About us

The Institute

The Instituto Criança é Vida (Child is Life Institute) was born as a social project run by a private company, in 1996, working initially with 20 volunteers in 9 institutions. It is a non-profit organization that develops projects to support what doctors and psychologists see as the minimum necessary to prevent diseases and ensure the healthy development of babies, children and adolescents. The main focus of the projects is their physical, emotional and social health.

In 2019, it worked with 880 institutions, enabling 1,944 educators and benefiting 67,238 people, among children, adolescents and adults.

With the pandemic causing our face-to-face work to be interrupted, the Institute, aligned with other organizations, decided it was the right moment to strengthen and assist professionals for a return to their activities with children, adolescents and families, also seriously impacted by the pandemic. Therefore, the Institute developed a project to be offered remotely for educators and teachers affected by those uncertain times.

Since August 2020, our multidisciplinary staff developed a series of specific instructional units for the purpose of ASSISTING, SUPPORTING and INFORMING educators and teachers. These instructional units were multiplied by the means of Zoom conferences for online classes with about 30 participants; the conferences were interactive and an effective participation of each educator was encouraged and required. The following table is respective to the results of this work:

In July 2021, we were planning to resume our regular projects as of 2022. However, conversations with coordinators and directors of the Social Assistance and Education fields moved the Institute towards meeting a current important need from our partners: to ASSIST, SUPPORT AND INFORM families and children the same way it was done for educators.

That made the Institute hasten the creation of a 3rd Cycle of specific instructional units to meet the unanimous demand to help address the consequences of the pandemic with children and their families in an accessible, simple and age-appropriate way. 

 If you are interested in additional information about the Institute or our instructional units – in english – please contact us at the email address: atendimento@criancaevida.org.br

The Cause

Deficiencies in infrastructure, such as basic sanitation, urbanization, housing and families lacking financial resources expose children and adolescents to situations of risk: respiratory infections, malnutrition, skin problems, verminosis, scabies and lice, home accidents and others. Childhood and adolescence are often not given due consideration, children and young people feel deprived of affection, protection and attention, suffer corporal punishment, violence and sexual abuse, are exposed to sex at a very young age and have low self-esteem.

The work with parents and educators shows that people do not do better, not because they do not want to, but because they do not know how – education is the way. But how should we educate? The staff of the Instituto Criança é Vida (Child is Life Institute) trains educators and employees of institutions, in addition to partner company volunteers, to multiply projects for children, adolescents and families in communities where they are active.

Mission

Collaborate to build a healthier country

Vision

  • We will expand our work in order to strengthen the family, the institution and the community, creating better conditions for physical, emotional and social support for children and adolescents up to 15 years of age.
  • We will work to geographically expand our projects, following criteria to ensure orderly growth and maintaining the same quality of service.
  • We will strive to make our work known, encouraging partnerships with companies as a way to strengthen projects, showing that it is not necessary to “reinvent the wheel.”
  • We will continue to listen to our public (assisted communities, sponsors, advisory council, the board of directors, technical advisors and volunteers), analyzing their suggestions and criticism, so that our current and future projects maintain the credibility they have achieved.
  • We will maintain the identity of the Institute and the strength of our mission with the joy and commitment of our staff and with confidence in our “way of doing things” (enthusiasm and determination, seriousness and transparency).
  • We will keep our eyes focused on the broader social context with the purpose of anticipating needs created by unexpected changes and that directly affect our public, as the Covid-19 pandemic for example.
  • We will monitor procedures and practices ensuring the adoption of principles and practices of good corporate governance in order to ensure the quality of our management and our longevity.

Values

Solidarity and commitment in the dissemination of knowledge with lightness and joy

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If you are interested in knowing better the Instituto Criança é Vida (Child is Life Institute), please get into contact by email – atendimento@criancaevida.org.br or telephone: 55.11.5185.4510