Project Part 3

We continue with the different phases of the Project for a Social-Cultural Center For Youth in Larache

Using the lesson from the third chapter: Analysis of the Reality the students created questionaries to gather data about the project and to have some research and real data to base their ideas upon. On a cloudy monday we gathered together by the boardwalk to talk with the public about the lack of sporting and social-cultural centers here in Larache

At the moment of encounter. Each students had to perform 10 questionaries at random with the public.

They worked together and created the questionaire by themselves

Here is the questionaire:

1. name
2. age
3. sex
4. occupation
5. education
6. education of their mother/ father
7. occupation of father/ mother
8. Are you a member of an association?
9. Yes...what association
10. No...Why Not?
11. For you, what does the phrase "Social-Cultural Center" signify?
12. What kind of activites would you like to see in a center such as this?
13. Do you believe that this center could reduce the number of problems that affect young people in Larache?
14. Suggestions?

Each student had a hour and a half to fill out the ten surveys

But for me, it just wasn´t enough, I wanted to continue doing surveys. Simply asking people questions you could see that they were inspired by the possibility of such an idea. It was amazing how the light just lit up in their eyes...and indeed I am fascinated by the power of just simply asking, Why not?

As always we did an evaluation by the river Lixus after completing the activity. Here we had an opportunity to relate our own experiences and the mistakes we made while we were performing the surveys.

The Problem Tree

Workshop "The Problem Tree"

After finishing with the first two parts of the course, we continue our study into socio cultural animation.

In this part of the training course we are studying Analysis of Reality. Again translation does not do me much justice, so while I search for a better word, I could sum it up as all the things that we use to analyze a particular place where we want to work. In order to begin any type of social work, of course it is necessary to do a further investigation into the area where you are going to work. That would be the general idea for this module.

During the instruction of Analysis of Reality the students learned...
0. How to conduct an observation of a particular area/place of study.
0. How to design a questionnaire.
0. Proper techniques when asking people to fill out a questionnaire.
0. Different types of interviews.
0. Research of government sources and resource materials.

The students themselves created a questionnaire and were responsible with interviewing people on the street at random about education here in Morocco. This was done to help us prepare for what was the biggest part of this part of the course, The Problem Tree. As for anyone working in a social field, we are always confronted with various problems in our society. Now in order to guide these into a project we have to a good understanding of the chain of cause and effect of the various problems that are present in the area we want to work in. For this we use the problem tree:
To help with the instruction of the Problem Tree we relied on the assistance of a team of specialists from Spain.


Here they are:Thanks for all the help guys!!! You did a great job!

Inauguration of the Third Course in Socio Cultural Animation For the Associations of Larache

After completing the course in 2006 and 2008, I am very proud to be present to you the opening of the course, now in its third year, 2009. This past Wednesday was the inauguration of the Third Course of Social Cultural Animation presented by Tareas Solidarias Caravana Por La Paz in Larache.

When I was first hired for the job the concept by name was completely new to me. But, never being one afraid of trying new things, this exciting new challenge offered by this innovative style of education immediately attracted me to the job position. Socio-cultural animation is relatively unknown back in the United States and I am happy to do my best to give life to the term for the people back home. Socio-cultural animation encompasses so many of the things that I believe in and build my life around and its exciting for me to have the chance to once again bring the concept to a new group of young people here through the work of this NGO.

So for those who are not familiar with animacion socio cultural...


What is Social Cultural Animation?

Okay the first part, socio-cultural, that is easy enough, it’s the word animation that is a bit difficult to grasp. In English animation doesn’t mean much. Personally, it makes me think of cartoons, the process of creating motion and stories through images. But in other languages, the word animation means to breathe life into something, to give it energy to it, to make it move, to dynamize, to create action, thought, and consciousness in the object that was once still. To bring the idea into a closer context we can find similarities in English by thinking of animation as a combination of three similar concepts: community education, social pedagogy and informal education, yet the three together still don’t do the concept justice.

It’s to give life, to create feeling, to move, to motivate, to energize, to accompany, to communicate, to help grow.

If I could borrow from the wonderful prepared material by our volunteers in Spain to help explain the term:

“It could be described as:
• A process directed towards the organization of people to carry out projects and initiatives from a cultural viewpoint towards a goal of social development or progress. The four pillars of the sociocultural animation are: the culture, the organization of individuals, projects and initatives, and social development.
• A series of actions which offer the individual the possibility to transform themselves into an agent of their own personal development and that of their community, which generate processes of participation, respond to real needs taking into account the centers of interest of the persons involved and that is based upon a pedagogy that is active and dynamic.
• A privileged instrument to make possible a situation of cultural democracy
• A social technology, based in a participative form of pedagogy, which acts in different aspects of the quality of life of a person, through the participation of the people in their own social development.”

In the course we teach that socio-cultural animation basically states that each person is responsible for his own destiny, that we create the society and the area that we live in, for we are not just simple observers but actors in the dynamic between people and the institutions and mechanisms that affect our lives.

One former student described it as: “If we put together all of the areas of our life that are grouped into socio-cultural animation we discover that it is a factor in about 95% of our daily life. Taking this course is something that can actually change your life.”

Yet, here in the less developed world, Africa, and Morocco in particular it’s can be challenging to get young people to believe in such an idea when they are taught in society a negative and powerless image of themselves and the world around them. The idea is continuously reinforced that poor is poor and brown is black and some people are on top and the majority on the bottom and there is nothing you can do about it but to put yourself in line and become part of the system. So, there is a formative educative process that is needed. And even then its for still not easy to get someone to believe when society and culture have trained them not to.

But enough talking for now … come and get to know the students of this year:

It’s a group of 13 students, (we are hoping that it eventually increases to 20) of seven girls and six guys. Among them there are high school students, a young leader of the first youth network in Larache, young people that work in the service industry, carpenters, builders, a bright, creative young lady with a degree in sociology, volunteers from associations that work with children, professors of “free” education and young people that have finished high school and are now pursuing additional training in various fields. They come from diverse associations and it’s a group that is intelligent, motivated, and beautiful…very beautiful.

Thanks!!!

And a special thanks goes out to Mark Smith for the helpful description of socio-cultural animation. Smith, Mark K. (1999, 2009) 'Animateurs, animation and fostering learning and change', the encyclopedia of informal education. Here is his work which does a great job of explaining the concept of socio-cultural animation
[www.infed.org/animate/b-animat.htm] If anybody would like to know more about the field of sociocultural animation, check out the website above.