NINQUIHUÉ FOUNDATION

To know what it is like to be an adolescent on the street, you have to put yourself in their place - that is the strategy the Ninquihué Foundation is using to create awareness of the condition of children living on the streets of Argentina.

Street Children's Week is an innovative strategy to draw public attention to the persistent problem of homeless and impoverished youth. The project involves a week's worth of activities culminating in a major charitable event known as "Child of the Street for One Hour Day." The event enlists the support of the media as well as several prominent personalities from different sectors of society, including deputies, businessmen, journalists, artists, the Bishop and the mayor of the town of General Roca in Rio Negro Province, where the week's activities are hosted. These figures are invited to gather near the entrances of major supermarkets and perform for one hour the routine jobs that are typical of street children. They clean windshields, sell magazines and beg for money while asking grocery customers for in kind food contributions.

The hour-long program is successful insofar as it generates substantial in kind resources, as well as much-needed attention to the poverty issue. The strategy generates enough donated food to supply the foundation's shelter for a year. In addition, it generates increased awareness and dialogue about child poverty, thanks in no small part to the allure of the various well-known volunteers. The mass appeal of the different personalities helps to attract the attention of the media, which helps the foundation to spread its mission among an even broader audience.

Another reason for the success of the event is the week's worth of sensitization activities that precede it. The foundation presents the project's annual achievements in the form of puppet shows, school visits, training sessions, and presentations to local authorities, business firms and the media. These steps set the stage for the "Child of the Street for One Hour Day" by re-awakening social discussion on the issue and drumming up enthusiasm. The entire project seeks to spread the mission of creating a future for adolescents living on the streets and to generate a sense of commitment within the community to being involved in their future.