111111
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Non-conventional global care
to childrzn not attending school,
their families and
the community
Desde 1985 en Venezuela, a través del Centro de Investigaciones para la Infancia y la FamiEa
(Cendif) de la Universidad Metropolitana, se ha estado desarrollando una modalidad
no-convencional para proveer atención en salud, nutrición, actividades escolares, orientación
legal,
atención
psicológica, recreación, educación ambiental, educación de adultos y desarrollo
comunitario, dirigida a niños de 0-6 años que viven en condiciones de pobreza y
sus
familias.
Se presenta un programa integral innovativo no-convencional para niños de 9-15 años de un
barrio caraqueño y sus familias, con estrategias bannfinn
en
visitas al hogar y con énfasis en la
atención integral y sistémica en favor del desarrollo del niño y del mejoramiento de su
ambiente físico y social.
Hoy día los niños asisten diariamente a las actividades escolares no convencionales;
manejan destrezas básicas de les-escritura; sus padres participan en actividades de talleres
y reuniones; los niños, pach-es, promotores y la organización comunitaria evalúa' n positivamente
el programa.
Sirice 1985, the Centro de investigaciones para la Infancia y la Familia "Cendif" (Centre for
Chíidhood and Famdy Research) of the Universidad Metropolitana, has been developing in
Venezuela a non-conventional modality aimed at providing tare in the fields of health,
nutrition, early education, legal advise, acluft, education and community developrnent to poor
children from O to 6 years of age and their families. A non-conventional, inovative, global care
prograrnrne is presented for chil&en from 9 to 15 years of age living n a Caracas slum with
their families. Honre-based strategies are used, as well as strtegies based
Oflchi groups for
activities in the aneas of heafth, nutrition, pedagogical assistance, psychological counseling,
environmental education, legal advise and community development At presenta children
participate in non-conventional schooling activities on a daify baria, they have basic reading
and writing skills, their parerrts take part in worítshop activities and meetings, and children,
parents, promoters and the community organization give a positive evaluation of the
programme.
ti.
A. Sepúlveda, G. López, N. V. Pulidory Y. Adrián
Centro de Investigaciones para la Infancia y la Familia
Universidad Metropolitana
1. Introducton
In 1984 the Centre for lnfancy and Family Research (CENDIF) carne into being as a formal debartment of the Universidad Metropolitana in Caracas.
Trabajo presentado en la 5iennale defeduartion tt de kr
formo-tion. 'Jniversrté de Paris-La Sorbonne. Abril, 1994.
CENDiF's main objec-tive is to study children and families and issues relate-d to human development. An important feature of d e Cer-itre's work is the development and dissemination of alternative prac-tices for improving and extending tradicional and non-tradicional education and health care programmes for pre-schoof age children, giving priority to those from the needy sectors of the society. Cendif is involved in many activities, some of which are research and others are applied
re-search.
The current projects are non-conventional
school age children and non-schooling children from 9-15 years of age from the socio-economically disadvantaged sectors in Venezuela. The programmes are designed to encourage the par-ticipation of the families and communities in helping to cover the needs of children in the nutrition, health care, pre-school education, psychological development, legal advice and community devel-opment areas7
The increase in poverty and drop-out rates during the last year in Venezuela has resuited in the need to provide care to the population aged 9 to 15 that is partially or totally illiterate. Thus, drop-out and poverty led to the development of an innova-tive programme for this group, which, among other things, will assist in overcoming the potential causes of drop-out or school
Sixty (60) children of both sexes were chosen from among the most uncareci-for. The programme has been in place for 18 months and it covers 60 families, with the assistance of 10 promoters from the community, a teacher coordinator and CENDIPs technical support
The components of the non-conventional global care programme for children not attending school are those mentioned aboye, although some innova-tions have been introduced in the pedagogical activities.
2. Poverty and childhood
181 millions out of the 441 million inhabitarrts of Latin America and the Caribbean have been esti-mated to live below the poverty level. Of them, 78 millions are children under
18
years of age, that is, 42 % of the total. Therefore, most of the children can be said to be poor and most of the poor tobe
children. The total popuiation of children aged 15 to18
is 28 millions in Latin America, 11.6 percent of whom are poor and more than 5 millions are indigent Thus, they have become the main victims of last decade's crisis (Unicef, 1992).Social and Economic Context
Since 1983 Venezuela has been registering a noticeable deterioration ín its economic indicators, this condition being dosely related to the drop in oil (the country's main source of revenues) prices and the impact of the economic adjustment measures adopted in 1989.
The situation of the Venezuelan population in
56
1990 was the following Poverty and critica' povertypercentages amounted to 79.08% of the popula-tion, 44,74% corresponding to people under 18 years of age, and 23,07% living in critica! poverty conditions. At present, poverty indexes have in-creased, its impact being felt more intensively on strata IV an Y of the population. The mínimum monthly wage is U.S.$. 86. (Fundacredesa, 1990).
The change generation or
the loss generation
In 1992, the population represented by children under 7 years of age was 3,800,000 children aged
O
to 6, and the convencional pre-school education services cover only 1/3 of the population between 3 and 6 years of age.There exists low retention capacity in the educational system, which is usually considered as an indicator particulariy sensitive to an increase in poverty. Besides, the drop out rate is extremely high to the extent that only 38 out of every 100 children starting the 1st grade of primary school complete the 9th. grade in due time. This increasing majority of children and adolescents who are ex-cluded from education, unemployed, and barely or non-educated at all have very few opportunities to control their future lives (PNUD, 1992).
On the other hand, 78% of the 1,311,126 youngsters aged 15 to 17 have completed the 9th. grade
of
basic education, while 17% have graduated from high-school, 0.16% have concluded higher technical education studies, 0.69% have obtained a university degree, and 2.35% have no educational leve! whatsoever (Ministerio de la Familia, 1993)In 1981 the illiteracy rate for the population over 10 years of age was 7.69% of a total female population of 5,285,393, and 6.36% of a total male population of 5,226,589 (Cepal, 1990).
As
evidenced aboye, the female illiteracy rate is persistently and ristematically higher than the male illiteracy rate and the general average.These high school repetition and drop out rates raise certain questions: 1) VV ere children poorly trained at pre-school level to perform well in basic education and,
if so why?.
2) Does the basic educaban system have appropriate methods and curricula to pedagogically take care of children?. 3) Or is it that both factors occur simuttaneousty?. The least costly solution for the country would be for the basic school to modify its strategies and curricula in order to meet the actual needs of the children and help them adapt to and Iearn the skills needed to lead a productive life. The tradicional school offers a pre-established programme which is developedirrespective of its impact. We require research action projects capabie of responding to severa] basic questions: 1) VV hat are the children's basic
needs?. 2) What do they need to learn, what for, how, and in what conditions?.
3. The acción educativa non-conventional educational pilot programme
The community-based global care non-converrtional education programme was devised by CENDIF at the beginning of 1983. By 1992, CENDIF conceded
an agreement with the Organización Social del Colegio San Ignacio, "OSCASI" (San Ignacio Schoors Social Organization) with a view to implementig this programme in the Barrio Unión de Petare (a slum in the cit.,/ of Caracas) under the name of "Acción
Educativa" (its literal translation being "Educational Action"). lts basic goal is to provide integral and syszematic attention to chiidren in risk situations, from O to 6 years of age, and to children not having attended school aged 9 to 15, as well as to their families and their community in the psychological, health, nutrition, community development and pedagogical assistance areas. The activities executed are: penetration and implementation of the programme in the community: creaban of a com-munity working group, with a clear definition of the roles, rules, short-and medium-terrn goals and the programme's operational_bases; training in dis-semination, promotion and application of the sur-vey; pre-selection and final selection of families (including their children aged 0-6 años and their children aged 9-15 not attending school); training in child development and educational strategies, as well as in those activities linking the programme to the services available in the slum.
4_
An action praposalComponents and Strategies of the Non-Conven-tional Global Care Programme for Chiidren Not Attending School and their Families:
Components (strategies)
i) Community development (activities with com-munity groups and organizatons, adult education). ii) Heafth (regular medica] evaluaban, breast-feeding, diarrhea and oral rehydration, vaccination). iii) Nutrition (size and weight control, nutritional supplements). iv) Pedagogical component and psy-chological development (preparaban for delivery,
mother-baby interaction, pre-schocl education for chiidren between 0-6 years of age and school education for children aged 9-15): diagnosis of the socia-psycological features and needs of children, attention to rnotivational and emotional factors, interactive game techniques, basic reading and writing and mathematics programmes based on children's experiences-weekly recreational activi-ties, development of strategies aimed at relating the child to his community (desing of sketches, visits to centres and facilities providing services, etc.). v) Legal protection (inforrnation regarding children's and family's rights, civil registration of chiidren, citizen's and community legislation and rights). vi) Environmental care (environment clean-up, im-provernent and protection). As evidenced, the goa is not oniy to offer survival strategies, but also to provide for and integral and systematic attention benefiting children's development and improvíng physical and social environment
Promoters
They are the educacional agents of the families participating in the programme. A group consti-tuted by people from the slum and selected by the community itself is given training in the basic strategies of the programme. These people's age ranges from 20 to 40 years and they have mostly completed their primary education.
Chatraeristics of the programme
1) Pertinent The programme is developed on the basic of a prior determinaban of the needs in conjunction with the community with a view to ensuring that the actions undertaken are appropri-ate for the needs of the community.
2) Integral: The educaban provided to the poor sectors of society cannot be conceived in a pardal manner. On the contrary, the priority needs (nu-tritional, sanitar; and affection deficiencies) must be taken inca consideraban in arder to include them in a non-conventional educacional programme. 3) Participatory: the programme is implemented
through an agreement reached wiht neighbours' organizations, which sele-ct their promoters. The programme is developed in the community with the community and for the community.
4) Flexible: The programme is net a "package" of actions and/or services for the community, but an "open propasar addressing the needs and
the characteristics and resources of the community where it is implemented.
5) Permanent education: The educacional com-ponent is involved in the programme's actions and strategies, as well as at all levels of family and community education.
In the ares selected (Barrio Union de Petare, Bambú, Mamón, Vuelta Enrique, La Gruta and La Línea sectors) 133 families were surveyed in 106 houses, the total amount of people recorded being 721. Out of these 721 persons, 352 are adults and 369 (5236% of the population surveyed) are chil-dren under 15 years of age.
The 369 children are distributed in the following groups: 109 in the 0-3 year-old group, 75 in the 4-6 year-old group and 185 in the 7-15 year-old group. Besides, from the 133 families surveyed, 88 (66%) receive some degree of medical care, 17 (12%) request medical assistance only in case of emergency, and 28 (21%) do not seek medica! care when needed.
On the other hand, from the. 260 children aged 4 to 15, 169 are in the formal schooling system, while 91 (35% of this total) have not had any schooling, 57 of whom belonging to the 9-15 age group are being attended by our programme.
4.1 OperatIonal• features of the procaz!~
10 promoters, 60 families, 190 Children. Number of hours of attention per day: 4. Working methock Direct contac with famiiies through interviews, visits to their honres, and regular meetings, as well as daily non-conventionai school attention to chil-dren aged 9-15.
Total population Crxnposition Ocupation Features of
assisted of the family of adulta Chikiren
population
Children (aged 9-15) 60 Father and mother 26,31% Manual VVorkers 37 Illiterate 54% Children (aged 0-6*) 133 Only mother 50,87% Street pedddters 10 Paid jobs (**) 10% Mothers 60 Relatives 22,82% Unnemployed 05
Total 253 100,00% 52
(*) For the purpose of these paper the socio- ('`) It must be noted that the 16 giris between I I psychological characteristics of children under 6 and 13 years of age doing unpaidhousework are years of age are not specified. not included.
Eraluation
The evaluation criteria used in this programme are: i) enhanced attention offered to non-schooling children by the members of the communities in the health, nutrition, education, psychological devel-opment, and legal orientation areas; ii) development of skills among parents and adults for the sound growth of children. This should translate into an improvement in the health, nutrition and develop-ment indexes; iii) changes and improvedevelop-ments within community organizations to implement more and better actions for the development of children and their families; iv) changes in the attitudes of pro-fessionals working in the communities, with a view to implementing new formulae to interact with those served by them and make relations less vertical and more educacional; v) child permanence in the programme; vi) pedagogical achievements: reading, writing and calculus; vii) changes in attitudes towards the non-conventional school.
5. Expected resulta
\A e expect to have an impact on the different areas human development depends upon: i) to strength self-confidence among children and families; ii) to encourage children into the educational programme; iii) to develop and disseminate non-conventional educational strategies aimed at children not attend-ing school; iv) to channel children's development potencial into productive areas; v) to strengthen parents' and families' educational capacity; vi) to conduct a longitudinal follow-up among children from the programme; vii) to promote community participation among families; viii) to improve the living standards of families; ix) to promote the creation of support networks for families; x) to help families access community services; xi) to sensitize professionals working in the community to the importance of the programme.
An educational strategy as the non-conven-tional community-based programme proponed aboye might help design a curricula and educacional activities which could have a positive impact on the educacional and productive future of these children. Likewise, it can promote new forms of education, participation and organization among adults that could enhance the potencial of the various
environ-ments in which children live.
At present, children participate in non-conven-tional schooling activities on a daily basis, they have basic reading and writing skills, their parents take
parí in workshop activities and meetings, and chil-dren, parents, promoters and the community or-ganization give a positive evaluation of the
programme.
References
Cepal. Magnitud de La Pobreza de América Latina en bs Años 80. Estudios e Informes de la Cepal, N° 81, Santiago de Chile, 1990.
Fundacredesa. División de Investigaciones Poblacionales, OCEI, XII Censo. Caracas, Ven-ezuela, 1990.
Ministerio de la Familia. Proyecto Enjuve, Mimeógrafo, Caracas, Venezuela, 1993. PNUD. Desarrollo Humano. Informe 1992 Caracas,
Ve .nezuela, 1992.
Unicef. Los niños de las Américas_ Supervivencia, protección y desarrcdo integral de la niñez en el decenio 1990. Bogotá, Colombia, 1992.
TRABAJOS DE GRADO
Decanato de Investigaciones y Postgrado
Magister, 1995
Postgrado en Ingeniería Gerencia
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Título: Reingeniería de los productos
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control avanzado en la industria de procesos venezolana.
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Tutor: Rafael Manrique Rojas
Título: Rediseño del proceso operativo para el
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empresas de ensamblajes de productos
electrónicos. Caso: Industria Electrónica Gallium,
CA
Autores: José Manuel Luis
y Carmen del Valle Paredes Tutor. Francisco Alvarez