The Ivy Humanitarian Prize recognizes individuals who have made extraordinary contributions toward improving the lives of children and their communities in the Americas. “This award has been presented annually since 1996 to people who have made a significant difference in their communities, like 2011 winner Ms. Pichardo", said Anabella Jordan, president of the Inter Americas Ivy Foundation.

Caminante Proyecto Educativo, founded in 1994, is a non-governmental nonprofit organization, with a Christian background that implements and supports actions and initiatives for children and youth of the Dominican Republic, the Caribbean and Latin America.  According to Ms Jordan, "The scope of the work and compassion of Ms. Pichardo goes beyond the Dominican children and includes also a great number of Haitian children who have migrated to the Dominican Republic escaping poverty".

Caminante Proyecto Educativo implements its programs in Boca Chica, Santo Domingo province, where studies show that there are high numbers of children living exposed to risk and sexual abuse. The main objective of the program is to reduce the number of hours that children are working on the streets or exposed to risk. One way to accomplish this is by making sure they take part in formal and informal education programs and initiatives. "We do not only worry about getting the children accepted in schools, but we also monitor their educational processes and ensure that they receive the necessary support from their families . We also implement after school, cultural and sports programs for them", says Yesica Rosario, one of the Project Coordinators.

"In addition to these actions, when the children grow we encourage them to continue their studies" says Denisse Pichardo who also received the World of Children award late last year."About 95% of the children who were part of Caminante have transformed their lives and now are part of the labor market, and this is really rewarding for us". She then concludes, “We truly value the support and assistance of CWS over the years which has been fundamental to achieving our goals”.

Caminante Proyecto Educativo is one of the four organizations that are members of the CWS Latin America Children´s program.

If you need more information, please contact lcadoni@cwslac.org.

Photo:  Yocasta Gonzalez