Funding news

22 August 2008

Y Care International has received funding to embark on three new projects in Africa and Latin America. 

With a grant from the EC, a new four-year project will begin with two of our YMCA partners in Sierra Leone and Liberia. The project will improve the economic situation of 4,000 disadvantaged young people across both countries. The grant will help to reduce the social exclusion and poverty levels of young people, through vocational training and empowering young people to take part in local decision-making processes.  

A further project in Togo - also funded by the EC - will help protect the rights of 2,500 children and young people in conflict with the law or at risk of offending. Y Care International is already working through the YMCA of Togo with young offenders and ex offenders. Over the next three years, this project will work to increase access to decent employment for marginalized young people who may be at risk of offending. It will also increase awareness of the rights of young offenders, by working with prison, police and judicial staff.

In Latin America, Y Care International has received a grant from Comic Relief to help rebuild the lives of street and working children in Bogota, Colombia. The four-year project, with a budget of over £500,000, will include the establishment of two new centres for street and working children in deprived areas of Bogota. It will also work with families to address the issues that lead to young people running away from home, to ensure that fewer young people end up on the streets.