Ecuador
Ecuador has a population of 13.3 million, including 5 million children and young people. One in ten people lives below the poverty line and many children don’t complete their schooling - they drop out to find work to help support their family. Although Ecuador is a fairly rich country thanks to its oil deposits, the gap between rich and poor people is immense.
What we’re doing
- We’ve helped 9,508 children get a better quality education
- We’re campaigning to reduce violence against children
- We’re helping 8,000 children be better prepared in the event of a natural disaster or emergency
Save the Children in Ecuador
We began working in Ecuador in 2004, and we now work in four provinces: Guayas, El Oro, Manabí and Esmeraldas.
Our focus is on making sure that all children – including children who work – get a good quality, basic education.
We’re making sure children go to school and receive a better quality of education
Each year, around 100,000 children don’t enrol in first grade. More than 750,000 others (aged 5–17) miss out on school.
The quality of education in Ecuador is poor so families often prefer their children to work and earn a living than attend a school where they’re not learning. Girls, children with disabilities, indigenous children and refugees are most likely to miss out on school.
We work with 65 communities, local government and NGOs to improve the quality of education. To date, our activities have benefited 9,508 children, more than half of them girls.
We successfully campaigned for the government to increase the education budget by 6% of GDP and so abolish school fees. This resulted in some 250,000 more children entering school for the first time.
And this year, we began a new programme in Esmeraldas with funding from the European Commission. We’re promoting inclusive education and children’s participation, benefiting the refugee population and children from minority ethnic communities (Ecuadorians of African descent).
We’re protecting children
About 40% of Ecuadorian children and young people work to earn money – a greater proportion than in other Latin American countries. In the central highlands region, this figure rises to 90% of children who do some form of work, often harmful. Many children are employed on banana plantations, for example, or on farms producing flowers for export.
Over the last four years, we’ve helped more than 12,000 working children and young people to avoid the most harmful forms of labour and get better access to education.
We’ve helped approximately 4,000 children who work on banana export plantations with scholarships, education materials, health and nutrition programmes. And we’ve helped some families find alternative sources of income, so that their children can return to school.
Read more about our child protection work.
We’re helping children prepare for emergencies
We’re helping 4,000 children from flood-prone areas on the coast (Guayas) and children living in zones affected by activity in the Tungurahua volcano, so they’re better prepared for a natural disaster or emergency.
Download What we do in Ecuador (PDF 78KB)
