By Andrea Conde | Institutional Strengthening Assistant
What is the school of Leadership, Participation and Democracy?
The School of Leadership, Participation and Democracy is a safe meeting space where women who
are searching for their disappeared relatives and women in solidarity with this cause strengthen their
skills, build new knowledge, while strengthening collaborative networks.
It seeks to strengthen the leadership skills and political participation of women who are part of
collectives of relatives of disappeared persons. The main objective of the school is to practice
inclusive leadership that is capable of positively influencing organisations, communities, and
authorities, based on the individual and collective empowerment of women who are searching for
their missing relatives. It is a space in which, in addition to acquiring knowledge that will help them
in their searches, they can carry out recreational and artistic activities and have a space of trust in
which they can talk and build support and work networks.
During 2022, the Mexican Institute for Human Rights and Democracy (IMDHD in Spanish)
conducted two sections: the first school was in Oaxaca, where the participants were: relatives of
disappeared persons, people in solidarity, and companions of the collectives.
The main themes that took place in the Oaxaca school are:
a. Our rights as women
b. Violence against women
c. Our rights as relatives of disappeared persons
d. Gender perspective
e. Recognising our leadership
f. Self-care: How do we search for our missing relatives while taking care of ourselves?
i. Self-esteem and enjoyment
ii. The wheel of health
iii. Self-care as a collective practice
Finally, the school also took place in Guanajuato. The Leadership School in Guanajuato took place
in the city of León, Guanajuato. The venue was a hotel in the centre of the city, where colleagues
from different municipalities of the state arrived.
The school took place from 21 to 23 September. On the first day, introductions, integration
exercises and coexistence agreements were made, thanks to which the atmosphere is one of respect,
always learning and active listening. The rules of the space are established from the beginning to be
able to work calmly. Nineteen members from seven different collectives (Una promesa por cumplir,
Proyecto de búsqueda, Buscadoras Guanajuato, Mariposas Buscando corazones y justicia nacional,
Hasta encontrarte, A tu encuentro, ¿Dónde están?).
Taking into consideration the context of the state of Guanajuato, this time we had only one topic in
the sessions, which was forensic research. This topic was taught by the anthropologist Isabel
Beltrán for approximately 9 hours. During this time, there were moments of theory where questions
were answered and elements such as bones were shown on the screen.
There was also a brief explanation of basic materials such as scales, how they should be used, how they should be
documented and even how they can be obtained at a very affordable price. Among other things, the composition of human bones was explained, how to mark search sites and how to correctly document and lift the remains.
Links:
By Adela Valladares Gonzalez | Institutional Strengthening Assistant
By Adela Valladares Gonzalez | Institutional Reinforcement Assistant
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
