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Violence reduction expert to address education at Central America Donors Forum

[/vc_column_text][/vc_colonne][/vc_row][vc_row][largeur vc_column = »2/3″][vc_column_text]Washington, DC. — A leading expert on gang violence reduction will present strategies to improve education and increase opportunities for at-risk youth during the Central America Donors Forum in San Salvador on Nov. 18-19.

Guillermo Céspedes, Creative Associates International’s Senior Citizen Security Advisor, will urge attendees to consider integrated, multi-sectoral approaches that blend violence reduction strategies with educational achievement initiatives.

“Violence in Central America is permeating families, écoles, economic growth and development efforts,” he says in anticipation of his speech in San Salvador. “This is an opportunity to discuss with our donor partners how we can foster a more integrated approach to this crisis.”

Cespedes—the former Deputy Mayor of Los Angeles who successfully led the city’s gang violence reduction strategy—will be the keynote speaker at forum’s “Education and Opportunities for Youth” session.

The forum, which is hosted by the Seattle International Foundation, will bring together leaders in government, the media, the private sector and philanthropy to tackle some of the toughest challenges facing the region—from migration to education to an epidemic of violence, in which youth are both the main victims and perpetrators.

Proven strategies to reduce violence

Cespedes and the Sécurité des citoyens team at Creative have supported high-risk communities across in Le sauveur, Guatemala, Honduras et Panama in developing and implementing local violence prevention strategies—including evidence-based prévention secondaire pilot programs in Honduras and El Salvador to reduce the risk factors of joining gangs among high-risk youth ages of 10 à 15.

The approach uses the Youth Service Eligibility Tool, which is a method developed in Los Angeles during Cespedes’ tenure to evaluate youth on a series of nine risk factors that account for individual, dimensions familiales et de pairs.

Chez les créatifs Honduras pilot of USAID’s secondary prevention program, appelé Proposant, cette approche a réduit de manière significative les facteurs de risque chez les jeunes à la fin de la période d'un an, y compris un 77 pourcentage de baisse du facteur de risque de criminalité et de toxicomanie et une 78 pourcentage de baisse des tendances antisociales.

Integrating these targeted secondary prevention interventions, Cespedes led LA’s transformative gang violence reduction strategy, qui a réorienté l'application de la loi vers une police de proximité et des arrestations constitutionnelles et l'a mélangé à une tapisserie de programmes sociaux. With this approach, LA reduced nine different categories of gang-related crime by nearly 50 pour cent.

The education-violence reduction connection

In high violence communities—where violence permeates daily life—school, educator and student security is tenuous. Against a backdrop of threat and risk, educational attainment suffers.

“Effective education is about mastery of content and context,” says Cespedes. “The context of schools in many areas we work is one in which teachers and students are threatened, extorted, and even getting to and from school requires that families negotiate a variety of gang turfs.”

Dans ce contexte, says Cespedes, threats and fear impede teaching, learning and effective cooperation among families, étudiants et enseignants. Integrating proven evidence-based violence reduction strategies with educational initiatives is essential.

Donors must also address school dropout and its connection to the violence, says Cespedes, who will raise the issue at the forum.

“Dropout needs to be examined through the lens of content and context, and dropouts may be both a contributor and a consequence of violence," dit-il.

While the inability to master academic subjects and skills often contributes to dropout, Cespedes says security in this region is also a major concern.

“I think in many cases, schools are not a safe environment and families are making a conscious decision to stay away from school and keep their kids at home. In many other cases it is a relief for teachers and school administrators to have students who have gang affiliations leave school," dit-il.

En plus, at an age when youth are empirically most at risk of joining a gang (depuis 10 à 15 ans) and would benefit from quality education integrated with targeted violence reduction strategies, there may be no school to attend. In many high violence areas across Central America, the number of schools declines sharply between middle and high school.

Cespedes will bring these challenges to the fore in his discussion at the forum, with the aim of aligning donor efforts around integrated approaches that reach some of the most vulnerable youth and communities, reduce violence and make schools safer and more effective.

À propos de Creative Associates International

Creative Associates International travaille avec des communautés mal desservies en partageant son expertise et son expérience en matière d'éducation, croissance économique, gouvernance et transitions du conflit à la paix.

Basé à Washington, D.C., Creative a des projets actifs dans plus de 15 pays. Depuis 1977, cela a fonctionné pendant presque 90 pays et sur presque tous les continents. Reconnu pour sa capacité à travailler rapidement, de manière flexible et efficace dans des environnements touchés par des conflits, Creative s'engage à générer des solutions durables à long terme à des problèmes de développement complexes.

Créée par quatre femmes entreprenantes issues d’horizons divers, Creative est devenu l'un des leaders aux États-Unis. acteurs du secteur privé chargés de la mise en œuvre de projets de développement mondiaux. Creative est détenu et exploité par une minorité.[/vc_column_text][/vc_colonne][largeur vc_column = »1/12″][/vc_colonne][largeur vc_column = »1/4″][vc_widget_sidebar sidebar_id= »barre latérale-primaire »][/vc_colonne][/vc_row]