Red Calle - Developing policies to support the homeless

Red Calle's Technical Missions started

Asunción, Paraguay
,
Paraguay
|
July 01, 2019

The Delegations of the Red Calle Latinoamericana Project carried out a Technical Assistance Mission to the Ministry of Childhood and Adolescents of Paraguay from 24 to 28 June 2019, in the city of Asunción.

On 24 and 25 June, the opening event of the Assistance Mission took place at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Asunción with a Discussion group entitled "Contributions from the Red Calle Latinoamericana to the strengthening of policies to support the homeless in Paraguay" ("Aportes desde la Red Calle Latinoamericana al fortalecimiento de las políticas para personas en situación de calle en Paraguay"), with the participation of local authorities and experts, Ministry of Childhood and Adolescents (Programa PAINAC, Fono ayuda 147, Dispositivo de Respuesta Inmediata, Programa Abrazo), Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (Institute of Social Welfare and out-of-hospital medical emergency service), Ministry of Social Development (Planning and Design Area), National Police (911), National Emergency Secretariat (Secretaría de Emergencia Nacional - SEN), and international ones (Delegations of Costa Rica, Uruguay and Coordination of the Red Calle Project).

On the first day, after the opening remarks delivered by the Minister of Childhood and Adolescents, Mrs Teresa Martinez, and the Coordinator of the Red Calle Project, Mrs Yanella Posente, a formal presentation was made on the Red Calle achievements in the light of the Sustainable Development Objectives and Triangular Cooperation.

The Model of Care for Homeless People in Uruguay (Modelo de Atención a Personas en Situación de Calle de Uruguay) was presented by Micalea Melgar, Director of the Coordination Division for Homeless People of the Ministry of Social Development (MIDES) - Uruguay, Juan Carlos Gomez, Head of the Women with Children and Adolescents Programme of MIDES - Uruguay, and Leonardo Monetti, Coordinator of the Intake and Referral System of MIDES - Uruguay.

The delegation of Costa Rica, composed of Anabelle Hernandez, Head of the Social Action and Institutional Administration Area (IMAS) of the Ministry of Human Development and Social Inclusion and Maricruz Ramirez, person in charge of the Street People Programme of the Municipality of San José, Costa Rica, made a presentation on the Institutionalization of the National Policy for homeless and abandoned people in Costa Rica.

Finally, the discussion was opened by way of a plenary session, during which each participant in the discussion exposed the current situation of his or her institution with respect to the services provided to the homeless population, as well as the challenges identified by each institution to address the issue.

During the second day, the Costa Rican team presented its work experience in San José, Costa Rica. Then, the team from the Ministry of Childhood and Adolescents of Paraguay (MINNA), under the leadership of Jorge Amarilla, the Red Calle Representative for Paraguay and Coordinator of the Integral care for children and adolescents living on the street Programme (Programa de Atención Integral a Niñas, Niños y Adolescentes en situación de calle - PAINAC), presented their different projects and work methodology.

The day ended with an exchange of views in sub-groups where participants discussed their institution's capacity to tackle this issue and the future courses of action that can be proposed, from an inter-institutional perspective.

On 26 June, the delegations, together with Jorge Amarilla, took a tour of the city of Asunción and its surroundings, visiting the following MINNA centres: Centro Abierto Refugio, Centro Transitorio de Protección, Centro de convivencia pedagógica Nemity Jorge Patiño Palacios, Centro de Formación Profesional Buenos Vecinos, Centro de Atención Integral del Mercado Abasto and Programa Abrazo en Centro Comunitario Chacarita.

On 27 and 28 June, work was again carried out at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Asunción, with an exchange of experiences and proposals between the MINNA programme managers, the Costa Rican and Uruguayan delegations and the Red Calle Project Coordination team.

Within this framework, a presentation was delivered on 27 June on the various conceptualizations and existing definitions of homelessness according to international standards, as well as on the Red Calle Latinoamericana position on this issue by the Project Coordination team; the "Methodology for the census of homeless people" was also presented by the MIDES team (Uruguay).

In the afternoon, a visit was paid to the premises of the Dispositivo Fono Ayuda 147 del MINNA (MINNA Fono Ayuda 147 Mechanism) and the Dispositivo de Respuesta Inmediata - DRI (Immediate Response Mechanism). The latter went on street tours, ending the day with a visit to the National Emergency Service (Centro Nocturno del Servicio de Emergencia Nacional - SEN) Night Centre, the only existing facility for homeless adults.

The summary, evaluation and closing of the Mission were held in the morning of 28 June. One of the first agreements and lessons learned to be highlighted from this intense week of work was the commitment of all the participants in terms of presenting what already exists and proposing alternatives to improve the current reality.

Emphasis was placed on the local reality and on providing appropriate services: the complexity of the phenomenon given the existence of a large number of children and adolescents living on the streets of the country, as well as in situations of problematic consumption of psychoactive substances; the reality that people from indigenous peoples are facing when they arrive in the capital city looking to improve their life but ending up homeless and even in many cases in a situation of sexual exploitation; the situation that homeless adults are facing, with no attention to their difficulties; and the complexity and emergency that elderly homeless persons face, for which there are very few specialized services dedicated to their needs.

It was agreed to work on the design, implementation and evaluation of a National Pilot Plan for Comprehensive Care to Homeless People, led by one of the Public Organisations and with constant support and coordination from the other Institutions.

Some of the points to be highlighted there will be: to be able to place the subject on the public and political agenda, to carry out campaigns to raise awareness among the public, to propose, in the short term, the running of a Working Table on the subject in which the various Institutions directly involved would participate, as well as to incorporate other Organisations that have not been called upon to deal with it up to now.

Over the next few weeks, work will be done to draft a document containing the Assistance's Final Product, which will outline the characteristics of the National Pilot Plan as well as the steps to be followed. From the Red Calle Project, a second assistance gathering was organised, under the leadership of DINEM (National Department of Assessment and Monitoring of the Ministry of Social Development of Uruguay) and with the support of ADELANTE'S Evalua Programme to work on concrete tools for the design, implementation and evaluation of the aforementioned Pilot Plan.