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SPAIN: Youth program educates against gender-based violence

Salesian Social Platforms launches education to combat gender-based violence

SPAIN

(MissionNewswire) Salesian Social Platforms has launched the “Agents of Equality” project to educate and empower 20 youth to become agents of equality and work for the prevention of gender-based violence in Madrid, Spain. The project was launched in March and is a collaboration with the Ministry of Social Affairs.

To kick off the project, Salesian Social Platforms held a two-day training for 10 educators from Salesian centers. The first training objective was to gain knowledge about gender-based violence and provide a time for educators to share their experiences and emotions.

Gema Rodríguez, program manager of the state coordination of Salesian Social Platforms, said, “The return to in-person training fostered the motivation of the group, which showed determination to apply the empowerment methodology and gender perspective used in this project in their respective entities.”

Recovering mindfulness, knowing how to listen and be listened to, growing, and learning were some of the priorities that the educators discussed. They also discussed gender-based violence prevention and generating safe and trusting spaces that facilitate participation. The goal is to continue to plan the best way forward to educate youth.

Salesian Social Platforms, which is run by the Salesian Pinardi Federation, primarily supports children, adolescents and older youth, many of whom are alone in Spain for the first time. Since its inception in 2001, the Pinardi Federation has been developing programs to help poor youth between the ages of 12 and 16 and is currently operating close to 40 projects aiding more than 2,000 youth. Projects focus on promoting the quality of children’s lives, helping youth retain employment and supporting migrants through family mediation. Other community projects work to raise awareness of volunteerism.

Salesian missionaries have been working for many years to provide educational and workforce development opportunities for poor youth and women in Spain through residential, technical, and vocational training programs.

Close to 32 percent of young Spanish workers under the age of 25 are unemployed and a growing number of them can’t afford to buy enough food to live. Poor youth with few employable skills struggle the most to find and retain stable employment. Women in Spain face inequality in the workforce. They earn up to 14 percent less than men and represent only 34.5 percent of those listed as the highest earners in Spain.

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Sources:

ANS Photo (usage permissions and guidelines must be requested from ANS) 

ANS – Spain – Salesian Social Platforms launch project “Agents of Equality”

Salesian Missions – Spain

Salesians in Spain

World Bank – Spain