Bolivia – Youth Care and Family Strengthening

With the high rate of poverty, children in Santa Cruz and Sucre are at risk of growing up in unstable environments and losing parental care. Children in Bolivia also lack sexual and reproductive health rights, so gender-based violence, early marriage and young pregnancy are very common experiences for young girls. In addition, young people leaving alternative care struggle to become self-sufficient due to a lack of family support networks that can help with housing, housing deposits and moving, or connections that help with finding a job.

This programme has two components, Youth Care and Family Strengthening.

Youth Care: This part of the programme prepares youth who have been living with SOS foster families to leave care and become self-sufficient. Through training and activities, the youth are equipped with life skills like personal finance, cooking, cleaning, and personal health. Support is also given to them to find employment, which means providing technical education, helping them with CVs, organising internships, and connecting them with relevant people or organisations. During this programme, the youth also receive education on sexual and reproductive health. The overall aim is for the youth to build resilience and learn the skills needed to transition out of care into their own thriving lives.

Family Strengthening: This part of the programme gives holistic support tailored to each family’s needs. Families can receive direct support for things like food, healthcare, school supplies or housing. Alongside initial direct support, families receive vocational training and education to help them become self-sufficient and able to meet their children’s needs. The programme also promotes the children’s participation and focuses on building healthy relationships within the family. Through this, families learn about the problems around gender-based violence, harmful customs and cultural gender norms like child marriage and youth pregnancy.

To ensure the sustainability of this programme, SOS Bolivia works closely with local organisations to ensure that local government and state services are upholding their responsibility towards children’s rights.

Overall Goals

• A safer and more supportive upbringing environment for children and youth to enable them to reach their full potential and equip them for an independent adult life
• Families have increased capacity to care for and to protect their children
• Youth have increased self-sufficiency when leaving care
• Families and youth are educated on sexual health rights and gender-based issues

Photo: Mijhail Calle