CPEVC Annual Project Updates

2011-11-24T06:22:14.778Z

Greetings all,

Please see the attached annual report and briefing note on the Colombia Protecting Early Childhood from Violence project. These documents showcase emerging results, stories and learning over the last year.

Please share with your networks.

All the best,

Elaina

Curriculum

2011-06-23T15:10:49.816Z

Here is the first draft of the Curriculum.

Now is our chance to try it out and get your feedback on what works and what does not.

Please post your feedback on the development of the tools - and how the timing is working out.

We want to know ...

1. What worked well

2. What did not work

3. What are your recommendations

Getting started on this Social Networking Site

2011-06-08T23:01:13.339Z

Hola!/Greetings all,

See the document below for some questions and answers on how to get started using this social networking group.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me ([email protected]">[email protected])

Thanks,

Elaina

Story - Violence in Colombia: Involving Youth as Agents of Change

2011-05-19T21:32:36.040Z

Violence in Colombia: Involving Youth as Agents of Change

“I want to transform the mentality of young children, youth and adults (if possible) to develop their capacity to resist the bad that surrounds us.” Female Youth, 15

Violence is a lived experience for many young people throughout Colombia. Children and youth are especially vulnerable–both as potential victims and of becoming perpetrators of violence. To reverse this cycle of violence, Colombia needs new approaches that place young people at the centre of child protection policies, programs and services.

Conflict in Colombia

The ongoing presence and historical legacy of 50 years of conflict in many parts of the country means that children are vulnerable to many types of violence. Large numbers of families and children have been relocated due to political or military conflict, often resulting in poor living condition, malnutrition as well as intra-familial violence. This reality limits a child’s ability to lead a full and healthy life.

“The recently adopted Children and Adolescents’ Code provides a legislative framework for ensuring that the personal human rights of young people are upheld, with a specific responsibility for the poorest segments of society,” says Manuel Manrique, Centro Internacional de Educacion y Desarollo Humano (CINDE) Advisor and IICRD Associate. “Even with a national policy and political commitment, more work needs to be done to strengthen Colombia’s capacity to enforce the framework. Young people need to be leaders in this journey to prevent violence.”

Protecting Early Childhood from Violence

This journey needs to start with strengthening the capacity young people, from very young children to older youth, young parents, as well as their families and close community allies, to create healthy environments for young people to live up to their full potential. Bringing many different organizations and stakeholders together is critical to addressing the complexity of violence in Colombia.

The Colombia Protecting Early Childhood from Violence (CPECV) is a partnership with local governments, universities, NGOs, daycares, schools, and parents to protect children (0-8) from the devastating impact of violence in Colombia. The lead partner, CINDE — a Colombia-based educational research and development centre – is building on seven years of community-based work to better protect children and promote their healthy development in Communa 13 (Medellin). Seeing the important role of involving all young people to preventing violence, CINDE has been working with groups of youth to reflect on their own role and capacity to improve the situation for themselves and younger children.

The International Child Development Programme (ICDP) is also building on their relationships and 15 years of work in Colombia focusing on the prevention of violence through the development of empathy, particularly with families as the entry point.

The International Institute for Child Rights and Development (IICRD), a Canadian-based technical partner, is supporting CINDE and ICDP to meaningfully involve children and youth as part of this process, nurturing the development of indicators as well as fostering local, national and international policy changes and links.

Critical Conversation: Workshop with Youth

On February 21, 2011, Dr. Natasha Blanchet-Cohen (IICRD Researcher) and CINDE promotoras Mayerlin Velasquez and Dora Osorio facilitated a session with 30 young participants ages 11-18 (est.) in Comuna 13. Four high schools were represented. The workshop was held at a local library, seen as a neutral space to allow participants to freely and safely participate in an open dialogue without fearing repercussions from community or gang members.

The purpose of the workshop was to:

Gather information on youth perspectives on violence
How it has impacted their lives and young people they know and
How young people (many young parents themselves) understand their ability to be the force behind change

Public spaces are risky

During the session, participants mapped out the everyday risks and protective factors that exist in their community.

Participants described the places in their community they consider to be dangerous. Public spaces were identified as dangerous because of the presence of gang members, the risk of confrontation or their location close to what is known as the ‘imaginary line’ such as the:

Recreational facilities
Parks
Bus terminals
Churches

Another interesting finding was how males and females experienced violence differently. According to the youth participants, males are more at risk because gang members actively pursue them, which is not the case for females. “The men are those who suffer the most from the armed gangs because they are always being pursued by the gangs.” Later discussions revealed that females, while largely exempt from the gang violence, were almost all targets of sexualized violence.

Supportive People and Places

Young people identified their homes and family, the school and the library as key protective factors to prevent violence in their community. Interestingly, they identified police and bus drivers as both protective and risk factors, as some representatives are seen to be connected to armed gangs.

Youth see themselves as change agents

“Despite the amount of violence and the seriousness of the issues, youth were hopeful,” says Dr. Blanchet-Cohen. “I was inspired by the compelling insights into how young people saw how they could individually play a role to reduce the violence that they experience.”

Young people’s ideas included:

Organizing peace campaigns
Raising awareness on the consequences of the conflict
Giving advice to younger people on the impacts of joining the armed gangs
Seeking resources to help young people to use their time positively
Creating safe spaces for youth
Seeking support from authorities and institutions

“As change agents, we have the capacity to share knowledge that will give life lessons and will help people to communicate more positively without aggression,” says one young person.

Plans for the future

Youth in Comuna 13 can play a critical role in breaking the vicious circle of violence that dominates life in many Colombian communities. Following this workshop, CINDE, IICRD and other partners explored how the young people’s perspectives can be integrated into other strategies for preventing violence in the community. Discussions focused on some next steps to work with promotoras and other community institutions to strengthen the capacity of young people (e.g. through hip hop dance and music).

“It will be important to nurture a new kind of ‘youth force’ in the community to counteract the strong power of gangs,” says Dr. Blanchet-Cohen. “Moving forward, it will be important to think about how to involve youth who do not attend schools; how to support youth as mentors to younger children; and more broadly, how youth engagement can become an automatic reflex to prevent violence

Reports and Project Updates

2011-05-19T21:28:55.143Z

Greetings all,

Project partners welcome you to read the attached project reports and briefing note to learn more about the Colombia: Protecting Early Childhood from Violence (CPEVC) project. In the documents, you will find information about:

-Purpose and outcomes of the project

-Pilot sites

-Partners involved

-Project activities

-Stories

-Emerging learning and results

-Plans and priorities

Comments and questions are most welcome! (Versión en español para seguir)

Elaina

Colombia: Protecting Early Childhood from Violence Discussions - Young Partners in Development

CPEVC Annual Project Updates

Curriculum

Getting started on this Social Networking Site

Story - Violence in Colombia: Involving Youth as Agents of Change

Violence in Colombia: Involving Youth as Agents of Change

Reports and Project Updates