This area was formed in 2012 and is the combination of programs and volunteer initiatives that were previously in existence and new programs that will be designed to continue meeting the needs of the community. This allows these programmes to be designed and managed in a coordinated and sustainable manner.
The area is divided into four components of Community Training, Violence Prevention, Sport and Art and Housing and Work Programs
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Community training
There are many areas of knowledge and life skills that fall outside of formal education. This knowledge is essential for personal development and creating habits that improve mental and physical wellbeing. These include leadership, self-esteem, hygiene, nutrition, sexual education etc. The aim is to provide this education to all relevant groups and communities of Mineros San Juan. -
Women’s groups
We form groups of women and hold regular meetings and workshops with them that cover topics of interest to the women. These groups are aimed at not only providing information that helps them improve their lives and those of their families but also creating a space where they can create a support group of friends and share their experiences and problems. The women of Tantakuna are also participating in these workshops -
Parent’s School
The parents of the day-care center and the school receive workshops aimed at improving communication in families and improving parental skills. Improving these skills and the knowledge of the impact of bad parenting is aimed to reduce the neglect of children and the subsequent low levels of educational performance, health and social problems such as drug and alcohol abuse, gangs and violence. The program is developed by our psychologists and is run every month alternating between mothers and fathers. About 40 men and 100 women attend each workshop. -
Personal Development Subject
This subject started in 2012 and is included in the school timetable. The course is aimed at improving self-esteem, communication skills, values and life planning. It is a six year course to include personal development, sex education and much more. It is hoped that this will reduce the number of teenage pregnancies, contraction of STDs, alcohol and drug consumption, gangs and to show the children an alternative future. -
English Classes
In 2012 we started offering extra English classes outside of school and work hours to the community. The classes are offered in courses of 10 sessions and have had a great participation rate. The curriculum has been developed by the local English teacher and international volunteers and we continue to develop more advanced levels so that the community continues to advance. -
Computer Classes
We have been fortunate to have been given a number of computers by various organizations to allow us to provide computer classes and alternative learning to the students of our educational institutions, the community and our employees.For the younger students we use educational programs such as that provided by Save The Children that is designed with the Bolivian curriculum. This is designed to teach maths, language and science using computer games and activities. For older students and adults of the community we offer courses of computation including word, excel, publisher, internet and windows.
Our computer room is ensuring our community is connected and computer literate and therefore have greater job opportunities. In May 2010 we plugged in our first internet connection and brought the world wide web to Ushpa-Ushpa.
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Psychology and Pedagogic Center
There are many children in the primary school that are behind in their learning, have learning difficulties or emotional problems that prevent them from learning. This is due to entering school late, having no one at home or no one with the education to support them with homework or underdevelopment. Teachers identify these children and refer them to the center, where a team works with the students to improve their learning ability, help them catch up with their class and help overcome emotional problems. Other than working with the students, the psychologist and pedagogue develop alternative activities that are given to the teachers to help them help these children.For the secondary school we offer tutoring for languages and mathematics to ensure that everyone has the knowledge of the most important subjects. The psychologist also offers counseling for all children that need some personal or family advice or just need someone who listens.
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SODIS and Hygiene program
Since 2010 we have been promoting the washing of hands, the maintenance of good hygiene and the drinking of safe water, all in the name of reducing the incidence of diarrhoea. Diarrhoea remains one of the greatest afflictions and causes of malnutrition and under development.We greatly promote the SODIS method to disinfect water in the community and the school and run regular workshops on this topic. SODIS stands for Solar Disinfection and uses the UV light from the sun to sterilize water in PET bottles.
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Nutrition
We work with nutritionist interns from the local university who provide nutritional advice to the day-care center and the dining room in the school as well as tuberculosis clients, HIV clients and mothers in the health center. They also do house visits to work one-on-one with families. -
Sport and Art
Our sports and arts program aims to help steer the youths in our community in the right direction. We believe this is the best way to combat the youth gang problems that are increasingly present in Cochabamba. All of the programs aim to keep the youth busy and focused on positive activities while also having fun! We have programs for Soccer, Art, Dance, and Library -
Violence prevention
Unfortunately the incidence of violence in the community is still high including domestic violence, sexual abuse, neglect of children and inter-gang violence. We work towards the following 3 levels of prevention:1. We run campaigns and activities to make people aware of the fact that violence is a problem, not acceptable and can be avoided. Due to its high prevalence it is often not recognized as a problem and victims do not know that there is an alternative to a life with violence.
2. We have a clinical psychologist, a social worker and a number of social work interns that work with interventions and consultations and accompany clients to the authorities to report crimes, do medical forensics etc, providing support to those who are victims or in situations of risk and want to improve or leave their situation. There are often many consequences to this including financial dependence.
3. In our clinic or on home visits we are working with victims individually and in self-help groups to ensure they are not impacted long-term by their trauma.
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Housing and work programs
The level of housing continues to consist on one room for the whole family including the kitchen, with no toilet. This and the lack of basic services such as garbage collection continue to provide obstacles to clean and sanitary living. A lack of walls around homes results in less security. The lack of income provides great difficulty to providing the appropriate nutrition, education and housing for families with many children working to help provide for their families. -
Microenterprise Support/ Tantakuna
We aim to promote entrepreneurship and to give adults a professional perspective. The support of micro entrepreneurs in all aspects of management (incorporation, accounting, product development, marketing, finance) is the goal of the initiative. Microcredit can be provided in exceptional cases. Tantakuna, the women’s groups is the major beneficiary at the moment as we help to increase the success of their artisan products, bakery and small kiosks. There have been various projects and studies aimed at improving the demand for their products locally and overseas. The women have elected leaders within their groups to fulfill certain tasks for the groups and businesses. Please see our Tantakuna Shop for further information and the products of the artisan group.Business Register
We are in the process of creating a business register for all those from the community that offer a service or product. From fruit to construction, the idea is to promote that the people from the community, buy from their community and create more local trade.
EcoToilets and Housing Improvements:
In 2011 we helped to administer a program from SODIS that gave microcredits for housing improvements with a focus on toilets. We continue to look for agreements with other organizations to offer more programs of this nature.