Country: Brazil; Salvador de Bahia, Ilheus, Itabuna, Campo Formoso and the rural villages of Senior do Bonfim in the State of Bahia in Brazil and Belèm in the State of Parà in Brazil.

Intervention area:

Institutional lenders:

The intervention is aimed at making possible the intellectual, physical and social growth and development of children and adolescents who attend the 7 reception facilities managed by 5 local partners in the cities of Salvador de Bahia, Itabuna, in the rural villages of Senior do Bonfim in the State of Bahia and in the reception center of Belèm in the State of Parà.

The process of progressive autonomy of local partners that began in 2015 is now consolidated. Ai.Bi. performs a supervisory, monitoring and control role of project activities through its staff in Italy, and also by means of periodic verification missions in the country.

More than 200 minors benefit from the activities in the various structures.

In the cities of Campo Formoso and Jaguarari in the State of Bahia, the activities carried out are aimed at promoting and supporting the effective exercise of the right to family and community coexistence of children and adolescents welcomed in the two Lar houses managed by the local municipalities. The interdisciplinary team promotes integration and reintegration into the biological family or the substitute family of the minors.

Furthermore, in the rural village communities around the towns of Senhor do Bonfim and Jaguarari, in collaboration with the local partner, Ai.Bi. provides effective protection to the children and adolescents of the communities involved in the project, in particular to those minors at serious risk of social exclusion, guaranteeing them access to basic social services as well as to the training held in the area.

In the two  structures Centro Comunitário and Creche Irmã Margarida and Lar Fabiano di Cristo in Itabuna in the State of Bahia, Ai.Bi. supports the intellectual, physical and psychosocial development of children and adolescents who attend the two centers through recreational and educational activities as well as stimulating the participation of families and the community. In particular Ai.Bi.:

• supports educational, medical and psychological support;
• responds to the material needs of minors, from clothing to school supplies (books, notebooks, etc.);
• offers adolescents the opportunity to attend art, dance, theater and reading incentive courses and has promoted moments of play and recreational activities for the little ones in order to guarantee them spaces and moments of childhood.

In the city of Salvador of Bahia Ai.Bi. carries out an intervention in favor of minors hosted at the Instituição Cristã de Amparo ao Jovem (ICAJ) and Ajuda Social à Criança institutes. The minors reside in these institutes on the recommendation of the Juvenile Court, the Public Prosecutor and the Guardianship Councils of the city of Salvador. During the year, Amici dei Bambini, in coordination with the staff of the institutes, guaranteed minors additional educational and scholastic support capable of compensating for the very low quality of teaching offered in local public schools.

Finally, Amici dei Bambini intervenes in Belém, in the State of Parà, at the Casa da Criança Santa Ines with an intervention in favor of minors who attend the community center and their families. These are minors and families who live in highly vulnerable situations. The intervention is aimed at preventing the abandonment of minors by their families as well as preventing the opposite phenomenon, that is the minors themselves voluntary leaving their families of origin.