Training workshops were held against sexual abuse in childhood, emotional management, child participation or the use of technologies, among others.
Nearly 300 managers and monitors of the 129 esplais and leisure projects of the Federació Catalana de l’Esplai-Fundesplai participated on March 4 in the Agofedesplai 2023. In the annual conference of the entity, participants are trained in different workshops on prevention of sexual abuse in childhood, emotional management or how to promote the participation of children and young people in leisure entities, among others.
The event was attended by Esther García, Councilor for Youth of the City Council of El Prat de Llobregat; Josep Gassó, president of Fundesplai; and Carles Campuzano, Minister of Social Rights of the Generalitat de Catalunya.
In her words, García highlighted the importance of the commitment of monitors to the leisure education of children, young people and families and how, from the local world, they contribute to a committed citizenship. Gassó, for his part, said: “Through the world of esplais, children and young people discover the possibility of building a better world”. He said: “The values of recreation do not end with the walls of the premises, but form a way of seeing the world that leads us to weave alliances with others to make a fairer and more sustainable world.”
Finally, Campuzano He recalled the trajectory of the entity: “From the Bellvitge Recreation Club, the Movibaix to the headquarters of Fundesplai in Sant Cosme (El Prat de Llobregat) where we are today explains how educational leisure has contributed to transforming the world: the values it promotes for a fairer, more inclusive, empathetic society, of responsible citizens with each other, They are fundamental and help build community, a task where we will be allies.”
Maria Ferrer, president of the Federació Catalana de l’Esplai, and Mireia García, head of the Fundesplai Leisure Department also spoke. Smith He highlighted the dynamic and inclusive role of esplais in communities: “We are rich and diverse associative fabric, we are one of the main engines of community revitalization of neighborhoods, we participate in the extension of popular culture to daily life and we contribute, from the different social and educational functions we develop, important compensatory factors in our territories.” An idea with which García agreed: “In this dynamic role, the work in education in values that monitors and monitors do every day in neighborhoods of cities and towns in favor of children, young people and families is fundamental”.
The conference presented theManagement Report 2022-23 where, among other topics, the recovery of normality in the Educational leisure activities, the scholarship campaign -with an important growth in requests compared to previous years-, the promotion in the training of teams, the educational work around the pedagogical proposal “Menjar canvia el món“, but also around the Peace, gender equality and zero violence or the campaign to claim the #DretalLleure on the occasion of the Universal Day of the Rights of the Child from November 20.
Another of the highlights of the Management Report was the work on audiovisual projects with young people through:Educlips: this course has involved 81 young people from five entities that, with the collaboration of educators, have developed different awareness videos on affective and sexual diversity, gender equality, diverse capacities or interculturality for the Tik Tok platform.
Pedagogical resources for working with children and young people
During the day monitors participated in workshops on different topics. Among these, they highlighted ‘Let’s break the silence of sexual abuse’, by Carme Diaby (trainer, writer and activist for the prevention of child abuse), to raise awareness, prevent and act against sexual abuse in childhood.
There was also a workshop on emotional education, ‘Keep Calm’, by Maria José Cuartero (from Fundesplai), to provide tools and resources for emotional management in groups of children and young people at esplais. Another of the outstanding formations was ‘ParticipACCIÓ’, by Míriam González, focused on offering dynamics and resources to promote children’s participation.
The morning was completed with other sessions for Combating machismo (language, attitudes, etc.) At recreation, to dismantle fake news on the Internet and social networks, and learn to verify news, to have non-violent containment tools in case of a behavioral crisis of a child or young person, to know what family spaces are, about hiking, songs or healthy recipes.
Cross-border collaboration in educational leisure
In this event, the 195 km twinning project between the French educational leisure movement Les Francas and the Federació Catalana de l’Esplai was presented. It is an exchange between entities that takes place during the assemblies of the Federation and Les Francas.
It will serve to reflect on educational leisure , on environmental education and inclusion, and based on the work done, free online courses will be created on each of the topics by the educational teams of both entities. It also aims to create synergies between both movements, progressively consolidating the relationship and alliance on both sides of the Pyrenees.