About Us
Supporting Ecuador’s working children for a brighter future.
Who We Are
A charity dedicated to transforming lives
+
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
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.
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.
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.
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 🇩🇪 Germany & 🇨🇭Switzerland
Board Member
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.
Board Member
Fabian Moser
Fabian Moser is a doctor and is committed to healthcare both locally and globally. He currently works for the Wellcome Trust. In his free time, he loves being in the mountains
Founding Member
Meike Kramer
Meike Kramer is a founding member of ViaNiños and has been the treasurer since its inception. She lives in Kirchzarten with her husband and four children and is responsible for the financial management for ViaNiños Germany and Switzerland.
Board Member
Verónica Rodríguez
Verónica Rodríguez comes from Ecuador and worked as a psychologist for our partner organization CENIT. She has been a member of ViaNiños since 2011 and is currently the company secretary in Germany. She works as a psychotherapist and lives in Mannheim with her husband and two children.
Co-Founder
Paula Wey
Paula Wey is the company secretary of ViaNiños Switzerland. She works at the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs in the area of economic cooperation and development. After her volunteer placement in 2002, she wanted to continue supporting CENIT and therefore founded ViaNiños together with other volunteers.
Board Member
Andrea Hürlimann-Rostek
Andrea Hürlimann-Rostek has been an active member of ViaNiños since 2020 and is primarily involved with the organization in Switzerland. She lives with her family in Switzerland and works in contract management in an international context. In 2002, she volunteered and fundraised for four months with the children’s aid organization CEMVA in Sucre, Bolivia.
ViaNiños 🇬🇧 UK
Founding Member
Tania Songini
Tania Songini is a member of the board of ViaNiños UK and has been part of the ViaNiños team since 2003. She grew up in Africa and Italy and regularly visits our projects in Ecuador. Tania worked for 18 years at Siemens as Finance Director before leaving to take on various supervisory board roles in the renewable energy and sustainable infrastructure space, with companies such as the UK’s National Wealth Fund and Thrive Renewables.
Board Member
Bridget Higginson
Bridget Higginson studied human rights and languages and has worked for various NGOs. She heads the NGO Hands Around the World. In 2007/2008, she worked for a year as a volunteer coordinator at CENIT and has been with ViaNiños ever since. She is the treasurer of ViaNiños UK.
Board Member
Nicola McGregor
Nicola McGregor studied Spanish and German at university and developed an interest in Latin America through her Spanish studies. She has travelled to South America three times and has spent two weeks travelling across Ecuador and a further visit to our partner organisations in Quito. She currently works as a Senior Marketing Manager at EY and manages ViaNiños‘ marketing activity.
Board Member
Lucy Nickoll
Lucy Nickoll has over ten years of experience in international development and project management, working largely on natural resources and private sector development projects across Asia and Africa. She currently works as Framework Manager for the development consultancy IMC Worldwide. Lucy worked in Bolivia for over a year as well as in Rwanda, Thailand and Kenya.
Board Member
Nicholas McCaughran
Nicholas McCaughran has over 25 years of experience in finance, working across a range of sectors. He spent three years with Save the Children, including a year based in South Sudan, where he supported programmes in a challenging humanitarian context. Nicholas studied Marketing and French as an undergraduate and recently completed an MBA. He supports ViaNiños with its fundraising activities, including working with 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.
