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Casa Alianza created a web site to build a strong constituency of people who would work to improve the lives of street children in Latin America. Since it’s founding in 1981 Casa Alianza has cared for thousands of children and at present cares for 8,961 children per year in Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico.

It is estimated that in the developing world today there are 100 million children living and working on the streets; 40 million of these are located in Latin America. Most of these children have some family to rely on but 10 million have no one. They often live within groups of other children, sleeping in abandoned buildings, under bridges, in doorways or in public parks. They are often forced to resort to petty theft and prostitution just to survive and are the victims of beatings, illegal detentions, torture, sexual abuse, rape and murder.

Casa Alianza faced a wall of government inaction and even hostility when it tried to address these problems. Realizing that the only way to effect change was to increase the international pressure for change on those who influence the situation of street children, they decided to start a public outreach campaign using the Internet.

The first goal for their web site was to unite people through the cause of street children and to build a strong constituency that would work for change. Casa Alianza took the following steps to ensure that people seek out their site, become active in the area of street children and help to improve the situation of street children.
Casa Alianza started their “Rapid Response Program”, offering ordinary people the chance to become activists. The “Rapid Response List” provides members with regular email updates about incidents of violence against street children and offers email addresses of individuals in authority who should be contacted about the situation. They also encourage people to send copies of their emails to the press helping put further pressure on the authorities. With each situation being responded to with 4 to 500 emails, generally, the response from authorities is immediate.
Casa Alianza doesn’t send out updates on the all of the cases that they feature but instead post them on their web-site. By doing this, they are giving people a reason to return to the site and hopefully become further involved.
Casa Alianza provides a secure web site. By having their web site secure visitors are able to make donations without having to worry about issues such as credit card theft. Casa Alianza averages about $20,000 per year in donations over the web.
The web page also gives people the opportunity to ask questions about the cause. While questions do take time to answer, they also bring people back to the page and make them more willing to get involved at a level of commitment that they can afford. To facilitate the response process, Casa Alianza has set up filters that send the received questions to the appropriate staff person to answer.
Casa Alianza also effectively utilizes the Internet in order to draw media attention. By keeping the media informed as to what is going on as well as by providing them with several story ideas Casa Alianza has turned the media into an important part of their constituency.

The second goal for the web site is to be a source of reliable information to anyone interested in the issue of street children. They follow several basic guidelines in order to ensure that they succeed in this.
Casa Alianza keeps their web page aesthetically pleasing and easy to read. Doing this makes it easier for the researcher and increases the chance that they will stay to learn more.
Casa Alianza updates their web page regularly (at least four times per week). They provide continuous, up-to-date stories on what is going on with the children inside their centers as well as children that are still on the streets. They also provide information on specific instances of abuse as well as updates on what has been done. It is only through continuous updates that this information would be available to those that would use it.
Casa Alianza links their web page to several other related web pages. By doing this, they increase the likelihood that their site will be visited as well as give researchers the opportunity to do further research if they choose.
Casa Alianza wanted to make sure that people all over the world could utilize their web-site. In order to ensure this they have worked extensively with volunteer translators and now the site offers information in six different languages.
Casa Alianza works diligently in choosing the keywords that characterize their site. The goal is for the web site to come up early on in a general search and this is only attainable through the use of proper keywords.
Advertising is also a very important tactic used by Casa Alianza. By advertising their site in publications such as USA Today’s Hot Site of the Day and by including the web address in stories, they provide people with further opportunities to research the issue.

The web site has become Casa Alianza’s face to the world. With an average of 135,000 hits per month from individuals and governments all over the world Casa Alianza has found a technique that works for them. They are a wonderful example of an organization that has successfully utilized modern day technology to their benefit and because the Internet and media are available to virtually everyone, this tactic can be used by groups interested in a variety of different issues around the world.

Completed June 2001.

Photo credit: United Nations Photos