Help prevent violence against kids in Montevideo

The past three months have seen the arrival of Luis and Clara, professional volunteers from Brazil and Argentina. The volunteers have used this time to get to know the cultural context of the Municipality F, carrying out a mapping process to establish a baseline study for the process. They have also participated in various violence prevention trainings, which they will posteriorly use to accompany the project implementation process.

Luis shares that "During this time, we made the first visits to the institutions that are part of the "Northeast Road Network", each with its populations, difficulties, strengths, objectives and particular programs, as well as a common cause: develop educational spaces that favor the construction of positive bonds, where learning is mediated affection and identity construction."

Clara shares her perspective on the mapping process: "In some of the spaces, we conducted social cartography workshops. We met with a small group of participants and mapped, visualized and marked the following factors: common goods and the environment; social problems and resistance; control, alienation and repression; collaborative practices and self-management; power, precariousness, resistance; organizations, spaces, social movements; looting of common goods; expulsion, borders, immigration; gender diversity, articulation, ethics of care. The response was extremely open. From the singularity and the personal characteristics, they built a collective perspective, nourished by values and meanings. From then on, inevitably, children and teens began to mark roads and foci where attention should be given to favor spaces free of violence. It is our challenge now, to continue deepening and strengthening these spaces."

In the coming months the project will receive support from UNICEF to do statistical analysis of the prevalence of violence in the area, adding a quantitative aspect to the baseline study.

The following months will also include the kick-off to the training process, where staff from member organizations of the "Northeast Road Network" will participate to promote fair and caring treatment of children and adolescents throughout the F Municipality.