Upgrading of sanitary facilities in a children’s reception center in the Congo 

Founded in 1997, the Association Espace Enfants (AEE) works for the social and family reinsertion of children in precarious situations in the Congo. In Pointe-Noire, the number of children and teenagers wandering in the streets is estimated at nearly 2,000. Between 8 and 20 years old, they are separated from their families and society, abandoned for economic reasons or orphans.

The AEE’s calling is to help the children it takes in through a global coverage of their essential needs and personalized support to reinsert them in a family and social context. The children are housed in the Centre d’Accueil et de Rencontre pour Enfants, which has a 40-bed capacity. The children placed in this reception center are provided with food, sanitation, education, and medical and psychological assistance until they are reinserted into society. Depending on their age, they are registered in a primary school or vocational training center. The association also supports the children, who are in a vulnerable family framework, by providing them with financial aid and/or meeting their material needs so that they will not be abandoned by their families for economic reasons.

The increase in personnel and activities for the children taken in charge by the reception center has created new needs for working, living and sanitary spaces. The project, financed by the Air Liquide Foundation, consists in having new sanitary facilities built that comply with hygiene and safety standards.