The SUEZ Foundation in Chile
Association Alianza y Solidaridad: Huichaquelén Project
Since 2004, SUEZ Foundation has supported the Chilean Alliance and Solidarity Association ("Alianza y Solidaridad"), established at the initiative of the professors and students of the Alliance Française in Santiago, Chile. The organization's purpose is to come to the aid of children in the communities of Mapuche du Lac Budi, located 700 km. south of Santiago.
Over time, the project's objective is to enhance and amplify the work accomplished during previous years in the fields of education, health, and hygiene.
During 2005, Alianza y Solidaridad publicized its project and presented its objectives to the Chilean educational authorities. The welcome was favorable and the Minister of Education and regional authorities gave their support for setting up demonstration mechanisms to help educators improve their performance and make presentations to financial backers to improve the level of teaching.
The project financed by SUEZ Foundation aims on the one hand to strengthen the basic level of education and improve hygienic and safety habits in the different Lac Budi school communities. On the other, is seeks to offer instructors a training program to improve the general quality of education.
The project is based on three kinds of activity:
Infrastructure: library construction, and maintenance of plumbing and kitchens in the various schools.
Creation of educational, motivational, and recreational workshops for approximately 100 children who, at the Association's local headquarters, are divided according to their level of learning. Personal hygiene themes (oral and bodily hygiene) are also covered in these workshops.
Workshops for instructors designed to make a contribution to their teaching and provide the occasion for cultural exchanges between faculty members from the various schools in the area.
The principal of the Alliance Française lyçée has shown his support for these workshops by backing exchanges between his instructors and those of the Mapuche community schools.
The "Aldea de Ninos Cardenal Raul Silva Henriquez" Foundation
Since the end of 2004, by underwriting the financing for renovating this center's water supply network, SUEZ Foundation has provided support for this program whose mission is to take in and accommodate orphans from the poorer neighborhoods.
