This Friday, June 13, the Esplai GISC (Sant Cosme Children’s Group), from Prat de Llobregat, inaugurated the learning project service to improve public space “La Placeta”.
The City Council of El Prat and the entities of the neighborhood have collaborated
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| Watch the video of El Prat TV |
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| The children with one of the games they painted |
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| Carles Barba and Joquim Bartolomé during the inauguration |
This Friday, June 13, the Esplai GISC (Sant Cosme Children’s Group), from Prat de Llobregat, inaugurated the learning project service to improve public space “La Placeta”, in which the children of the esplai together with the neighbors of the neighborhood and the support of the City Council rehabilitated the square located in front of the entity.
The event was attended by Joaquim Bartolomé, Deputy Mayor for Citizen Security, Maintenance and Urban Services of the City Council of El Prat, and Carles Barba, vice president of Fundesplai (Fundació Catalana de l’Esplai), as well as those responsible for the Esplai GISC, neighbors. In his speech, Joaquim Bartolomé highlighted the value that the project had emerged from the children themselves, while Carles Barba highlighted the fact that it is framed within the service learning methodology, through which girls and boys, first, acquire knowledge and then apply what they have learned in an action for the benefit of the community.
The initiative began in the 2012-13 academic year and in all this time about twenty boys and girls from the “Draco” group, children from 8 to 12 years old, have participated in the esplai. During this period, the children imagined how they would like the square to be, designed a model, gathered opinions from neighbourhood organisations, met with El Prat Town Council and, finally, carried out various actions to improve public space: rehabilitating benches, marking spaces, establishing children’s play areas and improving green spaces…
Service learning experience
This project ended this Friday 13th with some pending actions such as polishing the swings, repainting children’s games, and disseminating it among the neighborhood. In addition, to celebrate the rehabilitation of “La Placeta”, a party open to the neighborhood was held with the collaboration of the La Roda Foundation and diplomas of recognition were given to the children participating in the project.
The project “We rehabilitate La Placeta in the Sant Cosme neighborhood” is one of the service learning experiences that is part of the educational proposal “Weaving Committed Citizenship” of the Federació Catalana de l’Esplai.
The Sant Cosme Children’s Group is a non-profit organization that is part of the Catalan Federation of Recreation, and that since 1973 develops a continuous and recognized social and educational work in the neighborhood of Sant Cosme del Prat de Llobregat and that this year will celebrate its 40th anniversary.