“The CAIF is no longer a government issue, it is a whole Uruguayan issue,” said the President of the Republic, Luis Lacalle Pou, this Wednesday 20, after inaugurating the Nuevo Amanecer center for early childhood in the city of Salto. The president added that “who governs” the CAIFs have the possibility of continuing to grow. The center is attended by 108 children from 0 to 2 years old, cared for by a team of 24 members.
Lacalle Pou was accompanied by the Secretary of the Presidency, Álvaro Delgado; the Minister of Social Development, Martín Lema; the mayor of Salto, Andrés Lima; the president of the Uruguayan Institute for Children and Adolescents (INAU), Pablo Abdala; the president of the State Health Services Administration (ASSE), Leonardo Cipriani; the departmental director of Health, Rosita Blanco; and the president of the Salto Grande Mixed Technical Commission, Carlos Albisu.
In his speech, the President of the Republic thanked the efforts of all the members of the civil associations that participate in the project and considered that these types of inaugurations include fundamental ingredients, such as love and affection. “Because you can have the best building, the most modern, but if you don’t dedicate the best you have, in this case to our children, the money invested would be worth nothing,” he reflected.
Lacalle Pou considered Salto as a historically thriving department, which he described as a value defined by the people who make up his community. “Salto is a place of progress and possibility,” she added.
In addition, he valued the importance of early childhood care centers (CAIF) as a State policy that transcends governments. “The CAIF is no longer a government issue (…) it is a whole Uruguay issue,” he said.
And he remarked: «The CAIF, in our country, who governs governs, only has one possibility, which is to grow. And that is what we have defined budgetarily, but also in professional work, in this case, basically, of the INAU”.
The president of INAU, meanwhile, recalled that this institution constitutes the necessary shelter and protection for children whose rights have been violated, and that it is complemented by socio-educational promotion carried out through children’s clubs or youth centers that accompany the development, growth and progressive autonomy.
Abdala pointed out that investment in early childhood is the one with the highest social profitability and, therefore, the national government has committed a budget for this policy.
The center is located in the La Amarilla neighborhood of the city of Salto. Serves 108 children from 0 to 2 years of age residing in housing cooperatives in the area. The place has been managed since 2021 by the Inguz work cooperative, which agreed to this task after a public call.
The team of specialists is made up of 14 educators, an administrator and coordinator, a cook, two service assistants, two teachers, a psychomotrician, a psychologist and a social worker.
In addition, on Monday the 25th, the CAIFs in the Ceibal and Burton neighborhoods of the city of Salto will open their doors, as part of the plans for the opening of 26 centers and more than 150 expansions planned for 2022, Abdala announced. Presidency
