Learn more about Pilares' work:
For a society without barriers
Pilares is an NGO that was born in 2008 in Villa 21-24, Barracas, with the aim ofprovide opportunities to promote the integral development of familieswho live in precarious settlements and thus achieve a society without barriers.
Our focus of work is in Villa 21-24, Barracas, whereAlmost 70% of families live with some Unsatisfied Basic Need. Faced with this situation, we believe it is necessary to carry out a comprehensive approach that takes into account the diversity of problems that these families go through. That's whywe rely on the most important pillars to achieve their comprehensive development: education, health, work, welfare and housing.
Today we work together with255 familiesin Villa 21-24, Barracas, through three social programs: the CONIN Barracas Center, the “Pilarcitos” Early Childhood Center and the Educational Program.
How we work?
- We work together with families:We maintain personalized and sustained contact over time with each one, taking into account their particular needs and points of view. This allows us to think lines of work according to them.
- Comprehensive approach:We seek, for people affected by different problems simultaneously, a comprehensive intervention taking into account the different areas that may be affected.
- Interdisciplinary work team:40 people from different professions and backgrounds make up the Pilares work team. This favors a comprehensive view of the problems that families go through.
Our programs
EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM
We accompany and promote a comprehensive and quality education for 100 boys and girls of primary school age (6 to 13 years old) through a school support space and art, music, radio, English and recreation workshops. In addition, they receive breakfast and lunch, which represents 30% of their daily food.
This program works as a support for the formal system, contrary to primary school. The students are divided into multigrade groups and have a tutor and volunteers in the classroom with the aim of accompanying them in their school and affective processes.
CONIN BARRACAS CENTER
We work on the prevention of child malnutrition and the promotion of comprehensive development from pregnancy to early childhood. 80 mothers and pregnant women and 90 children from 0 to 5 years old who receive care in nutritional, pediatric, early stimulation and social work clinics participate.
There are also cooking workshops and educational talks on health for mothers, while the children stay in the center's playroom, a space for support and play to promote their development. It is the only CONIN Center in the City of Buenos Aires.
PILARCITOS EARLY CHILDHOOD CENTER
We provide comprehensive care to 75 boys and girls from 1 to 3 years old in full 8-hour shifts. In addition to promoting the healthy development of children, it is an opportunity for their parents to enter the formal labor market during the day. Children receive breakfast, lunch and an afternoon snack.
Pillars in numbers
-9are the years of work that Pilares has been in Villa 21-24, Barracas.
- More of1,700families participated in our programs from the beginning of the activities in the neighborhood.
- Currently we reach255families with our programs. This has an indirect impact on 1,170 people.
- We toast64hours of school support per month in the Educational Program.
- We toast32hours per month of care in the nutritional, pediatric, early stimulation and social assistance clinic at the CONIN Barracas Center.
- We toast160hours per month of comprehensive care at the “Pilarcitos” Early Childhood Center.
- We have an interdisciplinary work team of40people with various backgrounds and professions.
-60volunteers participate weekly in Pilares activities.
- We articulate with6universities for their students to carry out their professional internships in the Pillars programs.
- We network with13 institutions to guarantee more development opportunities for families.
Milestones that marked the history of Pilares
2008:With the support of Father Pepe Di Paola, a group of young people with strong social concerns begins to work in Villa 21-24 of Barracas, carrying out recreational and educational activities for children and adolescents._cc781905-5cde -3194-bb3b-136bad5cf58d_
2010:we began to manage the legal status to give legal support to our work and begin a new institutional stage under the name "Caacupé ONG".
2011:Together with the Caacupé de la Villa 21-24 Parish, we implemented the Educational Program to promote timely and full education for 100 children of primary school age who live in the neighborhood.
2012:We inaugurated the CONIN Barracas Center, the only CONIN center in the City of Buenos Aires, with the aim of preventing child malnutrition among children from 0 to 5 years old.
2014:Faced with the growth of the foundation, we reconsidered our mission and vision and changed the name to Pilares. The pillars represent a key support for the development of a structure. We seek that our programs are "pillars" in the comprehensive development of people.
2014:We opened two new shifts at the CONIN Barracas Center with the aim of providing comprehensive care to more children and their mothers.
2015:we obtained the Profile Award for the Intelligence of Argentines in the “Public Good” category, awarded by Editorial Perfil.
2016:We inaugurated the “Pilarcitos” Early Childhood Center to promote the comprehensive development of 75 children from 1 to 3 years of age, working full days of 8 hours from Monday to Friday.
2016:Guillermo Arce Monsegur, president of Pilares, is recognized as a "Notable Youth" by the GCBA Youth Department.
2016:We received the “Liberator Award” from the Recoleta Rotary Club for contributing to society through a humanitarian project.
2017:30 children and their mothers were discharged from the CONIN Barracas Center thanks to the successful completion of the treatment.