VISION

To offer a safe environment and a new start for the children and women who live on the streets of Cochabamba. Amanecer offers help to both sexes from infants to the age of 18 as well as mothers.

ORIGINS
Amanecer was started by a catholic order, the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul in 1981. They were motivated by the increasing number of abandoned children living on the
streets of the city as a result of poor economic conditions. Many recently unemployed miners were moving to the city in a generally vain attempt to
find work. They live in basic conditions in slums on the edge of the city with high rates of alcoholism and domestic abuse. Their children suffered the most with many being
abandoned and others running away from abusive situations.

OBJECTIVES
The protection and defense of the basic rights of children of both sexes that live in the streets of the city. The program is intended to promote their physical, intellectual, spiritual and social development with the aim of eventually reintegrating them into society with increased self-respect and the ability to maintain themselves economically.

ACADEMIC EDUCATION
Many of the children in the program are behind in their education or due to their experiences are emotionally unprepared to benefit from a normal classroom environment. Amanecer operates a special school for these children with the objective of brining them up their age level and returning them to a regular school.

VOCATIONAL TRAINING
In addition to academic training Amanecer offers the older children in the program the opportunity to learn a trade that will assist them to find regular employment. They are instructed in trades such as carpentry, metal work, plumbing, electricity, and construction.

MEDICAL & DENTAL SERVICES
Dental and medical services are provided both to the children in Amanecer and to street people who have not officially entered the program. Both Bolivian and foreign doctors,
dentists and nurses assist in various health services and campaigns.

COMPUTERS
Amanecer is experimenting with the use of computer-based education to assist with self-esteem, interest unmotivated street children in learning and provide another skill for future employment. Using mostly donated equipment the program has trained some older children with basic computer skills who are teaching the younger children to use computers for learning, word processing and other programs.

STREET WORK
The founders of Amanecer continue to go on twice weekly night visits to the worst parts of the city with food and hot milk to find street children that can be brought into the program for rehabilitation. The street team works to prevent children who are working on the streets from abandoning their homes and to prevent them from falling into drug abuse, delinquency or prostitution.

FINANCES
AMANECER is supported mostly by donation and on occasion grants from public agencies. Many of the permanent staff are members of religious orders and are not paid out of the program. This allows Amanecer to operate with average administration cost of only 10% of the total budget. Donations from Canada, and the U.S. are tax deductible.