Training of Preventive Promoters for Gender-Based Violence, with an emphasis on dating relationships and adolescents in situations of social vulnerability.

Rationale

Considering that in our country the context surrounding adolescents, especially young people living in poverty, is marked by violence, and that violence is clearly recognized as one of the most serious threats to the health and overall development of adolescents, we considered the creation of this preventive project.
This phenomenon, that of VIOLENCE, is not only local in scope but is a characteristic of Latin America and the Caribbean, where violence represents one of the leading causes of death among the population between 10 and 19 years of age (29% of homicides on the continent are adolescent victims).

Violence in adolescence is not limited to physical trauma or sexual assault, but also includes emotional and verbal abuse, threats, and other types of psychological abuse.[i]

Although the problem of adolescent violence affects both men and women, rates indicate that the majority of victims are women. “Almost all abusers are from the closest circle. Many of these victims are children, abused by their parents or adults who frequent them. And another large proportion are girls, adolescents, and young women abused by their partners. Specialists assert that dating violence increasingly involves younger perpetrators, and that the acts they commit are increasingly violent.”[ii]
Some data: 20% of cases of violence occur among young people between the ages of 19 and 25 / 50% of violent couples were in violent relationships.

Gender-based violence also plays a prominent role in youth violence and adolescent development, as it reflects a series of practices that develop within interpersonal relationships and can manifest itself through physical, psychological, economic, property-related, and symbolic violence. This is especially true in sectors where the culture of machismo accepts the use of violence to resolve conflicts as part of the social norm.

Thus, the development of masculinity and femininity is culturally rooted in the roles of each individual, and the path to becoming a man implies the use of verbal and physical violence, and conflict resolution occurs through fights and the exercise of power and control over women.

Objectives

The challenge, in this context, is how to support adolescents so they become more aware of their options in their emotional and sexual relationships, working on a true process of cultural transformation regarding masculinity and femininity, seeking new paths for the healthy development of sexuality, and addressing gender inequalities.

Awareness-raising and education are essential to ensure changes in relationships among adolescents. It is important to unlearn and deconstruct ideas and prejudices that support these types of relationships. It is necessary to “problematize” the problem of gender-based violence and sexuality, and together with adolescents, community leaders, families, and educators, we must engage in a profound reflection on the moral values ​​and behavioral patterns we are practicing and teaching.

The project seeks to consider the sociocultural patterns that influence the development of gender-based violence among dating couples and adolescents, addressing them through three intervention axes:

• Awareness-raising (of the community in general and adolescents in particular)
• Education (workshops for adolescents, families, and social leaders)
• Orientation and Outreach

Initially, training and capacity building activities were conducted for people interested in identifying these behaviors in community intervention settings. The training for the promoters focused on topics related to:

• Sexuality and Adolescence
• Dating Violence
• Gender Violence
• Participatory Planning Strategies

The second phase involved the implementation of 10 workshops in neighborhoods with adolescents, families, and social leaders using the Popular Education methodology, addressing the content covered in the training with the promoters.

Finally, a Guidance Material for Adolescents was developed, which also included information on organizations and services within the City of Buenos Aires where they could receive assistance and support.

Contact

consultas@ges.org.ar

[i] (Pan American Health Organizatión, 2002b – World Health Organization 2002)

[ii] Mariana Iglesias, Hay víctimas cada vez más jóvenes y hechos más graves -Diario Clarín (01/03/2013)

COMPREHENSIVE ADDICTION PREVENTION PROGRAM

Addressing addictions in general and problematic drug use in particular represents a major challenge for various social actors, especially those responsible for supporting young people’s educational processes (state, school, family).

Drug use (legal and illegal) has grown in recent years not only in terms of the number of users, but also in the intensity of use and the horizontality and heterogeneity of the user sectors.

It is the responsibility of society as a whole to provide new responses to new challenges and to address the problem as something that does not lie outside, but within our institutions.

PROPOSED METHODOLOGY

The method of action for addiction prevention is based on and embraces the principles of community intervention.

Under this methodological perspective, various social agents, after appropriate training, are capable of carrying out preventive actions in different settings—school, family, work, etc.—and therefore become preventive agents.

The training activities are complemented by the design of programs aimed at different population groups, with the support and guidance of a multidisciplinary technical team in the implementation of the various preventive actions.

OBJECTIVES

Establish a participatory community space for reflection, training, and planning on addiction education and prevention:

1. Recognize the prior knowledge and/or lack of knowledge on the topic and the feelings it generates in the teaching community.
2. Develop and develop significant theoretical knowledge on the problem of addiction that responds to local and contextual realities.
3. Recognize different intervention frameworks as a basis for developing a program proposal.
4. Delineate agreed-upon lines of action.

Volunteering

Social volunteering as a participatory practice is a process that has been consolidated in recent years. However, it is necessary to take a further step along this path of participation by promoting and training volunteer leaders who can take on the role of leading change.

The Volunteer and Volunteer Leader Training Project, implemented in conjunction with the SUMA Foundation during 2014/15, seeks to strengthen the work of volunteer teams while promoting the practice of ACTIVE LEADERSHIP so that they can take on leadership roles and group coordination, thus energizing the experience, expanding the number of volunteers and community intervention spaces.

Project Focus

Volunteer Training

Implement a training course for GCBA volunteers who wish to assume leadership roles within the program.

Promote volunteers to assume leadership roles.

A selection of trained volunteers will be made, including those with leadership skills.

The Reason for the Proposal

The importance of the work that volunteers perform in social organizations requires them to be constantly equipped with knowledge and practical tools that allow them to be more efficient in their work. It is necessary to professionalize the volunteer practice and achieve coordinated work between volunteers working within the institutions and also between volunteers participating in the Program.

The lack of real empowerment of volunteers in the spaces where they participate in different activities limits, on the one hand, continuous monitoring of these activities and, on the other, the permanence of volunteers in the spaces where they participate.

We consider social volunteering a sustainable participatory practice that is consolidated year after year, but without focusing on identifying leaders or role models within the volunteer groups themselves. This action would strengthen ties, primarily between volunteers and, on the other hand, reconnect with the SUMA Foundation’s representatives, consolidating and strengthening them.

We believe it is necessary to further advance this path of participation by promoting and training volunteer leaders who can take the lead in bringing about change.

Activities

TRAINING

• Module 1 Verbal Survey: Strengths and Weaknesses of Volunteers in Their Current Roles. Introduction to Leadership. Groups vs. Individuals.
• Module 2 Effective Leadership: Personal Development: Bosses and Leaders / Subordinates and Collaborators.
• Module 3 Teamwork and the Work Team – Group Work.
• Module 4 Conflict Resolution – Mediation Techniques.
• Module 5 Assertive Communication – Critical Thinking and Creative Thinking.
• Module 6 Time Management: Participation, Leadership, and Empowerment.
• Module 7 Planning and Strategic Thinking.
• Module 8 Formulating Community Intervention Projects.

Cross-Functional Meetings

• May: Integrative Session 1: Attitudinal Changes Based on Training and Practice. The Volunteer as a Mediator in Experiential Learning Processes.
• June: Social Skills: Communication Skills (expression of ideas, expression of feelings, perception of reactions, handling opinions, forms of expression, clarification of doubts, balance, inquiry, and presentation).Listening Skills (fostering positive coexistence environments, listening time, prejudices, reading the body, understanding the feelings of others, handling discrepancies, giving efficient and timely responses). Observational Skills: Ability to give and receive criticism; the forms, positive and negative aspects. Behavioral Changes for Leaders.
• July: People in Vulnerable Situations: Children, Adolescents, and Women: Is Everything Related?
• August: Abuse, Violence, and Addictions
• September: Literacy: Strategies children use to read and write. Higher and lower-order processes involved in reading and writing. Proper names. Learning and memory. Spelling. Expanding the semantic field. Copying. Games and suggestions for intervention spaces. Different types of texts at different ages.
• October: Toys and game techniques workshop. Creative writing workshop: Is it a taught process?
• November: Resilience, Life Skills, and Health Promotion. 6 hours.
• December: Closing of the activity. Systematization of the practice. Integration of conclusions from the organization and participants.

More information

Teaching method: Theoretical and practical.
Course load and distribution: 80 hours, once a week for 2 hours, for 10 months.