The association “Little Hands” was born in November 2010 with the aim to develop, sustain and strengthen relationships of solidarity and cooperation with the working children’s movements in Africa, Asia and South America. The association takes inspiration from universal principles of brotherhood and human solidarity and it fights for a social, fair and respectable development both in the South and in the North of the world, respecting every ethnic, cultural and religious difference.
With these goals a group of friends with voluntary experiences has created the association “Little Hands” to cooperate with the working children movements, which were born in the Southern countries, on the creation of respectable job opportunities, on the provision of tools useful for the cultural and professional development and on the awareness of children’s rights.
The proposals for a free market models and the financial crisis have affected, once again, the poorest. We want to create answers to the human’s needs such as friendship, cooperation and solidarity with plans which aim at creating a fair world.
The association takes part on the debates about child work, responsible consumption and the role of children as protagonists and social actors at both national and international level, following the steps and the ideas of the working children movements.
We are aware that child work is a complex phenomenon, with a variety of aspects and that it and his solutions should be tackle in a critical and in-depth way.
Little Hands, in collaboration with the working children movements, wants to support the so called “valorizzazione critica”. According to this approach a work, which is carried on in conditions of dignity and rights and which do not affect the psychophysical development and the social integration of children, can be a way for the development and the growth of the person, even though this person is a child.
The starting point of these movements is that the work experience, for the majority of the children living in the popular neighborhood, is an important aspect to construct their social identity: their work doesn’t mean only income but it could also be an educational experience through which they can be active and participate, as human beings, in their social life.
The Little Hands association is part of the Italianats network www.italianats.org, set up in 2000 by different people interested in promoting and developing the experiences of working children movements. Italianats gathers together many organizations which work in the international cooperation sector and fair-trade market such as cooperatives, NGOs and associations which work in the cultural and solidarity field.
