The ICDP methodology “I am a Person too” is still going strong in El Salvador, thanks to the continuous support from UNICEF and the commitment from the Salvadoran Institute for the Integral Development of Childhood and Adolescence (ISNA).
Marta Navarro, from UNICEF El Salvador sent ICDP a report in Spanish.
You can read it in English below:
METHODOLOGY ” I AM A PERSON TOO” OF ICDP IN EL SALVADOR
IMPLEMENTATION YEAR 2017
INTRODUCTON
El Salvador has made important advances in the institutional strengthening of the methodology “I am a person too”, which has allowed a greater expansion, guaranteeing awareness raising of more families in the country.
After the institutionalization of the methodology by the Salvadoran Institute for the Integral Development of Childhood and Adolescence (ISNA), “I am a person too” became consolidated as one of the methodologies that El Salvador is making available to strengthen the capacities of families and early childhood caregivers.
IMPLEMENTATION 2017
During 2017, the “Territorial Strategy for comprehensive early childhood care, with a focus on social inclusion” was consolidated in five municipalities in the country: Sonsonate, Santa Ana, Mejicanos, Ciudad Delgado and Soyapango. The strategy seeks to universalize training programs for families and caregivers of young girls and boys, through methodologies implemented by different government institutions. The ISNA joined this strategy and made the “I am a person too” program available to different agents at the local level who are working with families.
Within the framework of the Territorial Strategy, the ISNA managed to train 104 facilitators (85 women and 19 men) from government institutions (Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health, National Institute of Youth, National Council of Children and Adolescents, National Civil Police, Municipal Mayors, Rights Committees), NGOs and Foundations (International Plan, Salvador del Mundo Foundation-FUSALMO, Foundation for the Integral Development of the Family-FUNDIFAM, Asociación Nuevo Amanecer-ANADES and Asociación CINDE), University of El Salvador, Churches and community leaders. These trained facilitators used the program “I am a person too” in their work with families, and during 2017 managed to raise awareness of 253 families (233 women and 80 men participated), and 343 of their children (163 girls and 180).
In 2017, “I am a person too” was also included in the planning of a new project as a strategy for the prevention of violence against children, which aims to strengthen the work of the National Civil Police (PNC) . The plan is to build the capacity of the PNC personnel in ICDP, and include the program as one of the methodologies offered by this institution in relation to their work with families (both families of police officers and families of the communities they serve).
In addition to the above, ISNA has also implemented “I am a person too” in two of its institutional programs:
1-. Strengthening of family relationships, where 1,889 families were sensitized (1,486 women and 403 men)
2-. Change Your Life Program, which sensitized 306 families (206 women and 100 men). The total number of families reached: 2,195 families (1,692 women and 503 men) .
At the end of 2017, conversations began with Nicoletta Armstrong and with ISNA to adapt the methodology “I am a person too” for families with teenage children, as well as for adolescents (adolescent facilitators to deliver the program to other adolescents).
PROJECTIONS FOR 2018
The plan for 2018 is to implement the “Territorial Strategy” in six more municipalities, apart from the five in which it is already intervening, expanding coverage to more early childhood families and strengthening the development of more young girls and boys. The new municipalities are: La Unión, Conchagua, San Luis Talpa, San Miguel, San Pedro Masahuat and Santa Cruz Michapa. The aim is to form 240 new facilitators, and for them to raise awareness of 2,400 families.
Within the framework of the project to train the National Civil Police (PNC) in the methodology “I am a person too” as a strategy for the prevention of violence against children, the goal is to train 100 people (50 agents of the Prevention Division and 50 psychologists and social workers of the Police Welfare Division) who, in turn, will sensitize a total of 1000 families (both families of police officers as well as families from communities where these agents operate). The duration of the project is from December 2017 to July 2018 and, at the territorial level, it will focus on the 26 municipalities prioritized by the El Salvador Seguro National Plan. The objective of this effort is that the program “I am a person too” becomes institutionalized as a methodology of prevention of family violence and can be replicated by the trained agents with the families living in the territories they serve.