ABC Prodein

Mission: We are an international non-profit organization of Catholic inspiration, with authentic love we promote the integral development of vulnerable human beings so that they may be protagonists of their sustainable transformation.

Vision: By 2025, we project ourselves as a self-sustainable organization, recognized nationally for its programs that promote the integral development of our nationally recognized for its programs that promote the integral development of our beneficiaries, achieving in them a vision of hope, which beneficiaries, achieving in them a vision of hope that dignifies their lives and radiates authentic love. 

Sister Maria Ester is the director of our organization, she is missionary born in Madrid, Spain. National Director of the Catholic social organization ABC PRODEIN in Colombia since 2002. She has a broad social sense and sensitivity for the most needy, which has led her to direct and expand the fields of action of the association, achieving the expansion of the school offer in Bogotá up to grade 11, achieving 4 promotions of graduates to date, and creating tje Ludoteca in Cali.

ABC Prodein was founded in 1967 by Father Rodrígo Molina and Sister Josefina Serrano. With great sensitivity for the most needy, they promoted the integral development of the human being by offering free, quality education to the most vulnerable population of Cusco, Peru.  In 1970 they began their expansion in Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Brazil, United States, Venezuela and in 1994 they arrived in Colombia. 

Upon their arrival, they were located in the Santa Viviana neighborhood of Ciudad Bolivar. There they began with an educational and nutritional offer for the children of the area, which year after year has increased the number of beneficiaries and services offered. Currently, ABC Prodein has branches in Bogotá, Medellín and Cali.

In Cali, they have been working since 2006 to address the problem of violence in Potrero Grande. They developed a nutritional strategy that consisted of offering lunch to children and young people in two dining halls, separated from each other by invisible borders established by gangs in the area. 
In view of the great reception and acceptance of the initiative in Potrero Grande and the number of daily attendees at the dining halls, ABC Prodein expanded its management in Cali with a line of education, which created educational strategies focused on academic strengthening through extracurricular workshops.

Thus, the staff in Cali has years of experience working with this particular population and developing effective strategies to create an optimal space in which to isolate themselves from the violent environment they inhabit and train them to access a wider range of opportunities in life.

Our solution opens the door for children and adolescents to academic opportunities through multiple motor, intellectual and psychological strengthening strategies. 

In Cali ABC Prodein is located in Potrero Grande. According to a survey conducted in 2021, 100% of the population (approximately 35,000 people) is stratum 1.
According to the Mayor's Office of Santiago de Cali, it is the third neighborhood in the city with the highest annual unemployment and homicide rates, with 20% of the population unemployed. These economic difficulties have a direct impact on the increase in criminal activities, such as theft and participation in illicit trade. This is reflected in the more than 10 invisible borders, where the most affected population are children and adolescents. 
Likewise, the Potrero Grande Health Center ranks 4th in the table of cases of malnutrition in the city and has the highest number of teenage pregnancies. Areport made by world vision international stablishes that there are high indicators of unsatisfied basic families, such as the high indicators of unsatisfied basic needs, especially those related to basicespecially those related to fundamental rights such as access to food, health, education and decent work conditions.access to food, health, education and decent working conditions. Also thedrug use, liquor abuse, illiteracy, teenage pregnancy and school dropout rates school dropouts, due to the formation of households at an early age.

In the year 2022, the Santa Teresita del Niño Jesús extracurricular space offered 8 training programs (Lego education, environment, choir, soccer, baking, handicrafts, school reinforcement and English) for children from 4 to 16 years old. In total, 241 children were active, 54% of whom were girls and 46% boys. 

Due to the great experience that our workers have working in Potrero Grande, initially acquired through daily coexistence with the children in the dining rooms, and later implementing each of the extracurricular training lines, they have been able to permeate the culture of their beneficiaries and understand in depth the contexts of violence, abuse and deep need in which they are immersed, in order to respond to their needs in an optimal way. 

We take into account the variability of the learning styles of our beneficiaries as well as their particular training needs and interests. In this sense, we offer a wide range of training topics (mentioned above) in order to respond to the educational needs of children and adolescents through one or more of the 8 training fields.

Impact of Our Programs:

1. Lego Education: 45 beneficiaries from 4 to 7 years old. In December, the participating children
graduated from level 1 of the program.
2. Environment: 53 beneficiaries from 10 to 14 years of age.
3. Choir: 28 children between the ages of 9 and 13.
4. English: 7 children enrolled.
5. San José Soccer School: 17 enrolled between 11 and 16 years old. In May
In May, gloves were given to the children to encourage them to participate responsibly and commit to their dreams.
responsibly and commit to their dreams.
6. Fermenting Love Pastry: 26 children between the ages of 8 and 16 completed their pastry course.
baking course.
7. Handicrafts: 63 children enrolled.
8. School reinforcement and reading and writing workshops: 63 children enrolled.

Likewise, we carry out periodic, theoretical and practical evaluations, in order to verify the apprehension of the concepts and teachings provided to our beneficiaries. On the other hand, we are aware of their school performance to verify an effective incidence of extracurricular spaces in their development and school performance.We have conduct funational and formative research. To implement every new educational strategy in Cali and evaluate the need of our solution in Potrero Grande we conduct frecuent context research.   This allows us to corroborate the need for our solution based on national and local statistics regarding nutrition and education rates, but also allows us to visualize the impact we have on the population we work with. Thus, responding to the actual needs of the population we serve. 

We get further precision with characterizations and specific control studies of our beneficiaries.

The caracterization allow us to see specifically who accepts the solution, their family, socioeconomic context, the effective or ineffective enjoyment of their fundamental rights, their socioeconomic, psycho-affective needs, and those of their family, as well as their specific academic and nutritional needs. 

Likewise, we carry out periodic, theoretical and practical evaluations, in order to verify the apprehension of the concepts and teachings provided to our beneficiaries. On the other hand, we are aware of their school performance to verify an effective incidence of extracurricular spaces in their development and school performance.

Our studies have shown that there is Permanence, perseverance and active participation of our beneficiaries, highlighting characteristics of Commitment and responsibility, assertiveness and conflict resolution. On the other hand, it shows a difficulty in the effective use of new technologies by some beneficiaries. Despite this, an agreement was reached with 2 universities in Cali to promote the education of our children, likewise 5 recreation projects were carried out. By 2022, there was the active participation of 302 participants between the ages of 4 to 12 years.

Although our solution has been very well received by the beneficiaries and their families, we are currently facing a series of internal and external  challenges that, we are sure, the accompaniment and support of the LEAP Project will help us considerably to overcome.

Internally,. sometimes there is some lack of coordination and communication between the work team, as well as the lack of financial, technical and material resources for the developement of specific activities. 

The biggest challenge with our beneficiaries has been to get the beneficiaries unaccustomed to the technology devices to travel to the facilities to receive their training in person. Also the lack of full responsibility with the fulfillment of some tasks to be carried out in the headquarters in terms of punctuality.

What is the most effective strategy to carry out research on our beneficiaries that leads us towards an effective optimization of our solution and, consequently, an increase in favorable results?

In view of the lack of resources, what is the best resource optimization strategy according to our business model?

1. A strategy to carry out adecuate research on our beneficiaries.

2. An effective optimization of our solution towards the benefiaries.

3. A resource optimization strategy according to our business model.

We will implement the strategies. The research strategy and the resource optimization strategy could be implemented simultaneously. With the outcome of those strategies, we wil tailor with your help an optimiaztion of our solution.

Our short term outcomes, will be the ejecution of 2 of the total of strategies.

Our long term outcome will be the development of the optimization of our solution