The key issues  

CESESMA's work is underpinned by eight key themes which cut across the different intervention strategies.

Participation

CESESMA's number one strategic objective is "To strengthen the participation and organisation of children and young people, enabling them to act effectively in local and national decision-making forums". We aim to build active and pro-active participation, starting within the family, and extending to all levels of decision-making: community, school, district council, department and national.

For CESESMA, therefore, participation implies much more than attendance at activities. It includes the following elements:

• Collective organisation with leadership by children and young people.

• Promotoría social: Development of child-led educational processes with groups of children and young people in their communities, and community activities to promote children and young people's rights.

• Defensoría social: Child-led processes of awareness-raising, information, reporting and support, to prevent the violation of children's rights, and to offer support and protection to those who need them.

• Media and communications: Activities such as theatre, radio, puppetry, music, street parades and community festivals to raise public awareness of children and young people's rights.

• Pro-activism: This means that the children and young people themselves take the initiative to propose, plan and carry out their own projects and cultural activities, without dependence on adults to organise them and tell them what to do.

• Participation in decision-making at different levels and forums, implying the achievement of genuine, non-tokenistic participation in spaces traditionally dominated by adults.

In order for their participation to be effective, groups of children and young people undertake the role of young community educators (promotores and promotoras in Spanish). They work as a team, training and mobilising the children and young people of their communities for the promotion and defence of their tights. They participate in community groups including village councils, school governors, community development committees, Municipal Children and Youth Commissions, and other forums from local up to national level.

These networks of young community educators include children and young people from age 10 to 19 who have participated in training with CESESMA to develop the skills, knowledge and organising ability which they are now sharing in their communities. Their networks have developed and grown stronger, and are increasingly recognised in their communities for the leadership and organisation they provide, and the community work they undertake.

Education

Education can be considered as the development of awareness through individual and collective learning processes. For CESESMA, education involves all the social groups that directly or indirectly play a part in the issues affecting children and young people. Education has as its goals personal development, to maintain and renew one's vision, to dream of a future and be able to bring it about. Education recognises the individual and collective potential of the people, realised through development of skills and capacities, leading to action for change and progress in the community.  

Our work is based on the concept of lifetime education, with its four key pillars: learning to live together, learning to know, learning to do, and learning to be.

This is put into practice in two related spheres: in the community sphere, through non-school learning processes with different groups in the community (children and young people, families, women, community leaders), and in the formal education sphere with rural primary teachers and pre-school workers, students and parents. The two spheres are not separate, but are brought together in a single two-way social dynamic between school and community, with active participation of all the groups involved.

Children's Rights

CESESMA's mission is to "promote and defend the rights of children and young people". We affirm that every child and young person, as a human being, possesses innate and inalienable human rights. In reality, however, there are many children whose rights are not recognised, and almost all are denied the basic living conditions required for the fulfilment of these rights. Nevertheless, human rights are universal and belong to every human being. Human rights can easily be ignored or violated, but they can never be lost or stolen.

Against this context of denial and violation of children and young people's rights, CESESMA is committed to implement a children's rights focus in all its programming. We have made the commitment to work for the development and well-being of children and young people, but we undertake to do this from a perspective that recognises the obligations and responsibilities of all. Therefore the children's rights focus must promote the empowerment of all children and young people, in order that they be able to demand and defend the implementation of their own rights. We do this by means of educational processes that promote children's rights (promotoría social) and defend children's rights (defensoría social).

This work is supported by a clearly defined legal framework, in particular the Constitution of Nicaragua, which gives full legal force to the International Convention on the Rights of the Child (Article 71), and the Nicaraguan Children's Rights Code (Law 287).

Gender Equality

Family, work and socio-cultural patterns in rural Nicaragua are characterised by lack of equality between women and men, and lack of respect towards women. This is exemplified in the culture of "Machismo" typical of these communities, giving rise to high levels of violence against women and girls.

The fourth objective of our Strategic Plan is "To contribute to improving interpersonal relations, in family, school and community, in order to reduce violence". Based on this objective, we have established gender equality as one of the key themes underpinning our work, with the aim of working towards relations of equality and respect between male and female: children, young people and adults.

As a result of the Impact Evaluation study we undertook in 2002-03, we recognise that the work with girls and young women needs to be strengthened. As well as abuse and violence, they are condemned from an early age to a triple working day: house work, school work and farm work. This study gave us guidelines to re-evaluate our experience of working with girls and young women, reinforcing the theme of gender equality, and giving increased priority to work with girls groups. 

To implement this, we have established local girls' networks (Redes de Niñas), with girls and young women organising in their communities, and undertaking a training programme with CESESMA on gender issues and women's rights. These young women are now able to organise local groups in their communities, to pass on their knowledge, and achieve greater participation of girls and young women in different community activities.

Having established gender equality as a key theme and a priority in our work, we recognise the need to develop our own knowledge and awareness in this area, so as to introduce a gender-equality focus more clearly and positively in the communities where we work.

Non-violence

The children and young people of Nicaragua live in a violent environment. Many suffer violence directly, and all are aware of the violence that prevails in families, schools, communities and institutions. This is a characteristic of national life.

We understand violence as that which damages the physical, psychological or social integrity of a person and so violates their human rights. It is the abuse of power based on inequality and discrimination, where one party assumes the capacity to dominate, control or possess others. 

There are different types of violence: domestic, institutional, gender, sexual violence, political and economic violence, often in combination. We define violence as any act exercised with abuse of power against the will of others. Violence produces damage, in some cases irreparable, to children's development.

Violence is a reality for most children and young people, and is exercised against them in various ways, some open and some hidden. Violence is used to control their behaviour, to attack their integrity, and to abuse their sexuality. The worst cases result in severe physical and emotional damage, and even in death. Thus we maintain that violence is not only that which leaves physical marks such as blows, cuts and bruises, it also leaves psychological wounds that cause lifelong emotional scars. 

In CESESMA we are committed to the building of relationships based on respect, and so to the reduction and prevention of all forms of violence. The fourth objective of our Strategic Plan is: "To contribute to improving interpersonal relationships, in family, school and community, in order to reduce violence". With this goal in mind, we work to strengthen the capacity of children and young people in the search for alternatives to violence, non-violent conflict resolution, and the effective reporting and challenging of violent behaviour in family and community life.

We also recognise the acute violence suffered by girls and young women, and so we work specifically with them to strengthen their ability to confront and resist this violence.

Child Labour

In Nicaragua, as in all almost all low-income countries, child labour is an everyday reality. This means it is not possible to simply prohibit children from working. In the coffee sector, the coffee harvest, which lasts three months of the year, is traditionally a time of sustained work for the whole family: children, young people and adults. In addition, all year round there is farm work and domestic work.

Child labour infringes children's rights, and can severely restrict their development, through physical, intellectual and psychological damage (for more information go to the "SOCIAL ISSUES" page).

CESESMA does not seek to achieve the total elimination of child labour in Nicaragua, but we do have an unshakeable commitment to a process of progressive reduction of the most harmful forms of child labour, and the exploitation, abuse and mistreatment that go with them.

In order to eradicate the most harmful forms of child labour, working together with the children and young people we propose:

• That together we demand improved access to school-based education, with increased coverage and better quality.

• That we involve and work with the parents of young workers, so that they recognise the value and importance of education for their children. 

• That we continue to develop complementary educational opportunities in the non-school sector, where the schools are unable to meet the needs of the rural population, and to offer alternatives that promote personal and economic development.   

• That we train children and young workers in the promotion and defence of their rights, so that they can denounce cases of abuse and exploitation related to child labour.

• hat we continue to promote organic food-growing, enabling families to produce healthy food for themselves, thus reducing their dependency on the coffee plantations for survival.

• That the communities seek agreements with the plantation managers, that young children should not work, and that adolescent workers only carry out tasks appropriate to their age and capability; that they do not undertake work that risks their health or personal integrity, and that they do not interrupt their education. 

The Environment

The third objective in our Strategic Plan is: "To contribute to the conservation and improvement of the natural environment";. This has been an underlying and motivating theme in all areas of work.

The rural area where we work has an economy dependent on the wealth of the natural environment and its many resources. However this environment is deteriorating due to the ill-judged actions of humans failing to protect and manage it adequately. People still fail to realise that this environmental deterioration is one of the main causes of the social, economic and health problems that affect us.

We consider environmental education to be fundamental, because we all need to be aware that our actions have positive or negative consequences for the future. Today we help ourselves to the natural resources of the environment, forgetting that the damage we cause endangers everyone and everything within it: plants, animals, air, water, ourselves or our built settlements.

In this context, the children and young people, being both the present and the future of our communities, have started to demand their right to a healthy and sustainable environment, and this has been a key factor in the development of their leadership and participation. They undertake a range of community activities, including workshops and talks, environmental marches, establishing plant nurseries, tree-planting and community clean-up days. They co-ordinate with adult leaders, promoting greater respect and care for the environment, and developing the role of children and young people in its protection and conservation. 

CESESMA has also been active in the development of environmental education within the school system, where our teachers' manuals are widely used as part of the school curriculum both in the Department of Matagalpa and elsewhere.

Community Health

We understand health as not only being free from disease, but as the determining factor of physical, mental and social wellbeing. Optimum health is also a human right, the achievement of which involves not just the individual, but all who influence their environment: family, friends, educators, community members and the public health authorities.

In our work on health, we prioritise preventative health-care, using social education to develop habits of personal care, and promote good hygiene at personal, family and community level, to avoid illness and the spread of infection. We pay special attention to the promotion of balanced nutrition, rest, physical activity, affection and emotional stability, all of which contribute to maintaining a strong and healthy body and mind.

Similarly in community development work, we seek to construct social, physical, mental and emotional wellbeing.