Type Educational NGO Publication Revista Entreculturas Founded 1985 | Director Daniel Villanueva Website Entreculturas Staff 74 | |
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Established 1985; 32 years ago (1985) Affiliation Spanish Jesuits, Catholic Similar Cruz Roja Española, Action Against Hunger, Save the Children, Plan, Médecins du Monde | ||
Entreculturas is a non-governmental organization for development cooperation, the international social outreach of the Spanish Province of Jesuits, founded in Madrid in 1985. It focuses mainly on educating the poor in Latin America and Africa, while responding to humanitarian crises and also educating to global awareness in Spain.
Activities
In Latin America and Africa, Entreculturas supports initiatives that promote education of the disadvantaged, ranging from teacher training and building classrooms and vocational training centres, to supporting educational programs on radio, to nutritional programs. In November 2015 Accenture (NYSE: ACN) awarded a US$3.8 million grant to Entreculturas to help expand its e-learning program and to equip an additional 80,000 disadvantaged youth across Africa, Latin America, and Spain with additional job skills.
Entreculturas offers free educational resources in Spanish on line, as well as informative videos. It sends volunteers abroad for insertion experiences, to places like an orphanage in Nairobi, Kenya.
Entreculturas raises awareness of the educational needs of the poor by various activities. It stages an annual solidarity race in ten cities in Spain, involving 10,000 runners in 2015. It also promotes its work with artistic renderings on television. It has worked out a program with BBVA in Spain, which has 4000 of its employees contributing to Entreculturas. In one program employees give a euro of their salary each month and BBVA matches their donations.
Entreculturas heavily supports the international educational federation Fe y Alegría, which is in 17 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, besides Chad, Italy, and Spain. In Africa Entreculturas promotes education in refugee camps. In January 2016, following a weak response by governments to the plight of refugees in the Mediterranean area, Entreculturas along with other sectors of the Society of Jesus launched the campaign Hospitality. In Spain it promotes educational campaigns, communication, research, and advocacy activities to sensitize Spanish society to the worthy cause of education for all people.
Of special note for raising awareness is the Youth Solidarity Network. This was born in Andalusia in 1999 and maintains a network of young people ages 14 to 18 who perform charity activities in their schools and communities. The network has spread to Andalusia, Asturias, Castilla y Leon, Madrid, Murcia, Galicia, Valencia and La Rioja. Since 2011 it has also initiated an 18 and Over Network, with youth from Andalusia, Murcia, and Valencia participating. Through its Spanish educational platform "Redec" it fosters awareness and education for development for girls and boys in the 18 and Over Network, as well as for families, children, schools, and educators. Through a highly articulated program, the youth are led to become advocates for solidarity within their community, agents for consciousness raising and social change. The training program includes workshops; community service and social mobilisation projects, and opportunities for dialogue with other such groups locally and in Europe and Latin America.
