At MobileSchool.org, we strongly believe in the importance of children's rights and empowering young people. In honour of International Children's Rights Day on 20 November, we have developed a special lesson pack for third grade primary school teachers.

Seis meses después de los devastadores terremotos que azotaron el sudeste de Turquía y el norte de Siria, millones de niños siguen necesitando apoyo psicosocial y educativo. Para satisfacer las enormes necesidades sobre el terreno, StreetSmart recientemente unió fuerzas con la asociación turca Innovative Solutions for Sustainable Development (ISSDA) para llevar las actividades educativas no formales y el juego a una ciudad de contenedores en una de las zonas más afectadas de la región.

Desde el inicio de la guerra en Ucrania, más de 4.793.832 ciudadanos ucranianos han transitado por Rumanía. La mayoría de los refugiados ucranianos son mujeres, mientras que el 34% de los refugiados ucranianos son niños. Para satisfacer las necesidades de estos niños, nuestro socio de StreetSmart, Save the Children, introdujo una escuela móvil en la capital rumana, Bucarest, en junio de 2022 para responder a las necesidades. En esta entrevista con la coordinadora local Georgiana Dobre, analizamos los desafíos y los éxitos de brindar educación y fomentar la conexión a los niños y las familias ucranianas desde el comienzo del conflicto.

Habbekrats tested StreetSmart Impact for a year and then resolutely chose to implement the tool across its operations. Dries Boeye, Content Coordinator at Habbekrats, tells us more about the organisation and their experiences with our tool.

¡La red StreetSmart Wheels en Latinoamérica sigue creciendo! A finales de junio, se exploró una asociación potencial prometedora en Brasil, el país más grande de la región. Nuestros amigos de O Pequeño Nazareno están impacientes por empezar a usar nuestras herramientas StreetSmart, y estamos encantados de colaborar para brindar más oportunidades a los muchos niños y adolescentes conectados a la calle en Fortaleza.

In August, StreetSmart will start up a new, special StreetSmart Wheels partnership in southern Türkiye, in collaboration with the social enterprise Mikado Consulting. The collaboration is a response to the massive needs for children and young people after the earthquake that hit the region in February. As a response, Ashoka fellows Serra Titiz of Mikado Consulting and Arnoud Raskin of MobileSchool.org and StreetSmart are joining forces to bring non-formal education, trauma- and stress-relief to one of the most-affected areas in the region.

In the second week of May, our team successfully launched mobile school number 66. Our newest magic box will be rolling around the streets of the Bhambayi community in Inanda, near the city of Durban, and is the first-ever mobile school in South Africa!

Since 2018, StreetSmart partnered with Child Rescue Kenya in Kitale to run an outreach project with the mobile school. However, due to the pandemic and internal organizational changes, both parties decided the mobile school could have more impact elsewhere. Thanks to the well-structured team of the International Fellowship Kenya (INTERFELK) and their colleagues of the Kisumu Street Children Rehabilitation Consortium (KSCRC), a new Wheels partnership was rapidly established to give this Kenyan mobile school a fresh start

Children’s rights are under pressure. The aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, the intensifying effects of climate change and the disastrous consequences of conflicts have caused a decline in respect for children’s rights in the last decade. To break the downward spiral, MobileSchool.org is taking action. On April 12, International Day for Street Children, the organisation launches the interactive toolkit All Children, All Right(s) and a new social media campaign to present itself as a change agent in the children’s rights debate.

Desde 2012, las organizaciones de todo el mundo centran la atención en los millones de niños conectados a la calle en todo el mundo y reconocen su fortaleza y resiliencia el 12 de abril, Día Internacional de los Niños de la Calle.

After being in contact with the organisation SathSath for over 10 years, the time was finally there to launch their mobile school in the Nepalese capital Kathmandu. After a successful exploration in August, our StreetSmart trainers Adi and Anupriya conducted the implementation trainings for the local team at the end of February. Moreover, the launch of the mobile school comes at a very special time for the organisation as it coincides with the celebration of the 25th anniversary of SathSath! In the article below are five photos from the official launch which took place on March 1 near the famous Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu.

In 2005, the first mobile school on the African continent was implemented in the Kenyan capital Nairobi. Since then, the East African nation always remained one of the countries with the most active StreetSmart Wheels partners. To reconnect with our Kenyan partner network, a two-week visit was organised at the end of February to conduct extra trainings with the local street work teams and to explore new potential partnerships.

Sin lugar a dudas, Colombia es conocida mundialmente por la serie de capos de la droga y drogas, y los estudios del Sistema Integrado de Monitoreo de Cultivos Ilícitos de la Oficina de las Naciones Unidas muestran que la producción de narcóticos es inmensa y ha ido en aumento. A nivel local, los aldeanos conocen las redes de distribución locales como «las ollas», donde las adicciones, la violencia y la pobreza alcanzan su punto de ebullición. Como resultado, los niños se enfrentan a diferentes riesgos desde una edad muy temprana, por eso Casa Tejiendo Sueños de Esperanza quiere brindar nuevas oportunidades a estos niños a través de la escuela móvil.

La Ciudad de México es conocida mundialmente por sus innumerables centros turísticos, desde templos aztecas hasta murales históricos, es una de las áreas urbanas más grandes del mundo y la segunda más grande de América. Allí, StreetSmart tiene una socia, Yolia Niñas de la Calle, que brinda educación informal a las niñas en situación de calle, pero la necesidad de prestar atención a los niños conectados a la calle es mayor, y es por eso que la Fundación Pro Niños de la Calle también busca una oportunidad para llevar StreetSmart Wheels a las calles. ¡Conozcamos a esta fundación!

El 17 de diciembre de 2022, Mobile School celebrará su vigésimo aniversario. Todos son bienvenidos al #DUWMEE, un cálido paseo invernal lleno de animación con una fiesta en el patio de recreo del VTI de Lovaina como broche de oro.

Our network of StreetSmart Wheels partners is constantly expanding! At the end of August, two of our trainers travelled to the Nepalese capital Kathmandu to explore a potential partnership with the local organisation Sath Sath. And despite the fact the organisation has already been in contact with StreetSmart for over 10 years, the prospection week showed there is still a high chance a new partnership could be established in the near future.

La intrépida gira por Sudamérica comienza con Colombia, un viaje que nuestro fundador Arnoud Raskin inició hace más de 20 años para conocer las calles, la realidad y las experiencias de los niños y jóvenes de la calle en América Latina. Ahora, nuestra coordinadora de StreetSmart Wheels, Junieth Machado, ha tenido la oportunidad de vivir historias llenas de libertad, alegría y amistad. ¡Veamos cómo le fue en Colombia!

After a long wait, due to Covid 19, mobile school number 62 was implemented successfully in Tbilisi with our new partner Caritas. This mobile school brings joy to kids that live in small villages with more than 3 nationalities, where languages are mixed and living conditions are poor. Below are the first pictures of the new school in action.

In 2018, we launched our first mobile school in the Malawian capital Lilongwe. However, due to a combination of unfortunate circumstances, the school quickly became inactive. Mid-June, a solution was finally found, and our master trainers Bram Van de Putte and Fredrick Mbise travelled to Lilongwe to transfer the Malawian mobile school to our brand new partner Youth Net and Counselling (YONECO).

On April 12, we launched our new article series ‘Street educator in the Spotlight’. This month, we are heading to Mexico, where two extraordinary street educators - Jessika Martínez and Elizabeth Carrasco – spend every day hours and hours of work on the streets of Queretaro. Even after 10 years of street work, they say that there is always something new in the streets. Let's meet these two superstars whom the locals call "the ones with the green cart".

El ACNUR informa que, desde el inicio de la guerra en Ucrania, más de 6 millones de ucranianos han huido a los países vecinos. Más de la mitad de todos los refugiados ucranianos —cerca de 3 400 000 personas— se quedan ahora en Polonia, razón por la cual todas las organizaciones polacas asociadas a StreetSmart Wheels pondrán en marcha o han iniciado actividades de divulgación con niños y jóvenes ucranianos.

Todas las organizaciones de todo el mundo que trabajan con niños en situaciones vulnerables pueden ponerse en contacto con nosotros para solicitar una asociación con StreetSmart Wheels. A pesar de nuestra presencia en 31 países de cuatro continentes, la región de Oriente Medio sigue siendo hasta el día de hoy un punto en blanco en nuestro mapa global. ¡Pero todo esto podría cambiar muy pronto! Del 9 al 13 de mayo, el equipo de iLEARN nos recibió en Ammán, la capital jordana, para explorar una nueva asociación potencial en el país.

According to the latest statistics, over 5 million Ukrainians have crossed borders to flee the devastating war in their country, with millions more internally displaced. Most of the refugees are currently hosted in countries like Poland, Romania, Hungary, Moldova and Slovakia. Moreover, over 90 percent of the refugees are women and children.

From March 28 till April 1, our StreetSmart trainer Bram Van de Putte travelled to West-Africa to explore another potential partnership. In Waterloo – the capital of the Western Area Rural District, located about 30 kilometres east of the capital Freetown – the organisation Good Deeds Day Sierra Leone is currently looking into the opportunity to use to mobile school to reach out to vulnerable young people in the region.

Today, April 12 marks the International Day for Street Children (IDSC). On this day, organisations and individuals around the globe join forces to demand respect for the rights of street-connected children. This year, the international day puts the focus on street educators, the brave individuals who work tirelessly with street-connected children. That’s why on this special day, we’re excited to launch our new series ‘Street educator in the spotlight’. And for this special occasion, we’re not putting the focus on one but on three street educators. Starting with: Faith Muyodi, Kevin Shumila and Marklaud Obuya from the Inuka Network in Eldoret, Kenya.

It’s a wrap! During the past two weeks, mobile school number 60 was implemented successfully with our new partner Dwelling Places in Kampala. The first Ugandan mobile school comes at a time where many children are roaming around the streets of the Ugandan capital, due to the consequences of a two-year long school closure to stop the spread of COVID-19. Below are the first pictures of the new school in action.

After nearly two years of school closures due to the pandemic, students in the East African country of Uganda were finally able to return to their classes on January 10. However, authorities have warned that after one of the world’s longest school closures, about 30% of the 15 million students in the country may never return to their classrooms. Amid this very challenging context, our new partner Dwelling Places is impatient to start working with the very first mobile school in Uganda!

Last September, our trainer Bram Van de Putte conducted a successful prospective visit with the Inuka Network in the Kenyan city of Eldoret. Two and a half months, we are extremely excited to launch the mobile school and the educational materials during a two-week implementation training with the new team of street educators.

Slowly but surely, our StreetSmart Wheels trainers are again able to explore new potential partnerships with local street work organisations. Last week, we visited Kigwe Social Economic Development and Training (KISEDET), an organisation based in the Tanzanian capital Dodoma to investigate if we can set up a long-term partnership with them in the near future.

After an inactivity of almost 18 months, we were finally able to send out one of our trainers again to conduct a week-long prospection visit. In the city of Eldoret in Kenya, trainer Bram Van De Putte explored a potential partnership with the recently established Inuka Network.

Es una verdad incómoda que volvió a aparecer en un artículo del periódico De Standaard a principios de septiembre. El creciente número de menores no acompañados que sobreviven en las calles de Bruselas. No cabe duda de que el fenómeno en la capital no es nuevo, pero parece haber adquirido proporciones cada vez mayores en los últimos años. A pesar de que no participamos directamente en esto, a petición de nuestros seguidores explicamos cómo podemos ofrecer también a estos jóvenes perspectivas y oportunidades.

¡Es ese momento otra vez! 1 de septiembre, inicio oficial del nuevo año escolar. Para muchos estudiantes de nuestro país y más allá, quizás sea el día más emocionante del año. Especialmente después de un año lleno de acontecimientos como el anterior, cuando la pandemia de la corona interrumpió la forma normal de trabajar más de una vez. Pero, lamentablemente, el impacto de la pandemia sigue teniendo hasta el día de hoy un enorme impacto en los sistemas educativos de todo el mundo.

After the previous update at the end of April, we recently released a brand-new version of StreetSmart Impact, our data registration and case management app for youth workers. With major improvements on the reporting and the ‘I Am StreetSmart’ app for youngsters, the app is now even more convenient to track your impact.

¡El trabajo juvenil de alta calidad exige materiales de alta calidad! Por eso decidimos en 2019 lanzar StreetSmart Play, una plataforma de contenido en línea donde los trabajadores juveniles pueden consultar y compartir sus mejores juegos educativos con sus colegas de todo el mundo.

We’ve been waiting for it for so long, but now the time has finally come! Thanks to the rapid rollout of COVID vaccines, there is hope for a sunny summer full of social activities. High temperatures, more social contact and the prospect of bigger events give everyone a much-needed mental boost. Our MobileSchool.org team is also enjoying that boost and is carefully coming together again after months of working from home. The perfect moment for us as a team to set new goals and to look forward to the coming months.

More than a year into the pandemic, the street workers of our local partners are still doing their utmost to stay in close contact with their target groups. After a successful virtual exchange last year, the StreetSmart team organised a second global online exchange to allow partners to exchange tips and tricks on how to conduct street interventions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

2020 got off to a promising start. StreetSmart planned to start up 5 new ‘Wheels projects’ (mobile schools) in Georgia, Poland, Turkey, Uganda and Sri Lanka. Logistics and training were planned, our partners stood ready to hit the streets and reach out to the street connected children and youth. The first new project began early 2020 in Sri Lanka.

¡Sí, vamos! Porque hablar de sexualidad con niños y jóvenes es crucial. Los jóvenes que reciben una educación sexual de calidad toman decisiones más conscientes, corren menos riesgo de contraer enfermedades de transmisión sexual y comportamientos sexualmente transgresores y son más felices en sus relaciones. Por lo tanto, ¡hay razones más que suficientes para hablar de sexo!

Last year, 1.5 billion young people worldwide stayed at home to stop the spread of COVID-19. Estimations state that 9.7 million of these children will never be able to go back to school after the pandemic. Many of these kids will end up spending a lot of their time on the streets to contribute to the family income and to find ways to survive… The COVID-19 pandemic has once again painfully highlighted how street-connected children are too often excluded. That’s why it’s more important than ever to put the International Day for Street Children in the spotlight, in order to ensure street-connected children get more included both during and after the pandemic.

After more than 15 years of supporting local street work partners with mobile school carts and educational materials, StreetSmart now launches a couple of brand-new digital products. However, the mission statement of our organisation remains unchanged: empowering youth workers worldwide to conduct their daily work in a creative and efficient way. Since December last year, our application StreetSmart Impact is available to give youth workers more detailed insight in the results and impact of their work.

In order to meet the rapidly growing demand for qualitative educational materials, our StreetSmart team has created different activities to discuss the current COVID-19 pandemic. The educational package combines brand new with already existing activities and aims to give youth workers the tools to discuss the consequences of the pandemic with their target group.

We are launching an educational board game that allows Belgian families to reflect and vent with their children about the impact of the corona crisis. The board game called 'Coronials' aims to encourage families in a playful and approachable way to discuss the difficult situations we are experiencing today.

En la serie de artículos «Project in the Spotlight», nos tomamos el tiempo para destacar el trabajo de nuestras organizaciones asociadas, ya que son los expertos locales que llevan la escuela móvil a las calles. Esta vez, nos dirigimos a Sucre, Bolivia. Allí, nuestro socio local IPTK ha estado realizando sesiones de divulgación en 6 distritos diferentes durante más de 15 años. A continuación, puede encontrar 7 cosas que siempre ha querido saber sobre nuestro socio boliviano de trabajo callejero desde hace mucho tiempo.

1.5 billion children could not attend school due to the COVID-19 lockdowns. 9.7 million of these children are also unlikely to ever return to school. Many of them are the street children our Mobile School partners work with every day.

It’s official: as of this month, we have 5 Polish StreetSmart Wheels partners, bringing the total to 58! The fifth Polish mobile school project was just implemented in Racibórz with brand new partner Pomocna Dłoń.

In the ‘Project in the Spotlight’ article series, we take the time to highlight the work of our partner organisations, since they are the local experts taking the mobile school to the streets. This time, we’re heading to Manila, capital city of the Philippines. There, our local partner Virlanie Foundation is conducting sessions with the oldest mobile school on the Asian continent. Below, you can find 6 things you have always wanted to know about our long-term Filipino street work partner.

The Provincial Secondary School Bilzen (PSSB) in Munsterbilzen has come up with a creative solution for the corona restrictions at the start of the school year. Due to the nice weather, some teachers are giving their lessons outside at a mobile school this week. “With all the corona rules regarding face masks and ventilation, it is a relief to be able to teach outside, and the mobile school is the perfect instrument to maintain the concentration of our students,” says Luc Valkeneers, technical advisor-coordinator of the PSSB.

In March, the gates of schools worldwide closed. 1.5 billion young people stayed at home to stop the spread of Covid-19. In recent weeks however, teachers and management have been working very hard and have made every effort to reopen the schools in a safe way on September 1st. Finally, children and young people in Belgium can go back to school full-time, to learn and be together with friends.

In the ‘Project in the Spotlight’ article series, we take the time to highlight the work of one of our incredible partner organisations, since they are the local experts taking the mobile school to the streets. In this article, we present our oldest European Mobile School partner: Salvati Copiii Iasi. Below, you can find 7 things you have always wanted to know about our Romanian partner.

We bundled a number of achievements from Mobile School, StreetSmart and StreetwiZe of 2019 in a photo report. We couldn't have done all of this without you. So a big thank you for your support and confidence. In addition, we wish you a very nice summer!

At Mobile School, we call our educational blackboard on wheels the hardware. The educational panels you can attach to it, is referred to as our software. Since last year, most of these non-formal educational games are available for free on our StreetSmart Play platform to broaden the impact of the materials. Together with our group of educational volunteers, Mobile School aims to constantly improve and revise our educational offer. Recently, the COVID-19 pandemic showed to be the perfect timing to rework part of our panels dealing with health.

Tras organizar un primer intercambio escolar móvil exitoso en línea con socios de Europa, Asia y África, organizamos un segundo intercambio internacional, con nuestros socios de América Latina y España.

Each year, June 16 is celebrated as the Day of the African Child (DAC). Since 1991, the DAC has been celebrated to commemorate the students killed during the Soweto Uprising in South Africa, and to recognize the courage of these students who marched for their right to an education. In order to celebrate this special day – in very special circumstances - Mobile School organised an online exchange for African organisations working with street-connected youth across the continent.

In the ‘Project in the Spotlight’ article series, we take the time to highlight the work of one of our incredible partner organisations, since they are the local experts taking the mobile school to the streets. This time, we’re heading to East-Africa for a trip to the Kenyan capital Nairobi. There, the well-experienced team of Kenya Good Neighbors is using the mobile school to reach out to street-connected youth in one of Nairobi’s larger slum areas. Below, you can find 7 things you have always wanted to know about this Kenyan partner.

Worldwide, street educators are on the frontline of the battle against COVID-19. Our Mobile School partners are tirelessly giving everything they have to ensure street-connected youngsters have access to basic needs and essential services. In order to support them, Mobile School organised an online global exchange to bring partners from different countries together to share challenges and best practices with colleagues on other continents.

De Filipinas a Perú, de Polonia a Kenia... A medida que la pandemia mundial de coronavirus se propaga rápidamente por todo el mundo, los países están tratando desesperadamente de aplanar la curva para evitar el colapso de los sistemas nacionales de salud. Si bien la economía mundial está alterada y las medidas de protección, como el distanciamiento social y la permanencia en casa, son la nueva norma, la crisis afecta con extrema dureza a los más vulnerables: los niños y jóvenes que viven en la calle.

On 12 April this year we will not only celebrate Easter, but also the International Day for Street Children. This is the 10th year that we have celebrated street children worldwide on this date. This time it is a very special edition.

En esta nueva serie de artículos sobre escuelas móviles, presentamos a nuestras increíbles organizaciones asociadas locales, que organizan sesiones de escuelas móviles varias veces por semana para aumentar la autoestima de los jóvenes conectados a la calle. Hoy presentamos a una de nuestras organizaciones socias nicaragüenses: la Asociación Niñas y Niños del Fortín. Aquí hay 8 cosas que realmente necesita saber sobre este socio:

In 2006, Mobile School set up its first Asian partnership in the Philippines with local organisation Virlanie Foundation. Almost 14 years later, this mobile school is still hitting the streets of Manila four times a week with the Mobile Unit team, with one major objective: boosting the self-esteem and discovering the talents of underpriviliged children in the capital of the Philippines.

In early February, a team of Mobile School trainers travelled to Sri Lanka to start up the first new mobile school of 2020. From now on, our partner Child Action Lanka will use the mobile school to reach out to vulnerable youngsters in communities in and around Kandy and Kelaniya. And guess what … the first street sessions immediately showed the potential of our box on wheels in the island nation.

The entrepreneurs behind the hybrid social enterprise StreetwiZe • Mobile School recently started on a new adventure: StreetSmart. Last year, Google announced the Google.org Impact Challenge on Safety, a €10 million fund to support organizations that are creating practical, real-world solutions when it comes to hate, extremism, and child safety, both online and offline. Google.org decided to partner up and provide StreetSmart with €490.000 and coaching by Google’s IT experts. StreetSmart offers an integrated digital platform designed for outreach and youth workers worldwide to support them in their work with vulnerable children and youngsters. StreetSmart complements the vision of Mobile School and aims to tackle the problem of damaged self-esteem.

In the ‘Partner in the Spotlight’ article series, we take the time to highlight the work of our partner organisations, since they are the local experts taking the mobile school to the streets. This time, we’re heading to India. The only mobile school in the country is in the very capable hands of the organisation Ek Tara. Below, you can find 8 things you have always wanted to know about our Indian street work partner.

A new year brings new mobile schools and new partner organisations! We are extremely excited to announce that a brand new mobile school will be launched in Sri Lanka two weeks from now. The ideal moment to learn a bit more about our new partner Child Action Lanka and the context of street-connected children in Sri Lanka.

In the summer of 2018, Mobile School launched the very first mobile school on the streets of the Malawian capital Lilongwe. Due to some organisational challenges, there is still a lot of growth potential for the social impact of this mobile school. Therefore, Mobile School organized a 10-day visit to Malawi to enlarge the network and to look for new partnership opportunities.

¡Gracias, People of Tomorrow! Nos sentimos privilegiados de ser socios de la Fundación Tomorrowland. Con su apoyo, nos ayudan a poner en marcha nuevas escuelas móviles y a llegar a más niños de la calle.

While the launch of every new mobile school is always a big celebration, some implementations are true milestones in the history of our organisation. In early November 2019, a team of Mobile School trainers started not only the very first mobile school in a French speaking country, but also the very first Mobile School in West-Africa in the Togolese capital Lomé.

In this new Mobile School article series, we would like to introduce our amazing local partner organisations that take out the mobile school multiple times per week to boost the self-esteem of street-connected youngsters. Today, we’re presenting our partner Ladies Union of Drama. Here are 9 things you really need to know about this Greek street work partner.

With recently implemented mobile schools in Togo, Kenya, Tanzania and Malawi, the African Mobile School network is growing rapidly, and this regional expansion might just continue in the near future. In early October, Master Trainer Sander Degeling visited two very interesting organisations that are motivated to bring the Mobile School methodology to the streets of the Pearl of Africa for the first time. Welcome to Uganda!

The mobile school is often described as a magic box and the street educators as magicians, who make the magic happen on a daily basis. During a one-week prospective visit in the city of Mardin in south-eastern Turkey, Mobile School was able to meet a lot of potential new magicians. The organisation Her Yerde Sanat Derneği (Art Everywhere Association) offers social circus and musical programmes to vulnerable children in a region where it’s difficult to be a child.

He started up his first street work programme in 2010. Three years later, he became the driving force behind the mobile school project in Bytom and in 2015, he joined Mobile School’s pool of trainers. Since then, he has co-facilitated and given numerous trainings in Poland and even one in Lithuania. Meet Master Trainer Robert Cieślar!

«Los niños de la calle son una de las poblaciones más invisibles del mundo. Los gobiernos, las leyes, los formuladores de políticas y muchos otros miembros de la sociedad los pasan por alto. El Atlas Legal pone la información sobre las leyes que afectan a los niños de la calle directamente en manos de los niños de la calle y sus defensores. Al tener acceso a la información legal, los niños de la calle y los jóvenes sin hogar salen a la luz para que todos los niños puedan recibir un trato justo y con respeto». (Consorcio para niños de la calle, 2019).

Heartbroken we have to bring you this unreal news. Yesterday July 19th our friend, colleague and volunteer coordinator Saskia Dieleman suddenly passed away.

¡Una gran noticia! Estamos encantados de anunciar que la Fundación Tomorrowland ha decidido colaborar con Mobile School en 2019. La fundación vinculada a uno de los festivales de música más grandes y notables del mundo apoya proyectos que aumentan la autoestima de los niños a través de la expresión creativa.

2018 was a busy year! In this annual report, we are happy to highlight some of our realisations. Our business venture StreetwiZe sold services to 122 clients and made them all StreetwiZe companies. Our social venture Mobile School realised 24 field visits in 12 countries with over 100 training days and 38 days of street coaching impacting 190 street educators. Our volunteers were active, as usual, organising two big campaigns this year: the International Day for Street Children and #DuwMee. Finally, 2018 was also the year of the start-up of our Tech4Good venture, StreetSmart. Want to know more? Check out a selection of our projects in 2018 and see what we’ve been up to last year!

Several Mobile School partners across the globe are using their mobile schools to reach out to children and youngsters on the move. The partner organisation working with this target group closest to Belgium is Jugendamt Stadt Düsseldorf. We interviewed Martin Schlupkothen, the coordinator of the local mobile school project.

The past few weeks, Sri Lanka was all over the international news. The horrible terror attacks that struck the island nation on Easter Sunday left the entire world shocked and speechless. Despite schools being shut in the aftermath of the attack, Mobile School decided in close collaboration with our potential partner Child Action Lanka (CAL) to stick to our plan and to conduct a one-week exploration with the organization in Kelaniya, a suburb of the capital Colombo.

Every year we place four to five new mobile schools with local partners. Those mobile schools are produced by teachers and students of the Provincial Secondary School in Bilzen (PSSB). Sustainable materials are used to ensure the longest possible life and to survive the challenging situations on the street. Limeparts - Drooghmans has been sponsoring Mobile School for several years now by supplying the aluminum that is used to build the mobile schools. They also handle the processing of certain parts such as the chalk boards.

In this new Mobile School article series, we would like to briefly present our amazing local partner organisations that take out the mobile school multiple times per week to boost the self-esteem of street-connected youngsters. To start off this new series, we would like to introduce you to our partner... Yenege Tesfa.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the mobile school project in Thessaloniki. Happy birthday, ARSIS and PRAKSIS! For 8 years, our two local partners shared one mobile school to work with different target groups. In 2017, they applied for a second mobile school to increase their impact on the street by reaching out to more street-connected children and youngsters. In July of that same year the implementation training took place and in March 2019, a follow-up training was organised, to coach and reenergise the two local street work teams. What did ARSIS and PRAKSIS achieve after 10 years of working with a mobile school? Time for an interview with the local experts to find out.

Los hombros no siempre pueden estar tensos, es necesario desahogarse de vez en cuando, quitar el pie del pedal, ¡y por eso tenemos un gran plan!

DHL Global Forwarding has been a partner and sponsor of Mobile School NPO for more than 15 years. Over the years they have shipped 95% of all mobile schools to the nearest international airport. A very good reason to let Linda Moens (Sales & Marketing Director in Belgium & Luxembourg), Erna Vanremoortel (Customer Relations Team Leader) and Sofie Nieuwling (Marketing & Communication Specialist) give some more information about this special collaboration.

From 25 February till 8 March, a team of Mobile School trainers would normally have been in Haiti for the implementation of a brand new mobile school. The 53rd mobile school arrived in the capital Port-au-Prince a few weeks ago, and the team members of Association Sportive de Truitier (AST)- supported by the Belgian organisation Benefiet Haïti- were eager to finally start up the work with their mobile school on the streets of Carrefour, one of the larger districts in the Haitian capital.

Nicaragua está en crisis. Durante tres meses, ha habido protestas masivas de ciudadanos nicaragüenses contra el gobierno, que han sido reprimidas violentamente por ese mismo gobierno.

Mobile School trainers Toña Pineda & Jessika Martinez are starting up a new mobile school project in Cochabamba, Bolivia as we speak. That brings the tally to 4 active mobile schools in Bolivia. Is there a big need for mobile schools in Bolivia?

Nearly 30 people are forced to flee every minute as a result of conflict or persecution. The amount of forcibly displaced people worldwide is rising (68,5 million according to UNHCR, 2018). The distribution is still disproportionate. Turkey hosted 3,5 million refugees in 2017, Pakistan 1,4 million and Lebanon 1 million. More than 85% of the displaced people are hosted in developing countries. There is an increasing pressure on the facilities in neighbouring countries of conflict areas. Consequently, many people continue their journey and head to Europe, crossing the sea on a dangerous journey. Since the beginning of 2014, more than 1,8 million people arrived on the European continent by sea (UNHCR, 2018).

Tomorrow June 16th is the Day of the African Child. This day has been celebrated every year since 1991 when it was first initiated by the Organisation of African Unity. The objective of the day is to raise awareness on the continuing need for improvement of the education provided to African children. The theme of this year's celebration is ‘Leave No Child Behind for Africa’s Development’. The 2018 theme highlights the need to ensure that ‘NO CHILD IS LEFT BEHIND’ by specifically targeting those who are not benefitting from Africa’s growth and development, like street-connected children and youth. In order to highlight this day, we recently did an interview with Sesse Koffi Awunyo, founder of the organization AGOPODE (Agora pour les Populations Défavorisées). Currently, we’re looking into the opportunity to launch a mobile school in Togo. During the exploratory visit, Sesse took the time to sit down and to answer some questions about street-connected children, street work and a potential mobile school in Togo. YOUTUBE TIP: Click on CC (bottom right) in the video to have subtitles in English.

If you would’ve asked me what I know about Leuven three months ago, as a proud inhabitant of the Kempen, I would’ve answered: the university, the beautiful centre and, of course, Louis Tobback, whose appearance and political style always make me think of a Danish dog. StreetwiZe • Mobile School? Wait… Streetwhat?

Marzo de 2018, Cochabamba. Mientras nuestras tres organizaciones socias bolivianas están creando sus propios juegos juntas, estoy conociendo mejor a mi coentrenador. Para mí, es muy inspirador pasar tiempo e impartir capacitaciones con esta mujer polifacética, creativa, espontánea, divertidísima, apasionada, honesta y fuerte. Como es una de nuestras formadoras de Mobile School, también tenéis el placer de conocerla un poco mejor. ¡Conoce a Toña Pineda!

Every day of the year, the street workers of our partner organisations take out the mobile school to unlock the potential of street-connected youngsters. In the Kenyan coastal city of Mombasa, the street workers of Glad’s House hit the streets on a daily basis to build a relationship of trust with the high number of youngsters living and working on the streets. During our last trip to Kenya, we took the time to sit down with one of them. Janet Otieno is a street worker and the coordinator of Glad’s House mobile school project. She is very passionate about her job as a street worker in Kenya.

Our new partner GTW in Gliwice, Poland went out on the streets for the first time this week with the mobile school. In the 1980s, Gliwice was a rich city that reaped the benefits of the active mining industry. Since then it has gone downhill due to the decline of mining in Europe. Unemployment hit Gliwice extremely hard and the population decreased by almost 20%.

This year StreetwiZe • Mobile School celebrates the International Day for Street Children on the 12th of April for the eighth consecutive year. After successful chalk petitions, #nostreetkidding, Street Sleep and #Streetwork, this year we will once more put street children all over the world to where they belong: in the spotlights!

Estoy convencido de que mis preferencias musicales podrían contarte la misma historia que este artículo de Meet the Trainer en sí. Por lo tanto, para disfrutar al máximo de este artículo, me gustaría sugerirte que escuches esta canción, ya que me ayudará a conocerme mejor.

Thursday 26 October 2017 will stand out in the history of Mobile School. After a long period of preparations and some theoretical and practical workshops, the very first mobile school session in India finally arrived. Thanks to partner organisation EkTara, from now on the mobile school will be taken to the streets multiple times per week in the East Indian city of Kolkata.

En 2008, Arnoud Raskin conoció a Junieth Machado. Fue el comienzo de una estrecha cooperación y amistad. El modelo Street Skills de StreetWize se basa en parte en la inspiradora historia de Junieth, y ella sigue trabajando en Mobile School como cofacilitadora. ¿Está interesado en obtener más información? En esta entrevista, puedes conocerla un poco mejor.

Desde 2009, Rob Sweldens (34) forma parte del equipo de StreetWize • Mobile School. Desde entonces, Rob implementó 13 escuelas móviles y, al mismo tiempo, fue responsable de la coordinación y el seguimiento de las asociaciones internacionales. Desde 2014 ocupa el cargo de director de Mobile School. Es hora de darle la palabra a Rob para que hable sobre su motivación, su experiencia trabajando en la calle y el futuro de Mobile School.

1 de septiembre: un día emocionante para muchos padres e hijos. Se van, vuelven a la escuela con sus carteras y loncheras. Sin embargo, para millones de niños, el 1 de septiembre es solo un recordatorio de que no tienen acceso a un derecho fundamental: el derecho a la educación.

13 years ago, Bram Van de Putte knocked on the door of the Mobile School office for the very first time, looking for more outreach experience. He’s been actively involved in the organisation ever since, first as a volunteer and later as a Master Trainer. He already gave trainings in Tanzania, Ethiopia, Kenya, Bangladesh and Poland and he just got back from Greece. Time for an interview!

The number of forcibly displaced people is rising (around 63 million in 2015 according to UNHCR). Climate change and ongoing conflicts force people to leave their homes. Consequently, there is an increasing pressure on facilities in neighbouring countries. Many people continue their journey and head to Europe, crossing the sea on a dangerous trip. Since the beginning of 2014, more than 1.6 million people arrived by sea on the European continent (UNHCR, 2017). Unfortunately, at least 13,700 people never arrived: they were declared dead or went missing. Even after arrival, their situation remains uncertain. Over 10,000 children have disappeared off the radar, because they moved on to unknown destinations or became victims of exploitation and trafficking.Turkey and Lebanon alone host more than 4 million refugees in temporary camps. In contrast, Europe only receives 6% of the total amount of displaced people worldwide.

Sunday 26th of February, 7AM, Addis Ababa’s Bole Airport. The start of a three week Mobile School visit to Ethiopia, including a follow-up and an exchange with our three active Mobile School partners. For the occasion, Debebe Sugebo – social worker for Retrak, one of our Ethiopian partner organisations - will join us to co-facilitate the trainings in order to share his extensive experience of working with street-connected children in the southern part of the country.

StreetwiZe • Mobile School will celebrate the International Day for Street Children on April 12th for the seventh consecutive year. After successful chalk petitions, #nostreetkiddings and street sleeps, we are organising a #STREETWORK for the second time to draw the attention to street children worldwide. Our catchphrase is: “Do what you normally do, but come and do it on the streets.”