It is no secret that Colombia has a troubled past, almost 50 years of conflict has left many wounds we are only beginning to heal as a nation. But the silver-lining of this terrible past comes in the form of the unrelenting faith and optimism of the Colombian people.As we embark in the journey of peace talks and the construction of a post-conflict community, our organizations its thinking about ways we can contribute to this new chapter in our country while working for the social inclusion of people with disabilities.
Motivated by this and with the help of two wonderful organizations, the Matamoros Foundation –an NGO dedicated to generate new life opportunities through education, physical-emotional rehabilitation and social and labor integration programs for members of the Armed Forces and Police officers wounded in combat and their families, as well as widows and orphans of members of the Armed Forces killed in line of duty; and the Trust for the Americas – an NGO, strategic ally of the Organization of American States (OAS) that works channel human and technological resources to give greater economic opportunities to vulnerable populations-, we are doing a training session designed for trainers to learn how to use and teach the INTEL Easy step and INTEL Aprender methodologies, this next 20th to 25th of October.
These methodologies allow participants to use ICT tools to strengthen their digital literacy, critical thinking and collaboration skills (INTEL Aprender), and better their quality of life, both socially and economically (INTEL Easy step). The trainers will also learn how to guide beneficiaries in how to identify skills and abilities they can use in the job market or to create their own business.
Trainers from the Matamoros Foundation, supported by the Trust for the Americas, will in turn use these methodologies to teach groups of military veterans and police officers wounded in the line of duty, how to use ICT tools to build a life project and recognize and strengthen their skills to reintegrate to the labor force.
Veterans in Colombia are in need of new opportunities that will allow them to start new careers or businesses now they are no longer serving, and this training will give them the tools to find that new place in their community. Thanks to your generosity and the help of our allies we are able to train these trainers and contribute to the rebuilding of a peaceful society and support our wounded military and police officers so they can create a new life for them and their families.
We have the best news! As you may know from our last report, we had planned to give 3 training sessions, one each for a library, a telecentre and a social organization. A person could choose one of the different programs we offer, according to the relevant group of people in their communities, which would be taught the use of the ICT tools to improve their quality of life and inclusion in society.
Thanks to your generous donations, our training aimed at one library spread further than we had planned!
In search of the library that we were going to choose for the training, we contacted the Library Network (a program of the EPM Foundation) and the Medellin Library System, who were delighted to partner up with MAKAIA to make our training even broarder, highlighting the importance of training trainers, extending the invitation, not to one library to gain the skills to bring inclusion to their community, but to all librarians and library professionals in the city!
The Library Network (a program of the EPM Foundation) and the Medellin Library System chose our training session for people with visual disabilites, that taught librarians and library professionals not only how to approach and interact with this target populations, but also how to use the JAWS software, that allows blind or visually impared people to use any computer and navigate the web, and teach others.
The training was held on June 25th at the EPM Library, providing at first an overview of how to work with people with a visual impairment, then exploring software features, the process of downloading, installing and custom settings for anyone who intends to use the program, and finally there was a practical stage in which browser exercises were held, just for them to know the basic commands and functioning.
Luis David Elorza, MAKAIA trainer and leader of the process, says "is not enough to generate access, meaning physical and technical conditions for people with disabilities on how to use computers and softwares, but it is equally important, to generate accessibility for people with disability and this training sessions give us the opportunity to bring forth that accesibility."
On the other hand, Liliana Martinez, one of the participants in the event of the Libraries System CONFAMA said: "In our libraries we don’t have a concrete approach or project for visually and hearing disabled people, but as a library we feel the duty to provide these spaces for inclusion, that’s why it’s so important for me to have this experience, because apart from being at a training, it was a life changing experience that shows us the ways to have inclusive and respectful projects that can mark a difference. Through this experience I realized all the potential that people with disabilities have”.
These are great news, because now the program will have a greater range and will be used and learned all over the city, creating new and wide opportunities for inclusion. Giving people with disabilities in Medellín a chance to expand their knowledge, study and even create their own business. Thanks to your generosity they now can access more than 19 libraries that can provide them with skills to change their life.
Links:
We are so excited to announce our newest trainning program to foster inclusion for people with disabilities! With your help we are creating three different groups, one in a community library, one in a local telecentre and one in a social organization that works with disabled people.
Starting on May 5th, each of the three will be able to choose one of the different programs that we offer, according to the most relevant group they work with, to provide them with Information and Communication techology training. We are expecting between 20 to 30 people in each group, who will learn how to use computers to improve their opportunities and quality of life.
Our project will take advantage of infrastucture and aids already placed in librarys, telecentres and institution around the city to teach groups of people with dissability how to use computer, digital tools and the internet to better understand and transfom their reality.
The chosen library, telecentre and social organization will be able to choose:
These programs are proof that when it comes to inclusion, little resources can go a long way and spread through the community, changing lives and transforming the future of many. When you donate to our project you are not only donating to create inclusion, you are helping to shape lives and better the conditions of generation of people with disabilities in entire communities!
Thank you!
2013 was a great year for our project. We trained more than a 190 people with disabilities in the use of technology and ICT to improve their social, economic and educational opportunities. The year was filled with inspirational stories, hardworking students, enthusiastic teachers and incredible proud families and communities.
Our work took us to wonderful rural and small urban communities in Antioquia and the coffee producing region of Colombia (the departments of Caldas, Quindío and Risaralda) teeming with people with disabilities who wanted to learn new skills and experience the world with a freedom rarely offered to them on a day to day basis.
We encountered incredible heartwarming stories like that of Carlos, a very creative 17 year old young man with cognitive disabilities. Carlos´ current passion is creating wallets, jewelery and art out of recycled materials. As the final project for his ICT course, he created a Facebook fan page for his products with pictures and descriptions of his creations. Beaming with pride he showed the page during his graduation ceremony and announce to the room that his page now had 15 “likes”.
During the graduation, his mother, Liliana, was visibly crying, when asked about her feelings by one of the members of Makaia, she explained, that she was very proud of her son but she was especially happy to witness his accomplishments. She shared with us that when she was invited to take her son to the course, her husband and her other sons and daughters told her it was a waste of time and didn’t believe that Carlos could learn, now she had something tangible she could show their family and prove them wrong. He now feels like he can accomplish anything!
Other sweet story came from a partnership we did with an institution that works with people with Down syndrome the Luisa Fernanda Foundation, during the day their beneficiaries attend music class, swimming lesson and physical therapy, but thanks to your generous donations now they also have the possibility to learn about computers and technology to strengthen their reading and writing skills. The participants were very happy and loved using the computers to explore the world, while giving the courses, the wonderful people at the Luisa Fernanda Foundation said that it quickly became their favorite class and many didn’t want to leave once the bell rang!
Links:
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 recieve an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
