Week for Youth Rights in Argentina and Bolivia

In the framework of the Ibero-American Week celebrations, the Cooperation Fund for Technical Assistance Missions of the OAS Inter-American Program on Education for Democratic Values and Practices provided support to the work of the Week for Youth Rights in Argentina and Bolivia. The participating institutions in the cooperation mission were the SocialFoundation Uramanta and Youth Group Csi-miento of Bolivia, the SES Foundation, the Civil Popular Alternative Association, the Youth Group Murga Sol de America and the Roldan Youth Council of Argentina. The technical assistance activities took place in Argentina from April 14 to 18, 2012 and in Bolivia from April 26 to May 2, 2012.

The Bidirectional Cooperation Mission’s objective was to strengthen the work processes of the Week for Youth Rights in Argentina and Bolivia in the framework of the Ibero-American Week by recovering the practices of both and installing a working methodology that promotes political and social participation of young people living in poverty. 

“We have to let others know what it is like to be young” - young participant

The work began in Argentina with the specific aim of raising awareness of youth promoter groups to make a commitment to actively participate in a space that promotes a democratic culture, freedom of expression and cultural diversity. Several activities took place in Buenos Aires to exchange experiences with the various groups and organizations involved in the Week, and to learn about their local work, and its objectives and contributions to the Network for Youth Rights. Visits were also made to the cities of Rosario and Roldan, providing the possibility to learn about the work of Popular Alternative and Roldan Youth Council with the Youth Group Murga Sol de America. These activities contributed to adopting the perspective of the Week’s regional cooperation, understanding this week as a space of training, empowerment and advocacy among youth groups from different countries. 

Video: Youth Rights Week 2011 in Chapadmalal, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The mission has been extended to the city of Cochabamba, Bolivia, where both delegations strove to transform the Week in Bolivia into a social setting of advocacy, knowing about, and valuing the construction of local social ties achieved through the Bolivian experience. The objectives of the activities in this country were tied to strengthening the work of the Csi-miento Uramanta Social Foundation using the lessons learned and knowledge of the Argentinean team to improve the planning and implementation process of the Week for Youth Rights. It was also an opportunity to learn about the reality and cultural aspects of Bolivia’s youth. The Csi-miento youth group managed to implement the Week for Youth Rights taking into account the working guidelines outlined in the framework of the technical assistance given the established central themes: youth identity, gender and sexuality and public policies for youth.

Video: Csi-miento Group, Cochabamba, Bolivia

This experience of exchange and technical assistance serves as a model for strengthening regional and local work for each of the week initiatives, by installing a new cooperation model based on knowledge and learning. 

“At first we cared about being many; our goal was that: to be more. Now we want to be more active, more organized, and do things the right way. – Young from Csi-miento

Seeing the success of the activities, several institutions and companies were interested in carrying out this type of technical assistance and support the Week for Youth Rights in the coming years. 

Service Leaning at the University of Chile

In 2012, the city of Paine in Chile, the University of Chile and the Center for Latin American Service Learning and Solidarity (CLAYSS) of Argentina jointly executed a cooperation mission with support from the Horizontal Cooperation Fund of the Inter-American Program on Education for Democratic Values and Practices. The mission’s objective was to promote the exchange of experiences among participating institutions and to create an institutionalized body to train future professionals from the University of Chile and students from vulnerable locations in civic and democratic values, through a Citizenship Education Pillar. Thanks to this mission, directors, professors, academic collaborators and assistants from the University of Chile and municipal schools in Paine received capacity-building.

As a result of this experience of cooperation, in 2012 a group of activities of Service Learning were carried out in the framework of the course Introduction to Public Administration Studies that the School of Government and Public Administration of the University of Chile offers. This course is offered to new students in the field of Public Administration. Its main objectives is to teach students the basic concepts that define “state” and “government”, and to offer them a panoramic vision of the future activities that they will have to execute as public officials.

The experience with Service Learning was geared towards achieving two essential objectives: getting students to know and be familiarized with the institutions that are part of the Chilean Public Administration, having in mind the most relevant functions that the various public bodies carry out to achieve political and social development; and learn about, and ideally acquire, some attitudes that are essential in public service, such as responsibility, efficiency in resources management, capacity to coordinate tasks with other groups, capacity to adequately disseminate the objectives of their activities and to value citizenship participation in public issues and the search for alternatives to solve them.

On the ground, the mission was implemented with the educational institution “Escuela Alemania”, located in a rural area near Santiago (Paine), which assists minors from low income families and that are socially at risk. The main problem that these minors face is the lack of opportunities to overcome their condition of poverty and marginalization. The work was organized as follows: students prepared a own project of their service, which was also focused on directly helping to minors in the institution, upon submission and approval of higher authorities of the college. This meant that students had to visit the institution on a regular basis to elaborate the policy and later implement and evaluate it. Throughout the entire process students received support and help of the institution’s authorities, as well as of the task coordinating team of Service Learning of the university integrated two students in the course. 

The University of Chile views this cooperation experience as fundamental to strengthen the process of curriculum modernization with a strong citizenship component in teaching practices, and where students become the main actors. Foundations have also been laid for Service Learning to be institutionalized in the curriculum of participating academic institutions. In the city of Pain, there is installed capacity to implement learning and service. For CLAYSS, this has been an important opportunity to learn more directly from its leaders about the projects developed by the University of Chile, know the process of institutionalization that is initiating and follow the capacity building and promotion of the topic.

Even though a more exhaustive evaluation of this experience is pending, we can be certain that this was a valuable experience in terms of student learning, as well as the high value that the students themselves had about ​​this. Students recognized these activities as a more innovative, agile and dynamic teaching methodology that generates a special interest given the course’s activities. High class attendance and on the ground activities are an indicator of the aforementioned.

Links related to this project.

• News piece published by La Tercera - 05/29/2012: International Experts in Education bring to Chile an innovative teaching methodology (Expertos internacionales en educación traen a Chile innovadora metodología de enseñanza).
• International Meeting of Learning and Service organized by the University of Chile.  
•  Latin American Center for Service-Learning (CLAAYS)

Environmental Education and Water Management in Colombia

With the support of the Cooperation Fund for Technical Assistance Missions, the exchange of experiences and good practices between the Ministry of the Environmentand Sustainable Development of Colombia (MADS), the National Institute of WaterResources of Dominican Republic (INDRHI) and the Department ofSustainable Development of the OAS was made possible. The MADS, the environment authorities of Colombia and the youth leaders that are part of MAD’s environmental networks or programs were trained in citizenship awareness, education, use, and management and state of water resources by the Program UNESCO-WET of Water and Education Program for Latin America and the Caribbean, promoted on this occasion by the section of Integrated Water Resources Management of the OAS Department of Sustainable Development.
 

The technical assistance activities took place in the planned dates as a side event in the framework of the Seventh Inter-American Dialogue on Water Management (D7) organized in the city of Medellin, Colombia from November 13 to 19, 2011.

Technicians from the MADS received capacity-building in the methodology UNESCO-Wet Water and Education Programme for Latin American and the Caribbean for it to be used in their technical and community work processes in their respective area of action. The technical personnel acquired new tools and approaches for informal work in activities of Water Culture.

The young people were provided with training tools to work with in their communities through a set of dynamics, practical activities and original methodologies on the topic of water and the environment, thereby strengthening their actions in their surroundings and increasing the capacity to involver a greater number of young people that are engaged with the environment. The young people were trained and motivated to continue educating in topics related to Water Management, the Network of Water Resources and the National Network of Environment Youth in Colombia were strengthened and youth’s engagement with the environment and community work was increased.

“all people in the planet are obliged to adjust our activities to the limits and auto-regulatory capacity of nature. Each generation has the obligation and must assume a commitment in relation to the water they will drink, use and be enjoyed by future generations.”

 Seventh Inter-American Dialogue on Water Management (D7), Youth Working Table.

Those responsible for water management in the Hemisphere heard the voice of youth and gave them a space to actively participate. The young people issued a declaration that was submitted to the D7 organizers that included the commitments they established. They committed to the following:

• Work to transform Water Culture.
• Promote the efficient use of water.
• Raise awareness of Water Culture from an educational, ludic and participatory perspective. 
• Be watchmen and actors of change in the norms and policies of water heritage.
• Strengthen the social fabric of our communities through participation.
• Think, build and participate in spaces to exchange knowledge

To read the declaration made by the young people, click here (available only in Spanish).

The workshop’s great success made various institutions and companies interested in carrying out this type of training and support the process.

Citizenship Project with a Human Rights-based Approach in Venezuela

FundaciónPresencia (Presencia Foundation) in Colombia, Idaho Human Rights EducationCenter (IHREC) in United States and Civitas Venezuela, carried out a cooperation mission jointly with the city of Sucre in Venezuela during the first semester of 2012, with the objective of strengthening the social fabric, the dialogue with local government and the active, conscious and efficient participation of students and teachers in public matters of Sucre.

The three participating institutions belong to the network of educators Civitas, led by the Center for Civic Education, (NGO from United States – www.civiced.org), and have successfully implemented the program Citizenship Project. This program aims to prepare teachers to train their students to develop public policy projects. This methodology, along with other civic and citizenship education programs of the Center for Civic Education, have contributed to creating the network of organizations CIVITAS, which exchange information and experiences on projects, policies and initiatives in the field of education for democratic citizenship.

During the mission, a 3-day training workshop aimed at teachers was conducted. Twenty multiplier educators of Civitas Venezuela and educational supervisors of the Department of Education of Sucre participated in this workshop. The objective of this training opportunity was to provide participants with methodological and conceptual content of the Citizenship Project with a Human Rights-based approach. The workshop was led by Dan Prinzing, Executive Director of the Idaho Human Rights Education Center (IHREC), and Susana Restrpo, Executive Director of Fundación Presencia.

The Department of Education of Sucre selected 27 schools (focusing on primary education) in the city of Petare to participate in this project. More than 70 teachers participated in 4 workshops that trained in the methodology of Citizenship Project with a Human Rights-based approach. These workshops were conducted both by trained persons and by the trainers from the first workshop.

Students from the 27 participating primary schools of Petare presented 35 Citizenship Projects with an emphasis on Human Rights, in the framework of a festival that was celebrated in May 2012 in the facilities of the Department of Education of Sucre. During this festival, the six best projects were selected. A total of 1,300 students participated in the project. Teachers, parents, school principals and Ms. Susana Restrepo of Fundación Presencia were also present.

This cooperation mission installed capacities in multipliers of Civitas Venezuela, educational supervisors of the Department of Education of Sucre, and teachers regarding the conceptrual and methodological management of the program Citizenship Project with a Human Rights-based approach. School staff of the 22 municipal schools, considering a total of 650 members of the educational community, and more than 1,300 children and young people were sensitized about the importance of human rights, and their function in the exercise of citizenship participation.

Finally, and as a result of this mission, an agreement was signed by Civitas Venezuela and Sucre to continue with the implementation of Citizenship Project in Petare.

www.civitasvenezuela.org

idaho-humanrights.org

www.fundacionpresencia.com.co

Education for Peace in Tijuana

Children and young people are the population segment most affected by today’s crime and violence in the border region between San Diego, California and Tijuana, Mexico. Against this backdrop, Teacher Without Borders of the United States and the Delegation of Tijuana of the Educational System of the state of Baja California, Mexico, carried out with support of the Horizontal Cooperation Fund of the Inter-American Program, a cooperation mission to support the delegation of Tijuana in capacity building to run the Program of Education for Peace in all 1,500 schools that are part of Tijuana’s education system.

To achieve this objective, the mission conducted workshops, and organized visits to educational institutions in San Diego that work on various models aligned with Education for Peace. During April, 2012, 4 workshops were developed to train 80 education professionals, among them technical pedagogical advisors and staff from the delegation of education, who will receive a certification by Teachers Without Borders once they complete the workshop and present a project to expand the program throughout the city. A visit was also programmed to the University of San Diego, where teachers from both countries exchanged experiences and learn first-hand about the training project Education for Peace. In this project, students from High Tech High, in the county of Chulavista work in transforming school spaces in Peace Zones for high school students. 

In the beginning of June, 2012, meetings of evaluation were conducted and a protocol was prepared for the institution of the program Education for Peace and Peace Zones in all 1,500 schools in Tijuana. The recognition of schools spaces as Peace Zones experienced a boom in the beginning of the school year 2012-2013, when participants encouraged their students to declare their classroom as Peace Zones. The delegation of Tijuana continues the process of the program’s institutionalization to obtain an official recognition by the Secretariat of Education of the State.

The result of the cooperation mission by both institutions was positive: a Memorandum of Understanding was signed in order to continue working in the topic of Peace Education, as well as in other professional development opportunities. The greatest expected impact is that students may observe, through experiential stories of teachers, the school climate’s improvement and the perceived changes in the classroom. The program’s institutionalization in the state of Baja California and the generalization of its access for teachers in all school levels will create a greater impact, thereby allowing reaching a larger number of students and teachers.

Another result of the mission was the creation of a binational team of Experts in Peace Education, which would allow its members to replicate the program in their institutions. Participating teachers will improve their abilities, knowledge and trust in educational practices, preparing themselves to be agents of change in their communities and region. Finally, promising experiences in Peace Education were collected and systematized, as well as strategies that may support teachers in their work to prevent violence inside and outside classrooms, and this way collaborate with building a peace culture in their communities. 

www.educacionbc.edu.mx

www.twb.org

Electoral and Civic Education with an Intercultural Approach

In Peru, the electoral quota for native communities and indigenous peoples seeks to promote the political participation and inclusion of groups that either for cultural reasons, prejudices and ethnic discrimination, face difficulties to exercise their rights and full participation in political spaces. In light of this situation, electoral bodies in Peru face the challenge to implement permanent actions to improve the quota application through educational interventions in accordance with cultural heterogeneity. 

The search to define a methodology of educational intervention with an intercultural approach led to implementing this cooperation mission between the National Jury of Elections of Peru (JNE) and the Federal Electoral Institute of Mexico (IFE). The mission was carried out with the support of the Horizontal Cooperation Fund. Building upon the lessons learned in the interventions carried out in Mexico, the objective of this mission was to strengthen the capacities and increase the knowledge of the JNE officials responsible of educational interventions that foster political and electoral participation of native communities and indigenous peoples in Peru.

This experience was an opportunity to exchange knowledge on the conceptual approximations that both institutions use regarding the approach of interculturality for actions on citizenship education. It also allowed sharing other educational proposals that have been implemented with indigenous peoples on the topic of citizenship education, highlighting its strengths and weaknesses. Finally, it represented an opportunity to jointly elaborate useful conclusions to develop a methodology to train in citizenship that is culturally pertinent to indigenous and native communities in both countries.

As a first activity of the mission, two electoral specialists on the topic of civic and citizenship education of the JNE of Peru traveled to Mexico to visit the IFE and learn from the IFE’s specialists. Two IFE officials also travelled to Peru with the purpose of evaluating and supporting the design of strategies that the JNE could implement.

The work began in Mexico City in March, 2012 in the facilities of the IFE’s Center for Democratic Development. Personnel from the Executive Directorate of Federal Registry, the Directorate of Electoral Training and Civic Education, and the Center for Democratic Development participated in this initiative. During the meetings, renowned specialists, academics and experts in the field delivered a series of presentations that were helpful to understand the reality of cultural and ethno-linguistic diversity, and the current state of recognition of indigenous peoples in Mexico. They also presented IFE’s work in relation to programs of civic education, especially about political rights of indigenous peoples. Participants then discussed and analyzed about this topic.

In the case of Peru, the mission took place in the city of Lima in April, 2012, in the facilities of the School of Elections and Governance and in the offices of the National Jury of Elections. In the first day, JNE officials made a presentation about the work they carry out in different areas. During the next days, specialists and academics in the field presented general reflection guidelines that contributed to participants’ discussion and analysis. On the fourth day, participants reviewed Mexico’s experience in the construction of programs and support policies for indigenous peoples. Finally, on the last day, participants worked on the conclusions, and towards reaching agreements regarding the work that must continue between the JNE and IFE.

The greatest impact of this cooperation mission between Mexico and Peru, relates to the possibility of identifying binational goals that allow advancing in building a more inclusive democracy, one that fully recognizes cultural diversity. As a result of the JNE’s and IFE’s collaboration, it is expected that the documents jointly prepared, as well as the results from the research to be developed in 2013, evince the lack of information on the topic of electoral participation by indigenous peoples.

The mission contributed to increasing the capacities of Peru’s JNE to include the approach of interculturality in the electoral educational work to promote the political and social participation of native and indigenous communities in the country. Methodologies of educational intervention through an interculturality approach were enhanced, with views to promote better levels of political and electoral inclusion of indigenous peoples through an educational approach that acknowledges previous knowledge, shared meanings and community knowledge. JNE staff also increased their capacities to develop intervention projects that include an interculturality approach, which will contribute to expanding educational interventions and electoral studies.

Indigenous Education and Democracy

Practices with perspectives of Equity, Gender and Migration

“Human Rights unite us, brings us closer; they are a bridge that extends among human beings who follow their pursuit to contribute with their experience and knowledge, so that this planet may have a better future, and those who have lived in vulnerable conditions may advance, grow and have the same opportunities.” 

Rosalinda Morales Garza, Director-General DGEI

During 2009 and 2010, the General Delegation of Indigenous Education (DGEI initials in Spanish) of Mexico executed the project “Democracy and Indigenous Education: Practices with Equity”, with technical and financial support provided by the Horizontal Cooperation Fund of the OAS Inter-American Program on Education for Democratic Values and Practices. The experience was not only successful in achieving its objectives, but also in strengthening and giving continuity to the Action Plan that was elaborated in the framework of this project.

                              

The second phase of the project, also financially supported by the Horizontal Cooperation Fund in 2012, allowed to substantially advance in the public policy and action plan previously initiated by DGEI, thereby strengthening the progressivity and affirmative actions of the right to education of indigenous people and women, considering too the topic of immigration. The technical assistance provided to DGEI by Defensoría delPueblo of Colombia, the Inter-American Institute of HumanRights, with headquarters in Costa Rica, the Bolivian Aymara IndigenousUniversity “Tupak Katari” of Bolivia and the Department of Education and Promotion of the National Institute of Human Rightsof Chile, was essential to promote and disseminate the right to education of indigenous people by developing a strategic tool as a space to dialogue, reflect and exchange experiences, achievements and progress made in the framework of democracy and its implications in the autonomy of people and nations. The project also aimed to strengthen cooperation practices among member states of the Organization of American States that have experience in education, specifically in the fields of human rights, gender, equity and indigenous peoples rights. 

This cooperation experience led to creating the Lecture “Right to Education of Indigenous Peoples, migrants and gender”, which acknowledges the development of a series of strategies aimed to promote and disseminate the Right to Education of indigenous peoples, migrants and populations in risk of educational exclusion. The lecture and formulation of general guidelines of the Program Right to Education, allowed not only to access and improve knowledge on the topic, but also represented a permanent regional space of discussion and exchange of experiences.

  

“Historically, indigenous peoples have been situated among the most poor, marginalized and discriminated sectors of society; a determining factor to reverse this situation is providing access to an equal, inclusive and equality education, conceived in the framework of the right to education by indigenous peoples, immigrants and women in risk of educational exclusion.

In this regard, the right to education is considered as a door to attaining other rights because it searches for a social change, especially in those communities that need tools to survive in disadvantageous conditions.”

Rosy Laura Castellanos, Transformación posible de la educación para la niñez indígena. Contextos, alianzas y redes, México, D.F, 2010.

The activities developed during the technical assistance mission were mainly centered in the exchange of knowledge and methodologies about construction processes of the curricular design of indigenous formal education in Mexico. There were contributions made regarding teacher professionalization to prepare and educate in intercultural citizenship, and a curricular proposal through learning that is cooperative, ethical and socially responsible towards indigenous peoples.

Institutions that provided technical assistance, along with DGEI personnel and other convened institutions, met during six days in Mexico City, with the objective of a) strengthening training and building capacities to recognize the rights of indigenous peoples and the construction of their communities based on their own citizenship through the exchange of academic, cultural, social and institutional experiences, and b) implement the creation of the Lecture on the Right to Education of Indigenous Peoples, Migrants and Gender, as well as the general guidelines of the Program Right to Education of Indigenous Peoples, Migrants and Gender.

To achieve these objectives, indigenous women leaders, and representatives of indigenous communities and migrant populations were offered training and capacity building opportunities since, with the support of DGEI, they will be the ones deciding their general agreements and mandates.

Cooperation also had a positive impact in the incorporation of the topic of rights of the indigenous peoples in its broad meaning, and particularly of their right to education.  This can be observed in the increase of favorable results demonstrated in national evaluations on the educational achievement and statistical data that evince an improvement in the basic indicators of education in Mexico. In this same regard, there was an increase of spaces where the topic of rights is the main axis of revision of advances and achievements made regarding equal opportunities. This is evidenced in the achievement of goals of programs of special attention to migrant populations, and in the increase of care coverage for young mothers and pregnant young women that have not completed their basic education.

During the technical assistance activities, 111 participants were gathered and trained. Participants included officials that make decisions in the framework of DGEI regulations, among those from the Preschool and Basic Education Programme for Children of Migrant Farm Workers (PRONIM, initials in Spanish) and Scholarship Program of Basic Education for Young Mothers and Pregnant Young Women (PROMAJOVEN, initials in Spanish). Guidelines were also established to regard the Lecture as a possibility to created a specific program of the right to education of indigenous peoples, migrants and gender, to give it continuity by the different departments of the DGEI, and other academic institutions interested in its ownership.

The beneficiaries of the project is the educational community in general, and those involved in the educational process, and its improvement. This initiative opened the door to foster institutional relations at an international level. It also allowed that the participants of all the modalities of DGEI’s programs to exchange directly with specialists, dialogue with authors of important changes in their field, question Mexico’s situation in relation to the achievements of other experiences of countries with indigenous populations, analyze their conquests and expectations, achievements, advances and participation in societies that have reached basic agreements regarding the autonomy of the indigenous peoples.