Response to review of
Herramientas para la participación adolescente: palabras y juegos
[Tools for Adolescent Participation:
Words and Games]
UNICEF Uruguay
Citation: , UNICEF Uruguay. (2007). "Response to review of
Herramientas para la participación adolescente: palabras y juegos
[Tools for Adolescent Participation:
Words and Games]." Children, Youth and Environments 17 (2). Retrieved [date] from http://www.colorado.edu/journals/cye/
In 2004, the first Tools for Adolescent Participation kit was used as part of the project, “Promotion of a Culture of Rights within the Educational System.” The aims of the project were to promote the teachers’ role as facilitators and promoters of adolescent participation, to open up participation spaces, and to promote the operation of democratic structures in 11 educational centers. One of the project’s contributions was to corroborate the hypothesis that there was a need to improve the bonds between adults and adolescents and that it was possible to change them. The results of the project proved to be more than sufficient: 11 lyceums have become involved, 281 teachers have been trained as adolescent participation facilitators, and 292 adolescents (180 females and 112 males) have participated in project workshops.
The materials in the kit contributed significantly to the work of the teachers, providing concrete tools which facilitated their revised relationships with adolescents. In fact, according to a survey carried out at the end of the project, 83.3 percent of the students believed that the project changed their relationship with their teachers. Also, 51.4 percent pointed out that, as a result of the project, they now feel encouraged to “make proposals at the lyceum because they believe that these will be taken into account.” Nearly one-third of the surveyed students (31.4 percent) state that they now “express their thoughts.” Lastly, 7.1 percent replied that as a result of the project “they take greater heed of the teachers’ opinions.” Thus, the project both strengthened students’ self-esteem and enabled them to trust the adults (the directors and teachers) at the lyceum more as a result of jointly developing the project’s activities. At the same time, nine out of ten of the students surveyed expressed that their relationship to their fellow students also changed as a result of the project. 33.3 percent of the interviewees pointed out that it was now “possible to do things together,” 31.9 percent indicated that after the project “there is more integration and tolerance among the students,” and 22.2 percent felt that “the students have learned to listen more to one another.” In short, these answers show the project’s positive impact both on the bonds between the students and on their self-esteem as a group. These effective results corroborated the appropriateness of producing the other four kits.
During the year 2006, 560 guides were distributed across Uruguay among educators who work with adolescents (at lyceums, community centers, non-governmental organizations, state institutions, etc.) as a strategy for the creation and support of spaces for expression, exchange and learning. In the coming period, UNICEF will develop an accompanying guide for educators to facilitate an experimentation stage for adolescent participation. Doubtless, this contribution will aid dissemination, sensitization and reflection about adolescents’ rights—particularly the right to participate. Adolescents of both sexes will commit to leadership regarding the issue in accordance with a constructive paradigm.