Strategies and action
Training young community educators (promotores and promotoras)
What
is a promotor / promotora?
They are young people - both girls and boys - generally aged between 12 and 18 from the rural communities. Through participation in activities with CESESMA, they are empowered to take on a leadership role in their communities, working with groups of younger children on a range of informal educational activities. They are educators, animateurs, organizers and activists in their communities.
We believe that every child and young person has experience that makes them unique and special. These life experiences form the basis for a training programme that starts from their existing awareness, enabling them to build new knowledge, skills and capacities.
To build on this basis we take as a central theme the promotion and defence of their rights, taking account of the context, and offering new learning opportunities that will open up new options in the future. With these new skills and knowledge, the young people are ready to take on the role of Community Educators (promotores), strengthening community organisation, and sharing skills and ideas with other children and young people according to their interests.
Profile of a promotor/a
A promotor or a promotora is a young person:
with high self-esteem, who respects him/ herself and those around him/her;
who recognises him/herself as a member of society, and a possessor of human rights;
with knowledge of the legal and social framework of children’s rights, environmental protection, health and nutrition, non-violence, gender and sexuality, among other things;
who puts their learning into practice in their personal life, family and community;
capable of promoting the organisation of children and young people in the promotion and defence of their rights;
capable of forming groups and facilitating learning processes of action-reflection, promoting participation, resolving conflicts, planning and evaluating group-work;
capable of communicating with all sectors of the community, children and adults, in their own community and beyond;
capable of involvement in decision-making at different levels, and in the development of their community;
with tools for analysing the issues facing their community, and working in partnership with other community members to find solutions;
In addition, every Promotor/a will have an area of skill or special interest, with tools and techniques for passing on these skills to other children in their community.
The path of development of a promotor/a
Step 1: Children join activity groups
Step 2: Children and young people opt to join a promotores/as' training course
Step 3: CESESMA provides practical support and follow-up
Taking into account the work-plans of the young educators, the CESESMA team offers support in the various community activities that they undertake, helping them increase their knowledge and skills, strengthen their leadership and autonomy, and so reduce their dependence on CESESMA.
Step 4: Multiplication
On completing their training course, the young promotores/as have the basic skills and knowledge to set up and facilitate new learning groups with younger children in their communities, at first working alongside more experienced promotores/as, later organising their own groups. CESESMA's project team will actively support these young people and, in this way, a multiplier effect is achieved, bringing large numbers of children into education and gradually reducing their involvement in exploitative child labour.
Step 5: Development options
Area teams: CESESMA invites the most experienced and committed promotores/ass to join the area teams, where they share responsibility for planning, organising and evaluating the programme of community education and development work in the area.
Associativity: See the Associativity Strategy page.
Promotores/as' training programme, FOCAPEC
The FOCAPEC course consists of ten two-day workshops, held monthly from February to November. Courses are run in parallel in the three territories, with up to 25 young people aged between 12 and 16 in each group.
The course curriculum focuses on development of communication and organising skills, awareness of issues facing their communities, and a sound understanding of key underlying issues: children’s rights, participation, child labour and education rights, non-violence, gender equality, health and environment. The diagram below summarises the experiential learning approach used on the course.
This core curriculum is shared by all the course participants. Alongside this they are expected to join learning groups (run by already trained and experienced promotores/as) in their particular area of interest, which may be organic food-growing, craft skills, traditional dance, theatre, radio, puppetry, or reading promotion.
Key themes
Principles of children’s rights, The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, The Nicaragua Children's Rights Code.
Social defence networks for children's rights: claiming and defending our rights.
Impact of globalization on our communities.
Violence and non-violence: causes and consequences. Alternatives for reduction of violence.
Identity and self-esteem, self-awareness, relations of respect, resolution of conflicts.
Gender equality: women’s rights, personal relationships (boyfriends, girlfriends etc).
Community health and hygiene.
Sexual and reproductive health.
Environmental conservation.
Communication and organising skills
Participation, leadership and the role of the promotor/a.
Forming and working with groups.
Promoting equality, inclusion and managing conflict in groups.
Planning, evaluation and follow-up.
Communicating with key adults: parents, teachers, community leaders.
Tools for community appraisal, planning and development.
Tools for social communication.
Participation in decision-making at different levels.
Girls' and Young Women's Network
This is a network of girls and young women aged from 10 to 18, from 25 communities in the three territories where CESESMA works. The groups meet regularly to explore topics of interest to them and learn about their rights as women. This provides an opportunity to reflect on their own lives and experiences, their beliefs and attitudes. Thus they can gradually unlearn the stereotyped roles and cultural beliefs that devalue the position of women in our society, and so develop themselves personally, and strengthen their role in the family and the community.
Currently there are about 80 girls and young women participating in the three area groups. They meet monthly, and work on issues including identity and self-esteem, personal relationships, sexual and reproductive health and sexual abuse. They also prepare themselves to raise these same issues through talks and discussions with groups of girls and young women in their home communities.
Returning to their communities, these young promotoras organise activities to explore the issues within their community. In particular we want to enable the young women to raise the issue of violence and discuss it openly in the community, so it is no longer seen as normal.
In this way the Girls’ and Young Women’s Network is not just another educational activity, but rather a process for the training and empowerment of young promotoras, and a space to develop community action in defence of girls’ and women’s rights.
Training organic agriculture promotores, FOPAE
Objectives:
To develop knowledge and skills for the production, conservation, preparation and consumption of healthy food, and the responsible management of the natural resources existing in the community and its environment.
To promote the diversification of family vegetable plots with ecologically sound farming practices, thus increasing the availability of food and strengthening the domestic economy.
Course organisation
One year course consisting of monthly two-day workshops: one day of theory and one day of practical work. Between the workshops, the participants put their knowledge and skills into practice with children and young people in their communities, with the support of a CESESMA worker.
Course themes
The role of the promotor/a
What is "The Environment"?
The natural resources in our community
The soil as a living organism
Soil conservation
Cultivation and management of the family vegetable garden
Diversification of the vegetable garden
Pest control without chemicals
Keeping domestic animals
The family diet: conservation, preparation and consumption of the produce of the vegetable garden.
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