COTA: What We Believe
Children of the Andes (COTA) believes that every child has the right to a childhood in a safe and loving family environment, free from the threat of poverty, violence or exploitation. We believe that families, communities, government and non-government agencies all have a duty to ensure children can fulfil their rights.
COTA believes that viewing children as passive victims in need of protection, however well meaning, can actively hinder the fulfilment of their rights. Seeing children as victims denies their capacity to make choices.
COTA believes that, while a child may lack an adult's knowledge and experience of the world, their thoughts and feelings are of equal value to those of an adult.
From a very young age children have a sense of their own identity and preferences, and the capacity to make choices about how they would like their lives to change. COTA believes it is the duty of adults to protect, support and guide children, and help them to take an active part in the decisions that affect their lives.
Children need help to develop their skills, confidence and capacity for self-expression from within safe and supportive homes, schools and communities. Only with a sense of their own worth - and the confidence to assert their rights - can children properly take advantage of opportunities to build happy and secure lives. COTA exists to help the most vulnerable children in Colombia do this.
The difficulties facing vulnerable and marginalised children in Colombia are complex and varied. COTA believes that these problems are best understood by those closest to them. This is why we work in partnership with children and families to help them find solutions to their problems.
A child's vulnerability often has multiple causes and many different people and institutions have an influence on their welfare: for example, a child's risk of being a victim of commercial sexual exploitation is affected by their parents' economic situation, the quality of their local school, the professionalism of their social worker and the protection they receive from the police. For this reason, COTA believes that solutions to children's problems must come from children, families, communities, government and non-government agencies working together.
COTA believes that the skills, knowledge and will to build a better future for vulnerable children are widespread in Colombia.
COTA believes that much goodwill and support from the UK for vulnerable children in Colombia would remain untapped if COTA did not exist. It is our duty to maximise this support.
