Scale Up Impact initiative multiplies Haciendo Camino’s ability to support families with young children in rural Argentina

Financial and non-financial support from The Human Safety Net’s Scale Up Impact initiative has enabled the NGO Haciendo Camino in Argentina to greatly expand its services geographically, as well as introduce new programmes for vulnerable families living in the rural province of Santiago al Estero.

The multi-year support package means that, by the end of 2023, Haciendo Camino will be able to reach 1,000 families a year with its two main programmes, ‘Family Accompaniment’ and ‘Early Education at Home’. With the additional support, the Family Accompaniment programme has already exceeded its target of 400 families in 2021. 

Both programmes address children’s health, nutrition, and early learning needs, while also providing skills and tools for their parents. Due to the socio-economic makeup of the area, the programmes are crucially delivered both in the form of workshops at Haciendo Camino centres, as well as at the beneficiaries’ homes to ensure that they can reach the most vulnerable families. 

Watch the video from one of the families supported by Haciendo Camino to learn more about the project (available in Spanish with subtitles).

To cope with the expanded scope of work, 30 new employees with training in social work have been hired into the organisation, as well as additional volunteers from among the community. 

The Haciendo Camino team accompany and provide training for parents with children aged between 0-6 years old, teaching them to raise their children in a nurturing way, promoting learning moments through play and strengthening the bond between parents and caregivers and the children. Their two programmes will now also be replicated by other social service providers across Northern Argentina.  

The Human Safety Net has combined forces with other organisations in Argentina, such as Alimentaris Foundation, Banco Inustrial, Globant, BOLDT and Rabobank to support Haciendo Camino. Globant, for example, is providing technology for social aid tools and volunteers from its organisation, as well as funding. 

Across The Human Safety Net’s global community, Scale Up Impact is investing a total of €7million between 2020-2022 with selected NGOs to allow them to scale their successful projects nationwide, as well as providing them with additional capacity-building support and facilitating cross-sectoral collaboration with public, private and social sectors.