Activités
The main activities include:
- Trainings of teachers on child labour issues, as well as leadership and communication skills. There were also training in the cultural field, such as courses in traditional dance and the making of hand-crafted goods.
- Organization of summer schools in la Dalia and El Jicaral, for children who are not enrolled in school or at risk of dropping out, as a means of preventing children being put to work in the fields.
- Creation of 15 school clubs in La Dalia: they develop cultural and sport activities (traditional music and dances, football, etc) to the attractiveness of schools.
- Close monitoring of school absenteeism. Teachers carry out home visits if a child is absent for more than two days. Before the project, teachers generally accepted that children would miss school one or two days per week.
Résultats
- Significant reduction in drop-out rates and return to school of former child labourers.
- Improved pedagogical skill for teachers. The innovative pedagogy, integrating cultural elements, leads to a chain of positive consequences: pupils enjoy school, results improve, motivation increases, enthusiasm of parents and teachers increases.
- Better relationship between the parents and the community.
- Children are now in regular attendance.
- 28% increase in CGTEN-ANDEN membership in the La Dalia area between 2015 and 2018. The head teachers from schools involved became members of the union, which boosted the quality of the social dialogue at local level.
- Education authorities in La Dalia committed to extend certain innovations of the project to the whole municipality (such as teachers going to the homes of pupils at risk of dropping out of school or already out of school). ANDEN training courses on communication and leadership have been incorporated into local government teacher-training courses.