictures, and design and print our ´bulletin
of the children of the street’ on the telecentre copier. This is
the first time that I have had this opportunity, and I see that
we can offer these services to the local newspapers.”
The International Development Research Centre (IDRC) is a public
corporation created by the Parliament of Canada in 1970 to help
developing-country scientists and communities find their own solutions
to social, economic, and environmental problems through research.
Information:
Diane Hardy, Head, Media Relations, IDRC
Tel.: (613) 236-6163, ext. 2570 Fax: (613) 563-2476 Email: dhardy@idrc.ca
Web: http://www.idrc.ca
Ricardo
Gomez, Senior Program Specialist, IDRC
Tel : (613) 236-6163, ext 2546 Email: rgomez@idrc.ca
To know more about:
Fundación Renacer: www.crosswinds.net/~jvargas/renacer/renacer@latino.net.co
Fundación Chasquinet: http://www.chasquinet.org
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