Chevron Colombia and the Juego & Niñez Foundation announce a program to prevent violence against children throughout the country

The Families that Care program will support nearly 350 families to train them in the prevention of violence against girls, boys, and adolescents at home.

Training and support strategies will be deployed for families, caregivers, educational agents, and public servants in 300 municipalities across the country, both virtually and in person.

Physical punishment, sexual and psychological violence are the forms of violence most commonly inflicted on girls, boys, and adolescents in the country, according to the National Violence Survey of 2018. For this reason, in order to reduce the high rates of violence, Chevron Colombia joined forces with the Juego y Niñez Corporation to launch the ‘Families that Care’ program, which will train more than 800 people (families, caregivers, and close adults) in child care and will indirectly benefit around 45,000 girls, boys, and adolescents in these territories.

The initiative has two components, the first of which is educational, where training will be provided on violence, parenting from love and emotional bonding, as well as play and physical punishment, in which 500 people from 300 municipalities will participate. This will be carried out in coordination with the Ministry of Education and local education secretariats and will be aimed at mothers, fathers, caregivers, social actors, and educational agents.

The second component focuses on training and support for families, through public servants who work on child-related issues, who will receive practical tools to train around 400 mothers, fathers, and caregivers from the municipalities of Yumbo, Buenaventura, San Andrés, Cartagena, Barranquilla, Tunja, and Vianí, in the prevention of violence in homes.

“At Chevron, we work to benefit and promote the development of communities. That is why we have been working for over 20 years with the Juego y Niñez Corporation, impacting nearly 20,000 girls and boys in recent years. Now with the Families that Care program, we aim to impact many more people to eliminate the normalization of violent practices as validated and accepted forms of education in society,» said María de los Ángeles Manrique, manager of Chevron Colombia.

She also highlighted that this year 300 municipalities from the 32 departments of the country will benefit, marking the first phase of the program.

“For our entity, it is a priority to continue mobilizing the prevention of violence against children and adolescents in the country, a topic we have been leading since 2020, along with the importance of play as a right and a protective factor for childhood,” stated Sergio Ibarra, director of the Juego y Niñez Corporation.