Pacto Paraíso
Pacto Paraíso was a non-profit foundation created by Rocio Venegas based on the collaborative and voluntary work of a team of five professionals from the city of Valparaíso. Together with psychologist and coach Xochitl Poblete, social historian Mauricio Urzúa, and development worker Fany Blanchard, we delivered an innovative curriculum created by the team from 2014 to 2016, based on our proposed pedagogical methodology for comprehensive citizenship education. Our pillars were emotional work, effective communication, and active listening. We trained in citizenship following playful work on socio-emotional skills and self-confidence to achieve leadership. The Foundation received sponsorship from the INDH, collaborated with CECREA from the Ministry of Cultures, and with TECHO.
We born on 2014 and worked till 2017
We developed our project at the Eduardo de la Barra High School, the Women's Technical High School, and the Maritime High School of Playa Ancha. Additionally, in 2015, we worked with residents in TECHO Viña del Mar and with young people from the CECREA workshop of the Ministry of Cultures. Our 2014 cohort benefited greatly from their participation. This group of 12 students set out to reconstruct the student council of their high school, a project that had been abandoned for years. They organized elections and won the presidency with a project demanding greater transparency in the allocation of resources. At the Women's Technical High School, we conducted classroom games, for example, to visualize the complexity and negotiation in human relationships. We introduced the students to the history of their institution, its historical leadership in Latin American trade unionism in the clothing and fashion sector. This awakening and appreciation of a memory they were unaware of motivated the young women, giving them a greater sense of belonging and self-esteem.
Selftrust and self-esteem
To delve into the subject and address the challenges of citizenship, we first focused on the expression and confidence of the group. We explored the history of civil society in Valparaíso, its early mutual aid associations, the first feminist leagues in Latin America that emerged in the port, and the first trade unions. We reflected on the statutes that were established, their values, and the concept of solidarity at the beginning of the 20th century. To foster a sense of belonging to the social history of their city, the students created their own autobiographies in which they interviewed their relatives about their ancestors. They were able to connect their family stories with their personal mission.
What kind of leadership we recognize ourselves in?
In the privileged premises of our collaborator at Dinamarca 399, we welcomed young people for a year once a week. We conducted games for mutual recognition, group trust, and expression. In this session, we explored the types of leadership that exist and the importance of knowing which of them we identify with, identifying and valuing our particular skills, to know how to put them into practice with confidence.
Global Citizenship and Human Rights
We addressed global citizenship, and to understand its scope in the present day, we began with the origin of shared values in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of the United Nations. We reinforced this exercise in the relationship between universal history and local history in a practical and reflective manner, through workshops in which Fany Blanchard explored with the young people the consequences of climate change and the crisis of nature, following "The Tomato Route." With the world map at the centre of the table, we calculated the environmental footprint, logistics, and the production process of a tomato from Almería to the tables in Chile.
