June
2010: Young women understand and defend sexual and
reproductive rights
As part of our new project “Children and Young People's
Participation in the Promotion of Sexual and Reproductive
Rights, and to live without Violence”, supported by the Fund
for Equality, Sexual and Reproductive Rights in Nicaragua
(FED), members of the Girls’ and Young Women’s Network from
San Ramón and Samulalí are participating in an initial
series of workshops. In the photo, the young women are
working to define their own ideas about Sexuality.
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June 2010: Mid-term Review of CESESMA’s "Safe Quality
Schools" project
The team working on CESESMA’s "Safe Quality Schools" project
in the Tuma La Dalia, Rancho Grande and Waslala districts
has been conducting a midterm evaluation of the project.
This participatory process will provide guidelines for the
exit strategy for the municipality of Waslala, and further
development of the project in the other municipalities.
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May 2010: CESESMA team develops concepts and skills
around "Facilitation"
Twenty CESESMA team members participated in a three-day
workshop to develop our concept of "facilitation", and
identify and strengthen capacities to put this into practice
in our role as facilitators of learning in the community.
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May 2010: New project in solidarity with Irish
teachers’ union INTO
Maintaining its long record of solidarity with CESESMA, the
Irish National Teachers’ Organisation INTO is supporting our
new teacher-training program, "Promotion of positive
relationships, equality and respect in the primary classroom".
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April
2010: Children and young people participate in national
forum to validate research results
Children and young people from San Carlos and Granada
discussed their successful experiences of influencing public
policy (advocacy) at a national forum organised by CESESMA
and the University of the North
of Nicaragua to publicise the findings of our
research project "Political Impact of Children and Young
People as Active Citizens in Nicaragua". CESESMA plans to
publish the final report on this research in August. Click
here for more information
in Spanish:
and in English.
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April 2010: New Project: Promotion of Investment in
Children and Young People
CESESMA is a partner in a national project coordinated by
Nicaraguan Coordinating Committee of NGOs Working with
Children and Young People, CODENI, supported by the European
Union, to promote investment in children and young people in
eleven municipalities of Nicaragua. CESESMA is coordinating
the project in Tuma La Dalia and San
Ramón, where the first steps include strengthening of
alliances with key stakeholders such as local councils and
Municipal Children and Youth Committees, and making an
initial appraisal of current levels of investment in
children through municipal budgets.
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April 2010: Young Consultants from Guadalupe Arriba
present research findings to National Forum
The Young Consultants Team from Guadalupe Arriba in Samulalí
(ages 10-16), travelled to Managua to present their report
on the problem of violence in the community at a national
forum, "Promoting a culture of peace in the face of school
and domestic violence", organised by the Latin American
Council for Adult Education, CEAAL.
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March
2010: New sustainable agriculture course for young
Promotores/as in La Dalia
A new training course for Ecological Agriculture
Promotores/as has started at CESESMA’s Community Learning
Centre in Casas Blancas, La Dalia. The 25 participants, both
boys and girls, started the course by learning about the
role of the Promotor/a (young community education volunteer),
and how the many elements that make up the environment –
including themselves – are all interrelated.
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March
2010: Advanced dressmaking course
Also in the Community Learning Centre in Casas Blancas there
is a new advanced dressmaking course for young people who
have successfully completed the basic course. Fifteen young
women and one young man are participating. At the same time,
basic dressmaking courses are being run in the local primary
schools at El Carmen, El Pavón 1, El Pavón 2 and
Independence in Rancho Grande. Two more courses run in the
Casas Blancas centre for young people from the nearby
villages. Through this programme CESESMA is aiming to
strengthen the discipline of Vocational Training, and
promote wider participation of children and young people in
their schools.
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March 2010: New on the CESESMA website
We’ve restructured the website to offer more information and
make it more accessible. Among the new elements are a "Digital
Document Centre" which currently has twelve key
documents available to download in PDF format; and updated
information about the CESESMA team, which now numbers 38.
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March 2010: New project promotes participation of
children and young people in educational governance
In this new project, supported by the Common Fund to Support
Civil Society for Democratic Governance in Nicaragua (www.fondogobernabilidad.org.ni),
children and young people from 20 rural communities of San
Ramon and Samulalí will help to promote good governance in
education.
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February
2010: Banners "Defending Our Right to Play" in the streets
and communities
With support from the Municipal Children and Youth
Commissions in both districts, banners designed by the
children’s action-research teams from Yasica Sur and
Samulalí to promote their right to play are now on prominent
display in the streets and rural communities. The banners
were painted with support from our friends at the
Common Threads organisation in England. The photo shows
the banner in the main street of San Ramon outside the
central primary school.
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February
2010: Four computer courses in CESESMA’s new IT workshop
As part of our computer training project, supported by the
Combined Services Third World Fund in Ireland, four new
courses were launched in February. The students include
young Promotores and Promotoras, some CESESMA team members,
and a group of primary school teachers. To accommodate this
program CESESMA has outfitted an IT workshop with 10
networked computers.
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January
2010: CESESMA launches its second Strategic Plan
In December, through a highly participatory process, the
CESESMA team produced its second Strategic Plan covering the
years 2010-2014. Having already completed a thorough
evaluation of the previous plan (2004-2008), the process
began with analysis of the socio-cultural, economic,
political and environmental context, analysis of the
stakeholders, networks and spaces in which we work, and an
institutional appraisal. We then reviewed the mission and
vision, and developed new goals, outcomes, indicators and
strategies. For an English summary of the new plan
click here.
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December
2009: Article by children’s action-research team form
Samulalí published in “Arco Iris” magazine
The latest issue of the journal
Arco Iris (Rainbow) published by CODENI contains an
article "Children and Young People Defending Our Right to
Play" by the team of young researchers and campaigners from
Samulalí, based on the findings of their research into the
state of children’s play in their community. To read the
article in Spanish
click here. For an English translation of the children’s
report
click here.
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November 2009: New book from CESESMA
shares children’s perceptions of “Safe Quality Schools”
Children and young people from 49 schools in El Tuma-La
Dalia, Waslala and Rancho Grande share their ideas, opinions
and perceptions about the kind of school they want in this
new book published by CESESMA as part of the “Safe Quality
Schools” project supported by Save the Children Nicaragua. The book (Spanish only) is available to download free from
the
CESESMA Document Centre
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October 2009: Samulalí
children’s theatre group at festival against violence in
Managua
Children’s theatre group “Las Estrellitas” from Samulalí,
accompanied by mums and members of the CESESMA team,
travelled to the capital city Managua to present their play
“No More Punishments” at the third national festival against
violence towards children ”We Want to be Treated Well”,
sponsored by Save the Children Nicaragua. They also
organised a photographic exhibition about the work children
and young people are doing on prevention of violence in
their communities, supported by CESESMA .
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October 2009:
CESESMA team learns English
Nineteen members of the CESESMA team are attending English
classes three times a week with our new English teacher
Andie Reynolds. Andie, from Scotland, Came to CESESMA thanks
to coordination with the NEST Trust in the UK, and funding
from the Alcan Prize for Sustainability Training Grant that
CESESMA won in 2007.
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Welcome to new members of the
CESESMA team:
Heyling
Lisbeth González Guido
From Samulalí, Community Education Worker in the Samulalí
team. Studying Agronomy at UPONIC.
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Anielka
Guadalupe Mairena Rugama
From San Antonio, Yasica Sur. Community Education Worker
with the Girls and Young Women's Network in the San Ramón
team, and studying final year of secondary school at the
High School in San Ramón.
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Cesar Augusto Moreno
From La Reyna, San Ramón, teaches Carpentry in CESESMA's
Vocational Education programme in La Dalia;
currently working with
65 children
and young people in the schools at El Carmen #1, Casa
Blancas, La Empresa
and La Primavera as well as the Casas
Blancas Community Learning Centre.
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Mario
de Jesús Martínez
Socio-Cultural Animateur, originally from Managua, works on
youth theatre, children's reading programme and
communication initiatives with the La Dalia team.
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María
de los Ángeles Espinoza Ruiz de Shier
From Matagalpa, is a Computer Systems Engineer, and
CESESMA's Information Technology teacher,
running the new computer skills programme with young
Promotores/as, primary teachers and members of the CESESMA
team.
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Emilio
René Cruz Rugama
Originally from Estelí, is a Computer Systems Engineer, and
CESESMA's IT technician who keeps the
computer equipment and network running
smoothly in difficult conditions.
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And
a new volunteer
Darling Huguet Sánchez Videa, from Samulalí, who
is studying the third year of a Business Administration
degree at UNAN Matagalpa, is working as Receptionist and
Accounts Assistant at CESESMA on a three month practice
placement.
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