Verhalen & nieuws

Yes, let’s! Because talking about sexuality with children and young people is crucial. Young people who receive a qualitative sexual education make more conscious decisions, are less at risk of STDs and sexually transgressive behaviour and are happier in their relationships. So, there’s more than enough reasons to talk about sex!

Last year, 1.5 billion young people worldwide stayed at home to stop the spread of COVID-19. Estimations state that 9.7 million of these children will never be able to go back to school after the pandemic. Many of these kids will end up spending a lot of their time on the streets to contribute to the family income and to find ways to survive… The COVID-19 pandemic has once again painfully highlighted how street-connected children are too often excluded. That’s why it’s more important than ever to put the International Day for Street Children in the spotlight, in order to ensure street-connected children get more included both during and after the pandemic.

After more than 15 years of supporting local street work partners with mobile school carts and educational materials, StreetSmart now launches a couple of brand-new digital products. However, the mission statement of our organisation remains unchanged: empowering youth workers worldwide to conduct their daily work in a creative and efficient way. Since December last year, our application StreetSmart Impact is available to give youth workers more detailed insight in the results and impact of their work.

In order to meet the rapidly growing demand for qualitative educational materials, our StreetSmart team has created different activities to discuss the current COVID-19 pandemic. The educational package combines brand new with already existing activities and aims to give youth workers the tools to discuss the consequences of the pandemic with their target group.

We are launching an educational board game that allows Belgian families to reflect and vent with their children about the impact of the corona crisis. The board game called 'Coronials' aims to encourage families in a playful and approachable way to discuss the difficult situations we are experiencing today.

In the ‘Project in the Spotlight’ article series, we take the time to highlight the work of our partner organisations, since they are the local experts taking the mobile school to the streets. This time, we’re heading to Sucre, Bolivia. There, our local partner IPTK has been conducting outreach sessions in 6 different districts for more than 15 years. Below, you can find 7 things you have always wanted to know about our long-term Bolivian street work partner.

1,5 miljard kinderen konden door de COVID-19 lockdowns niet naar school. 9,7 miljoen van deze kinderen zal waarschijnlijk ook nooit meer terugkeren naar school. Velen van hen zijn de straatkinderen waar onze Mobile School-partners dagelijks mee aan de slag gaan.

It’s official: as of this month, we have 5 Polish StreetSmart Wheels partners, bringing the total to 58! The fifth Polish mobile school project was just implemented in Racibórz with brand new partner Pomocna Dłoń.

In the ‘Project in the Spotlight’ article series, we take the time to highlight the work of our partner organisations, since they are the local experts taking the mobile school to the streets. This time, we’re heading to Manila, capital city of the Philippines. There, our local partner Virlanie Foundation is conducting sessions with the oldest mobile school on the Asian continent. Below, you can find 6 things you have always wanted to know about our long-term Filipino street work partner.

De Provinciale Middelbare School Bilzen (PSSB) in Munsterbilzen heeft aan het begin van het schooljaar een creatieve oplossing bedacht voor de coronabeperkingen. Vanwege het mooie weer geven sommige leraren deze week hun lessen buiten op een mobiele school. „Met alle coronaregels met betrekking tot mondmaskers en ventilatie is het een verademing om buiten les te kunnen geven, en de mobiele school is het perfecte instrument om de concentratie van onze leerlingen op peil te houden”, zegt Luc Valkeneers, technisch adviseur-coördinator van de PSSB.

In maart gingen wereldwijd de poorten van scholen dicht. 1,5 miljard jongeren bleven thuis om de verspreiding van Covid-19 tegen te gaan. De afgelopen weken hebben leraren en management echter heel hard gewerkt en alles in het werk gesteld om de scholen op 1 september op een veilige manier te heropenen. Tot slot kunnen kinderen en jongeren in België weer voltijds naar school, om te leren en samen te zijn met vrienden.

In the ‘Project in the Spotlight’ article series, we take the time to highlight the work of one of our incredible partner organisations, since they are the local experts taking the mobile school to the streets. In this article, we present our oldest European Mobile School partner: Salvati Copiii Iasi. Below, you can find 7 things you have always wanted to know about our Romanian partner.