About Us

Supporting Ecuador’s working children for a brighter future.

Who We Are

A charity dedicated to transforming lives

We are a charity dedicated to transforming the lives of working children, and marginalised youth in Ecuador, empowering them to build a brighter future for themselves and their families.

Through strategic partnerships with grassroots NGOs in Ecuador, we support targeted education and support programmes, with a strong focus on indigenous girls and women. Our partner organisations have decades of experience in combating child labour and poverty, offering educational opportunities, financial aid, decent work, and strategic guidance to break the cycle of hardship.

By working together, we can empower Ecuador’s most vulnerable children and youth, breaking the cycle of poverty through education, economic opportunity, and community-driven solutions.

Our Partner Organisations

Years of consistent support

€M+

Raised for Ecuador programmes

Children helped by UBECI each year

Children & families via CENIT

Our Approach

What makes us different

Sustainable Impact

For over 20 years, we have provided consistent support to our partner organisations, ensuring they have the financial stability to continue their work. We guarantee at least one year of funding in case of unforeseen changes, allowing them time to secure new resources.

Local Leadership & Decision-Making

We believe in local solutions for local challenges. Instead of micromanaging, we trust our Ecuadorian partners to make the best decisions for their communities, ensuring culturally relevant and effective support.

Strong & Trusted Partnerships

Nearly all of our team members have worked within our partner organisations, fostering deep, long-term relationships. We maintain regular visits and ongoing communication to ensure transparency, trust, and aligned goals in our mission to create lasting change.

Organisations We Support

Our Partners in Ecuador

We proudly collaborate with three partner organisations in Ecuador, funding essential salaries for teachers, social workers, and psychologists. To break barriers in education, we provide scholarships for underprivileged students, ensuring they have access to quality learning. Additionally, we support community health by supplying vital medicines to the CENIT clinic, helping improve lives every day.

📚 Education

CENIT

Based in south Quito, CENIT (The Integrated Centre for Childhood and Adolescence) has been helping working children – especially vulnerable girls – since 1991. It operates a school for poor, disadvantaged children, and runs outreach playgroups in two markets. CENIT’s work is wide reaching and inclusive, incorporating health, social and psychological support, education and vocational training. CENIT has a team of around 15 local employees, plus local and international volunteers. Every year, CENIT reaches out to some 400 children and their families.

ViaNiños supports CENIT by funding salaries, including social workers, education specialists, and teaching staff as well as outreach workers.

🏠 Residential Care

Sor Dominga Bocca

Sor Dominga Bocca is a home for 22 girls aged between 3 and 18 years in Guayaquil, Ecuador. These girls are no longer able to live with their families due to domestic violence, abuse or as a result of abandonment. A team of psychologists, education specialists, a social worker and a cook look after the girls in a family environment. They pay particular attention to their psychological healing as well as integrating them into mainstream schooling. The social worker and care workers strive to establish and maintain contact with the children’s families. Following primary and secondary education, Sor Dominga Bocca supports the girls to go on to further education or training. ViaNiños funds the salary for one psychologist.

🌱 Early Years

UBECI Foundation

UBECI Foundation is a small organisation working with particularly vulnerable children in Quito’s markets since 2005. Every day, outreach workers operate in different markets with support from international volunteers. UBECI staff integrate children into mainstream schooling, offer homework support, and run workshops for parents on child rights, domestic abuse prevention, and health. ViaNiños funds the salaries of two outreach workers and two child psychologists.

Our Volunteers

The people behind the mission

ViaNiños is run entirely by volunteers across the UK, Germany, and Switzerland – passionate people united by a belief that every child deserves an education. Many of us have spent time volunteering with CENIT and UBECI, experiencing firsthand the needs of the working children and families in the markets of south Quito.

🇩🇪 ViaNiños Deutschland

Eva-Maria Oswald

Eva-Maria is the Chairwoman of ViaNiños Germany. In 2013, she volunteered at UBECI for three months and has been an active member ever since. She is a team leader in financial control in Munich.

Fabian Moser

A doctor committed to healthcare locally and globally, Fabian currently works for the Wellcome Trust. In his free time, he loves being in the mountains.

Meike Kramer

Founding member and treasurer since inception. Meike lives in Kirchzarten with her husband and four children and manages financial oversight across Germany and Switzerland.

Verónica Rodríguez

Originally from Ecuador, Verónica worked as a psychologist at CENIT. She has been with ViaNiños since 2011 and works as a psychotherapist in Mannheim.

🇨🇭 ViaNiños Schweiz

Paula Wey

Paula works at the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs. After volunteering with CENIT in 2002, she co-founded ViaNiños to continue supporting the organisation she had come to love.

Andrea Hürlimann-Rostek

Active member since 2020, Andrea works in international contract management. In 2002 she volunteered for four months with CEMVA in Sucre, Bolivia.

🇬🇧 ViaNiños UK

Tania Songini

Member since 2003, Tania grew up in Africa and Italy and regularly visits our projects in Ecuador. She worked 18 years at Siemens as Finance Director before moving into supervisory board roles in renewable energy with the UK National Wealth Fund and Thrive Renewables.

Bridget Higginson

Bridget studied human rights and languages and heads the NGO Hands Around the World. In 2007/08 she was volunteer coordinator at CENIT for a year.

Nicola McGregor

Senior Marketing Manager at EY, Nicola has travelled to Ecuador three times and visited our partner organisations in Quito. She manages all ViaNiños marketing activity.

Lucy Nickoll

Ten+ years in international development across Asia and Africa. Framework Manager at IMC Worldwide, Lucy has lived and worked in Bolivia, Rwanda, Thailand and Kenya.

Nicholas McCaughran

25+ years in finance across multiple sectors. Spent three years at Save the Children including a year in South Sudan. Supports ViaNiños fundraising, including foundation trusts.

Grant Donors

We are grateful to our kind grant donors who support our ongoing projects.

Join Us

Want to volunteer with ViaNiños?

We’re always looking for passionate people across the UK, Germany, and Switzerland to help us support working children in Ecuador. No experience required, just a genuine desire to make a difference.

Get in Touch

Volunteer