Strategies and action
Adult education
Workshops with parents and community leaders
We provide training for parents, teachers and community leaders, to promote changes in established practices and ways of thinking that devalue or marginalise children and young people, ignoring or infringing their rights.
Training Primary School Teachers
CESESMA's work with local primary teachers is fundamental, because of the importance of the teacher’s role in human development. Through the teaching-learning process children develop critical thinking in relation to their social reality, which in turn empowers them to become active participants in processes of community development and social change. For this reason, work with local primary teachers is one of our most important strategies.
Often the teachers themselves face problems of violence or abuse at home, and this limits their capacity to respond effectively to the problems faced by the children in their classrooms. Thus many teachers, feeling powerless in the face of their own problems, are disorientated or incapacitated when it comes to supporting the children. They also lack basic tools and techniques to be able to support children effectively in difficult situations. For this reason our approach has been to provide safe spaces for sharing, reflection and analysis of personal situations, as a way of preparing the ground for new thinking and new skills through which the teachers can effectively support the children in finding solutions to their problems.
The training also includes how to identify children suffering violence or abuse, and how to relate to these children in a way that helps them to express their feelings, which they often suppress because of fear or lack of confidence.
In order to achieve these changes in attitude, and new ways of responding, it is important to start by recognising and understanding personal experiences, so as to be able to identify, reflect on and analyse the underlying attitudes.
Activities carried out
In 2005-2006, 100 rural primary and pre-school teachers participated in this training programme in the three municipalities: 30 in Tuma-La Dalia, 25 in Matagalpa and 45 in San Ramón
To facilitate the implementation of the programme, CESESMA established and maintained co-ordination with the local Ministry of Education offices, the heads of the Nuclei (groupings of small rural schools) and the specific schools where the programme was delivered. This enabled us to reach agreement on the programme and co-ordinate its implementation through a series of monthly teachers’ workshops.
Outcomes
After participating in the programme, the participants are aware of new tools and techniques and have begun to put these into practice personally with their own families and with the children in their classrooms. They recognise that it is difficult to change, but that it is possible; that these changes are long-term goals, and that, over time, it is possible to improve all kinds of personal relationships.
The process has also enabled us to build links between in-school and out-of-school education: For example some teachers have co-ordinated activities with local promotores and promotoras trained in different areas (drama, dance, crafts, organic farming etc). Youth theatre groups have presented plays dealing with themes of family violence and sexual abuse at school assemblies, and these have been used to generate reflection on these topics.
The teachers have shown considerable interest, motivation and enthusiasm to participate in the activities. The Ministry of Education does not help teachers explore emotional issues, and these topics are not included in its official training plans.
In the workshops we have also looked at how these issues can be raised with parents. This has resulted in the use of roleplay as a technique in parents’ meetings. This has helped turn the parents’ meetings, formerly just an occasion for handing over reports, into a useful space for reflection on the issues facing the children and their families.
Specific cases of family violence and abuse have been brought to light and reported to the authorities (Police and Ministry of the Family). Teachers have become more aware of the symptoms of abuse, and are more observant of the behaviour of the children in the classrooms.
Training Community Pre-school Workers
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