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.
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