Barraca da Amizade

Amizade Solidária

Social enterprise to prevent the sexual exploitation  of children and adolescents

The city of Fortaleza has one of the highest rates of sexual exploitation among children and adolescents. The lack of access to sociocultural services, in addition to the precarious economic conditions and the absence of community and family support in the city, contribute to conditions of extreme social vulnerability in the region.

Barraca da Amizade works around the Castelão Stadium and was created in 1987 to help children and adolescents living in conditions of vulnerability. It all began when a group of street kids found a means to fight for their rights by engaging in circus activities. Over the years, Barraca da Amizade’s strategy perfected itself to assist the most important social demands: in 2008, the organizations fought to combat sexual exploitation; in 2010, the goal was to improve the community and increase its autonomy through education and strengthening family ties. Today, it has become necessary to create a social enterprise model that focuses on generating opportunities for income generation for youths in vulnerable conditions.

IMPACT

With support from BrazilFoundation, Barraca da Amizade will:

• Foster a social enterprise system to sell healthy, affordable meals for workers in the regional industries;
• Include 10 youth transvestites between 16 and 29 years old who cannot find work due to discrimination and lack of formal training into a network to gain job access;
• Promote the production and sale of 300 meals per day to those working in the neighboring industries and commercial enterprises.

“These LGBT youth live in a vulnerable situation. They need an alternative way to earn income to escape a condition of sexual exploitation.” -Brigitte Louchez, project coordinator