Preventing sexual abuse in Latin America

Between February 12 and 14, a new training on the PWGS methodology was held in Mexico as part of the child sexual abuse prevention project.
It was led by Dr. Alicia Casas, academic coordinator of the Claves program of Juventud para Cristo, as well as a psychiatrist and clinical sexologist.

Also in February, Silvia Yolde, a Claves trainer in Honduras, conducted a new “Playing, We Grow Stronger” course there on child sexual abuse prevention.

A group of educators, social workers, and psychologists from the organization Fe y Alegría in Uruguay received training in child sexual abuse prevention through the “Playing, We Grow Stronger” course from the Claves program of Juventud para Cristo.

In March, a group of 22 people from different Christian churches working with children and adolescents were also trained in the “Playing, We Grow Stronger” methodology. Some of the topics covered in the course included: resilience and sexual abuse; moving from a risk-based approach to the development of strengths in response to sexual violence; building prevention barriers; and specific factors for preventing sexual violence that can be developed through play, among others.

At a local orphanage in Uruguay a group of men and women that work with children were trained in prevention of abuse. This group of children are the most unprotected ones, which is why working on prevention of abuse is of utmost importance. It is possible to provide children with tools to stay away from dangerous situations or relationships that don’t respect them. A means for this would be, for example, teaching children about their value and how important they are. 

 It was a total of 19 people who were trained in this methodology on the 2^nd of November of 2025. They are now capable of implementing workshops with children using tools based on playing, singing or dancing. The length of the course was of six hours.