FAQs about volunteer organization CENIT

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FAQs

General Information About Ecuador
• 11.2% unemployment
• 47% underemployment
• More than 45% of children under the age of five are malnourished
• Infant mortility: 30 out of every 1.000 births
• From 1990 to 1999, the average educational obtainment was between sixth and seventh grade
• Only 12% of the children that are located in the poorest fifth of the population finish basic education and a quarter of this population abandons school for the sole purpose to look for work
• 25% of children from the poorest sector never enter in school
• 45% of the Ecuadorian population lives below the poverty line

Does CENIT also help working boys?
CENIT realizes that girls are part of a larger social structure comprised of both male and female citizens, and that a girl's family is comprised the same way. They know that for a girl to truly succeed, her whole family must do so as well. For this reason, CENIT also helps working boys, although it does not allow a family to just send their boys to be educated. For example, we make families send as many female children as male children, so that the girls don’t get overlooked. In families that have more sons than daughters, we allow them to send all their male children who qualify as long as they send all the qualifying females.

Why does CENIT allow their children to continue working?
Our children are some of the poorest in Ecuador. Most of their families believe that there is no alternative to their working. Because education is secondary to survival, many parents are not willing to put their children in school if it means that they cannot work. For this reason, many of the parents will not even discuss education with us if it means that their children cannot work. We believe that it is better that the child work part-time and also go to school than work full-time and remain uneducated, so we would rather not scare the families away by saying their children cannot work at all.

How is CENIT funded?
CENIT receives some money from the Ecuadorian government through the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Social Wellbeing, and through INNFA, the National Institute for the Child and Family. Some funding also comes through international organizations, including Plan International. Additionally, CENIT relies on the economic contribution of ex-volunteers and ex-volunteer foundations. There are currently two main ex-volunteer foundations — ViaNiños, a German and Swiss organization, and Sonrisa, an English organization. We rely greatly on donations of independent donors, companies, and groups. Despite the generosity of our various funding sources, CENIT still has not reached our goal 2006 budget. Our goal budget is $418, 208.00, but as of March 2006, only $77,526 of this goal had been reached.

Why does CENIT need volunteers and donors?
CENIT survives on donations and volunteer service. Our volunteers make up about half of our staff, and are responsible for helping ensure the continued success of CENIT programs on every level. Most of our volunteers participate in street outreach, so they are responsible for locating the children and the families that we help. Our volunteers participate in various levels of administration, and are often the driving force behind starting new projects and initiatives. Our donors provide the fuel to keep our program running. International donors provide funding for both of our psychologists, our twice-weekly clinic days, numerous school scholarships, our street outreach program, etc…

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