A group of 14 educators and representatives of organizations participated in a training workshop on the Learning to Live Together program in Guatemala.
The workshop was held in a blended format in Guatemala City on 9, 10, 11 and 13 May 2022. The activity sought to train facilitators belonging to Puerta de Esperanza, Fe y Alegría and ODHAG, both members of the Global Network of Religions for Children (GNRC) in Guatemala.
During the workshop, the participants were able to become familiar with the main concepts of the Learning to Live Together program, its methodologies and its educational approach. “I found particularly interesting that with this approach children are at the center. It reflects on their realities, it provokes transformation,” asserted a participant.
The participants reflected on the violence that affects children and adolescents in the contexts in which they work, and the role that values-based education can play in promoting peace and resilience. “Educating is not just being in front of a group of students, but living together in unity and fraternity,” shared another participant at the end of the workshop.
The workshop is part of a project carried out by Puerta de Esperanza with the support of Toybox, an international NGO that has been working for more than 25 years to help children and young people around the world get off the streets. The project aims to strengthen the protection and resilience factors in children and adolescents who work, live or operate in the “Mercado La Terminal, zone 4” of Guatemala City, through the implementation of Learning to Live Together and its transformative pedagogy.
We thank the facilitators and participants for their commitment and enthusiasm. We hope that this training workshop can provide a basis for the implementation of the project with the children of Guatemala.