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AWARENESS PROGRAMME
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Crusade for the Children has signed a collaboration agreement with the University CIS -The College for International Studies, through which students are actively involved with the NGO projects carried out at any time travelling, when the project requires it, to visit in person the place at which it's being developed.
The teachers and staff from CIS - THE COLLEGE FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDIES also participates in these projects, either by training and teaching the required methodology to teach, as a support to the professional and educational development in the case of educational projects in underveloped areas, as well as participating in the coordination and development of the projects of the NGO.
Since late 2006, Crusade for the Children is working with Casa do Gaiato, Mozambique, an organization that began its work in Mozambique in the year . |
1991, in response to the call for help of the Mozambican government to solve the problem of children orphaned or abandoned after the civil war the country went through over several years.
Casa do Gaiato welcomes and educates these children, protects and prepares them to have a decent future. Likewise, it also looks after their integration into the environment in which they live, leading the population to participate in this process, thus improving community development.
We have made several trips to Mozambique, one per year, to check on ground the progress made by the projects of Crusade for the Children, and see new ways of collaboration and future projects.
CIS University - The College for International Studies has included in its academic curriculum the subject MOZAMBIQUE SERVICE PROJECT, with a 2-credit course load, and is recognized and accredited by the American Endicott College, Beverly, Massachusetts.
It is a subject of free choice and the students who enroll in it, have to go to Mozambique and do a project on the cooperation programmes that the NGO Crusade for the Children, does in that country. The project is guided by a professor of the CIS, who also travels with the students and guides them during it's procedure.
SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAMME
| Crusade for the Children runs a scholarship programme since late 2007, which offers scholarships, transportation, accomodation and meals to 25 people so that they have adequate academic training (school, advanced education and university) that allow them access to employement to help their villages out of the poverty they are immersed. Most scholarship students have a strong will since they first fight for their lives and that of their family, and then for the life of the people of their community and, after all, for that of their own country. Most of them work and have children, but are great students. It may be noted that almost all of them focus their studies in improving society. There are several teachers who educate children of their community, one of those teachers has managed to publish a book of poetry, a journalist student, economists, ...etc.
Each year we meet in Mozambique with all the scholarship students to see their progress on their studies, how things are going for them and if they are still worthy to continue enjoying the scholarship. |
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In 2008 we gave 25 scholarships to people so they could access professional and university courses. In 2009 we continued to support those 25 scholarship students from 2008 and we have increased scholarchips for another 5 people, and we intend to maintain this support in the future.
Mozambique service project - CIS University, The College for International Studies.
| Crusade for the Children has signed a collaboration agreement with the University CIS - The College for International Studies, through which students are actively involved with the NGO projects carried out at any time travelling, when the project requires it, to visit in person the place at which it's being developed.
The university has included in its academic curriculum the subject MOZAMBIQUE SERVICE PROJECT, with a 2-credit course load, and is recognized and accredited by the American Endicott College, Beverly, Massachusetts. |
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Creation of sports schools.
With this initiative, we aim to develop and implement a programme of sport activities designed for the body, psychological, intellectual and social development of children, as well as for their interests and motivations, in order to promote socialization, personality development and to ensure continuity in sport throughout their lives.
This project is part of a series of initiatives that directly and indirectly contribute to the promotion of health and quality of life of the population.
The overall objective is to promote global, harmonius and balanced development of Mozambican village children through the creation of sports schools for the development of sports activities.
During this project we will create sports schools in 14 Mozambican villages of the Maputo province. To ensure the educational and pedagogical nature of this project, it is expected that the coordination of each school is headed by a coordinator and 4 coaches, with the adequate technical training to promote the development of various sporting activities.
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To ensure the success of the Foundation, the characteristics of the different stages of the child development will be respected, as well as the their social situation, their motivations, the organization of the activities and the structuring of the competitions, promoting happiness, pleasure, enthusiasm and spontaneity, so that the project is carried out with positive results.
Our main goal is to provide training and logistical support to all those who are going to be involved in the project, so that they are ablt to manage it and carry it out by themselves. Thus promoting sustainable development, so that in the future our cooperation will not be needed being themselves the only ones responsible for the proper functioning of the project.
We have a team of resident workers. This team is made of managers that are in charge of the proper functioning of the whole project, 14 |
sports coordinators, one for each sports school, and coaches, who are responsible for carrying out the fieldwork.
Each of these three groups have different expectations which together will become the total project expectations.
Coordinator should ensure the smooth running of their own sports school and try to make sure that the coaches work is effective. Coaches will have to work so that children learn and have fun, and will try to pass all the values described above.
Achievements.
June 2008. During this phase, Crusade for the Children, destined a person to carry out the initial phase of the project.
- Beginning of the project -
- Appointment of the Resident Project Directors
- Appointment of the coordinators of all the Sports Schools
- Appointment of all coaches of all Sports Schools
- General count of all children in each Sports School
- General count of all athletes (2,500) and workers (100) that make up the project
- Purchase of sports equipment to enable the implementation of classes in the 14 villages
- First orientation course for directors, coordinators and coaches.
July 2008.
- Sponsorship and financing of the Pai Américo Tournament (founder of Casa do Gaiato). This tournament is held every year and is organized by Casa do Gaiato. It is done between 10 teams of senior category trained in the different villages near Casa do Gaiato.
- Commencement of training and sporting events. From this moment on, Crusade for the Children is in charge of subsidizing food for each person attending all sporting events managed by the Sports Schools project.
- Crusade for the Children begins to pay wages to all the workers that are included in the project.
January 2009.
- Recognition trip of Crusade for the Children, in which a person from the NGO stays 20 days to help improve the project.
- Centralization of the project in 4 Sports Schools (Casa do Gaiato, Massaca I, Massaca II and Barragem) without detaching from the rest. Due to the large economic and transport difficulties experienced by the country, the transport of athletes from one village to another greatly hinders for the conduct of sporting events. Because of this, Crusade for the Children decided to emphasize on boost the project slowly but with great strenght, starting up with the 4 Sports Schools mentioned and, using Casa do Gaiato as headquarters to give support to the other 3 that are located in the nearby villages and, due to the transportation problem, are most appropriate and accessible to be closely monitored by the Resident Directorate making sure that the project goes forward in a more efficient and effective way.
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- Purchase of sports equipment for the 14 villages, as though at this point the project is centralized in 4 Sports Schools,
- it is not dettached from the other 10 and it tries to further improve and implement training by giving all the Sports Schools material needed for further progress.
February 2009.
- Purchase of identifying clothing for each Resident Director, coordinator and trainer.
July 2009.
- Crusade for the Children makes a trip to the area to see the progress and a person stays in the area to continue to lead and guide those resident in charge of the project.
- Purchase of a coach to facilitate the transport of athletes between the villages and the relocation of the director residents from the villages for more comprehesive tracking of what happens in each Sports School.
- Adaptation of the soccer fields of the 4 villages where the project is being centralized, creating 16 soccer- goals 7 of which younger children have a field suited to their physical conditions.
- Placement of a protective fence on the sides of the Massaca field for the proper functioning of the Sports School does not affect the daily operation of the village.
- Crusade for the Children hires a coach from the Maputo Sportive Club (one of most important clubs of the country) as Technical Secretary to assist in the skills of trainers in the villages.
- Second course of education and training for resident directors, coordinators and coaches which is successfully completed by all employees.
- From this month until December 2009 is being closely monitored in these villages to help them integrate other villages from 2010.
Construction programme of the Sports Venue.
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Sports Headquarters will serve as headquarters for the necessary paperwork, as a meeting point between the people in charge of the project and the coordinators of each village, as well as a place for conducting training courses and conferences, also as a sports material storage place, and there will be some changing rooms included due to its close location to the soccer field (the most important one of the whole area) to which all athletes, involved in the project who will do sports activities in the Massaca village, will have access to.
With the construction of the sports venue, the work and decision-making will be done in a single place where all the material and documentation of each Sports School will be gathered. In addition to making the changing rooms, the population of this village will gain in hygiene, therefore in health, as this will mean that all the children and the adults involved in the project will have access to clean water and a shower after a day's training or work. |
This way, there will be help in preventing infectious diseases and epidemics due to lack of hygiene or untreated water intake.
PAI AMÉRICO TOURNAMENT
In Spanish it's called: Padre Américo Tournament, founder of all the Casas de Gaiato (Houses of Gaiato), where they do that great work of providing shelter to those orphans in different countries. In his honour, the Casa do Gaiato of Mozambique decided to create a soccer tournament every year in which teams from all the villages included in the house project will play; one of the teams is made of youngsters from the house or children that grew up in the house. This tournament is aimed at the senior category and it ends with the master trophy ceremony on Father Américo's Day (July 16). Since 2008, Crusade for the Children is in charge of the funding and cooperates with the organization of the tournament.
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