Africa-Press – Cape verde. The Minister of Family, Inclusion and Social Development, Fernando Elísio Freire, inaugurated today in Sal the new Nôs Kaza Center, a “crucial space” for welcoming, providing psychosocial support and promoting the rights of children and adolescents.
The opening of this center in the city of Santa Maria, which aims to contribute to the prevention of risk situations and the strengthening of family skills, was marked by a speech from the minister that balanced pride in the Government’s investments with “a firm appeal” to families to assume primary responsibility.
Minister Fernando Elísio Freire expressed “great pride and great responsibility” for the realization of the project, emphasizing that the Nôs Kaza Center represents another step in fulfilling the commitments made to Sal Island.
“We are here with great pride and great responsibility, because we are fulfilling our commitments to Sal Island,” he reinforced, where, he continued, the first children’s emergency center was opened, which is operating in Espargos.
“Together with the Sal Island City Hall, we created the Palmeira center, and today we are here with the Nôs Kaza center,” he recalled.
The minister acknowledged the economic dynamism of Sal Island and stressed that “however much has been done, there is an obligation to do a little more,” ensuring that the island is not only developed but also “includes everyone,” with a special focus on children and adolescents.
The Nôs Kaza Center, which results from the reconfiguration of a previous structure, is aligned with this objective, being the 12th day center implemented nationally in the last two years.
According to him, the Government did not “limit itself to the renovation of the building,” assuming all its operation.
Fernando Elísio Freire also indicated the intention to increase the coverage of daycare centers for the zero to three-year-old age group and create more structures with complementary hours to school, offering safe spaces for children after school.
However, the central point of the minister’s speech was the “firm position” on family responsibility.
Freire argued that the Government’s responsibility is to create laws and support infrastructure for access to income, housing, education, and training, but that “the primary concern is family care.”
The official openly criticized populism and discourse that attempts to dilute responsibility by blaming state structures such as the Cape Verdean Institute for Children and Adolescents (ICCA) or the police in cases of negligence.
“If there are children on the street at 11 pm, don’t tell me that the responsibility lies solely and exclusively with the ICCA, which doesn’t care for child A or child B, when there are mothers and fathers who are calmly at home not caring,” he emphasized.
He concluded that strengthening child protection “depends on everyone fulfilling their role well,” guaranteeing that the Government will fully assume its responsibilities, but that the same is required of families and communities.
For More News And Analysis About Cape verde Follow Africa-Press
