Chapter 1

Context analysis

Particularly in Colombia, the Development Model established in most part in XX century has kept 50% of the population from basic human benefits: health, participation, education, nutrition, information, recreation, housing and other goods and social services.

According to the poverty analysis, done by the Department of National Planning in 1995, almost 23 million Colombian people, 54 % of the population had an income that hardly reached 60 % of the value. Which is way below the poverty ine.

• Exaggerated public expense
• Administrative corruption
• Human potential underutilized
• Serious under capitalization development and depreciation in all the fields
• Material, social and spiritual poverty
• The political, economical and moral effects of narcotrafficing
• The intensification of the armed conflict which prejudices the civil society. The forced emigration phenomenon, produces a strong social impact on the cities with a high rate of poverty due to displaced persons
• A great spiritual void that is reflected by the abandonment conditions and the passivity of the most vulnerable people who are not fully aware of their great potential and the capacities they have to positively influence their surroundings

The previous factors are manifested in the families living conditions in the most vulnerable communities. They affect the family nucleus where we can find problems like: mistreatment, family disintegration, and the lack of resources to fulfill the basic needs thus directly affecting the children and young people.

The following statistics are alarming.

• Colombian population 42.000.000
• Underprivileged population 23.000.000
• Minors under 18 in underprivileged conditions 8.200.000 (41% of the population in underprivileged conditions)
• In Colombia, nearly 42% of the population is under 18 years of age. This means that in Colombia there are more than 15.000.000 children.
• Close to 2.7 million children of school age do not have access to the school system.
• 2.5 million children work under high risk conditions
• For every 10 minor workers, 7 do not go to school
• About 7 million children in Colombia suffer some kind of mistreatment
• 6.000 children are involved in the armed conflict
  

Different research done by the YMCA2, have concluded that the main cause at children abandoning their homes are abuse, their parents abandonment, poverty and the lack of space. These aspects are related to the following situations.

• Low socioeconomic level, underprivileged conditions and misery
• Overcrowded living conditions
• Unstable family with no father presence
• Lack of physical and verbal communication between parents and songs
• Inadequate rules and discipline
• Socio-cultural patterns that legitimate violence within the family as a way to conflict resolution
• Parents' background on being abuse and then abuse their children
• Parents using alcohol and drugs
• Sexual abuse, done most of the time by the stepfather, brothers, uncles, male cousins and other male members of the family

In the analysis of the reality, it is also important to point out the situation related to the school exclusion experience at an early age.

The global school drop out in Colombia comes to 52 % and the most common causes are:

• The quality education are not encouraging. The need of work to survive, the high cost of education and the lack of room to access to the school system contribute to the school desertion
• The school has focused merely in the transmission of information. They are unable to handle situations related to the vital development of children and youth people and this system ends up expelling students from school when they have behavior problems
• The traditional education models do not always fulfill the children´s needs, and most of the times there are not strategies to solve the complex problems students face

Reconstructing the school bonds must become a priority. Taking and youth from children unprivileged communities have a constitutional right of across to education and allentier must be given to those who eve in school but find it difficult to attend due to a lack of resources.

As a conclusion, we can say that children and families facing difficult situations are the result of a complex interaction of factors which are generated in their own social context, for this reason any action done for the children, must be directed into the integral development entire individual.

Family conditions related to the children leaving their homes to live on the streets 1987 ACJ-YMCA of Bogotá
Evaluation of the program " Operación Gamin" Street Children Operation" 1988 ACJ-YMCA Bogotá
Development of a work model with extreme poor families with high risk of their children abandoning their homes. ACJ-YMCA Bogotá
Descriptive study about children enrolled in the Reception Centre for children in and on the street ACJ-YMCA of Bogotá
according to the ICBF ( Colombian Institution for Family Welfare) on April 2001 there were 25.000 minors sexually exploited.

Based on the proposed analysis, it is necessary to identify alternatives solutions, taking into account the great potential participants have (capacities, skills) in order to promote their development, it is necessary to provide opportunities in different fields from an integral perspective.

As stated by Julio Silva Colmenares, the crisis previous described requires "a economical policy that substitutes the economical activity, as the focus of the analysis of the human development".3

To do so, it is necessary to increase and improve the investment in human capital, taking Education and Health as the most important aspects, followed by the Recreation.

On the other hand, it is necessary to also take into account the following aspects:

• Support for the families in order to keep their children at home
• Sensitize the school system about its great responsibility regarding the Prevention of School Drop out and the possible enrollment of children with such problems as

- THomrlessness
- Drug consumption
- Children labour
- Enrollment to illicit activities

• Generate a community culture of respect and protection of childhood
• Support systems in all fields, to overcome the different lacks children have (to better met tee needs of children)
• Work on the formation of ethical and visionary leaders who will help build a fair and equitable society
• Involve everybody, including governmental and non governmental organizations and the educational institutions, in identifying and implementing alternatives to these problems

Analyzing the Colombian reality, we can not igror some advances and positive aspects which include:

• The recent decentralization process that this country has been going through from the 80's, and that was reaffirmed by the constitution in 1995, which goes deeply into the concept of community participation, and whose objective is to join the society and the state to develop a participatory democracy
• The meaningful roles some NGO's have taken with respect to children's rights. The inquiry for a serious reevaluation of the educational system and the development of new pedagogical strategies. The inclusion of the preventive focus in the development plan
• To address this situation, it is necessary to promote to generating a strong social base, and the political pressure to do the necessary changes for the new development process.

In this way, the complex reality described above ,shows us not only new challenges, but also a lot of resources which demand actions to make people aware of the importance of solving their own problems.