(18 July 2008) "Promote: Integral proposal to assist homeless mothers" is the name of the forum on an innovative project that strives to provide tools to help overcome extreme poverty and the situation of social vulnerability of Uruguayan women and their children. It is an initiative that may be replicated anywhere in the region.
The forum will take place next Thursday, July 24, 2008, from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., Chilean time (1:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. GMT), and is organized by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and the District 19 Governor of ZONTA Internacional.
The forum seeks to disseminate the experience of the "PROMOTE" programme that the non-governmental organization Centre for the Promotion of Human Dignity (CEPRODIH), which works in alliance with public and private institutions in Uruguay, is implementing in Montevideo, the capital.
This project was one of the 16 finalists among the 1,000 projects submitted to the 2005-2006 cycle of the "Experiences in Social Innovation" contest organized by ECLAC with support from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
"PROMOTE" provides mothers living on the streets or at risk of doing so, the opportunity to create a new life project that may allow them to overcome their situation of indigence and find stable solutions to housing and income problems.
The conception of the programme and the articulation of different sources of finance enables project organizers to address the multiple facets of the problem (jobs, health, education, housing, daily life, citizenry). Their persistent search for alliances with private companies has also provided employment opportunities for many women completing the programme.
During the virtual conference forum, project directors will highlight aspects of their work, its implementation and follow-up. Participants will learn about the programme in detail, and be able to raise their questions or doubts to those who have been able to address problems of poverty and indigence successfully.
Those interested in participating in the forum may enter ECLAC's Social Institution Network (RISALC) website http://www.risalc.org/, or the webpage http://media.eclac.cl/wbe/default.asp?boardid=Promover_Uruguay&style=WebBoard.
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