Italy is committed in promoting rights and inclusion of children in street situation in Khartoum

On January 27th, Baladna Organisation hosted the Ambassador of Italy, H. E Fabrizio Lobasso, the Mayo community leaders and the Representative of the Italian Agency for Development cooperation in Khartoum, Vincenzo Racalbuto, at the Mayo Madella Center for the launching of recreational activities involving 200 street children.

The initiative funded by the AICS is realised in the framework of the Project TADMEEN – Social inclusion human capital development and protection of vulnerable groups within migrants, refugees and host communities and is based on three pillars: support and daily reception of families living in extreme poverty with cases of children at risk; recreational activities and/or psycho-social support for children in the street situations development; promote access to formal/information education, including vocation training.

In Khartoum, growing numbers of children are vulnerable and become victims of various forms of violence. On top of poverty, malnutrition and poor health, children - without the guidance of parents and relatives - are faced with the daily struggle. Our goal – added the AICS Representative in Khartoum - together with Baladna – is to integrate homeless children back into society by offering teaching and learning materials; Psycho-social support through theatre and arts; capacity building and trainings for 7 social workers who have been involved in the children management; recreational activities such as sports in order to reintegrate children into the community; provide protection and vocational training support.

Italy joins its forces with the Sudanese institutions and the civil society for the promotion of the rights and of the socio-economic inclusion of the most vulnerable groups in line with Sustainable Development Goals # 4 - # 5 – # 8 and # 10 for an equitable education, participation, and economic growth, added the Italian Ambassador. We are committed in a moral imperative to support street children, we support the right to life with dignity and the right to life should not be interpreted narrowly, concluded Fabrizio Lobasso.

The AICS Representative concluded that at the moment Italy is implementing a number of projects promoting social inclusion of the most vulnerable for a total budget of 6.7 M Euro over a total budget of approximately 75 M Euro.