The Prince of Asturias Foundation
The National Movement of Street Children
Brazil’s “Movimiento Nacional de Meninos e Meninas de Rua” is the most important Brazilian association of its kind and the one which enjoys the greatest prestige. Its work is based on creating teams of children who are in situations of poverty or marginalization and on educational activities that help them build a future for themselves. The Movement, created in 1985 by a group of educators through a meeting sponsored by UNICEF, works routinely with Amnesty International and other such organisations which focus on the struggle for human rights and child welfare. Coordinated by journalist Mario Volpi, it boasts more than 3,000 educators, working in twenty Brazilian states. According to the latest statistics, about 58 million children and adolescents live in Brazil, of whom 45 million suffer some kind of need or other. Some 17 million are abandoned, while another 7 million have no family ties, living on the streets.
Messengers of Peace
“Mensajeros de la Paz” was founded in Spain in 1962 by Father Angel Garcia with the aim of giving some dignity to marginalised minors. A member of the International Child Protection Agency, the main activity of Messengers of Peace is that of sheltering youngsters who, on account of serious family problems or other kinds of problems, have no home of their own in the different “functional homes” which the association has. More than 16,000 children have passed through the association and there are currently some 1,100 youngsters in more than 200 shelters dotted all over Spain. The activity carried on in these “functional homes” is as close as possible to that of a “natural family”, and all the homes make use of community means to integrate the sheltered youngsters. Messengers of Peace currently has homes in other countries, such as Peru and Argentina.
Among other distinctions, it has been awarded the Grand Gold Cross of the Civil Order of Social Solidarity (1992), the Man Award (1995) and the World Peace Foundation Award (1997). It was declared a public-benefit organisation in 2002.
Save the Children
Founded in the UK in 1919, Save the Children is an organisation of volunteers and professional staff that seeks the welfare of children in any situation of disaster, famine or disease, without distinction of any kind. H.R.H. Princess Anne is the honorary president of the organisation, which has many centres in the United Kingdom, although it works in 120 countries and currently helps 64 million children. It works with a great many programmes in Brazil (with children affected by HIV-AIDS) as well as in Peru, China, India, Ghana, Thailand, the Philippines and, within the so-called Western world, in the U.K. itself.
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