The Movimiento de Trabajadores Excluidos (MTE) - Excluded Workers Movement – in Argentina provides child-care services for its members, including waste pickers, community workers, garment workers, and street vendors. This case study documents how the Centros Infantiles de Recreación y Aprendizaje (CIRA) – Children’s Leisure and Learning Centres – responded to the COVID-19 pandemic through community outreach and adapted child-care services to support workers and the children in their households. Central to the child-care centres’ immediate and effective response is the decision-making power invested in the community workers running the centre along with the technical team. The community workers are themselves members of MTE from the popular economy with strong ties to the community.
