Youth Activity Centres are spare time educational organizations for:  training § learning § socialization § and personal development of youths “Getting a schoolmate to keep going to school in a way is like saving their future…” Juan, 16 years old

“Now that we are working on this…I realize what a responsibility I have accepted, and that scares me, but it also makes me more eager to participate”, Erica, 14 years old T he Centre: §is intended for teenagers §is school-based and targets all youths in the community §is managed by youths, with adult support

Management Team §Conducted by students chosen by their peers §With a coordinator selected through an open competitive process §With teachers, parents and prefects invited by the students “It´s great for us to be ab le to compe up with activities and proposals for the rest of our schoolmates”, Javier, 17 years

Training of youths for community and citizen promotion and participation (Health promotion agents)  Identity § Self-esteem § Frustration tolerance § Critical analysis § Decision-making § Communication skills § Alternative dispute resolution “…What I learnt today is that if we go together, there is no violence…”, Verónica, 14 years old

Fundamentals and Strategies for the Establishment of Educational Prevention Projects at Youth Activity Centres Ministry of Education, Science and Technology Curriculum Management and Teacher Training Department Improvement of teaching in EGB 3 & Polimodal Education Youth Activity Centres

Training of youth guides for community and citizen promotion and participation Turning the population at risk into prevention agents. Youth groups of 16/17-year-olds. Formed by participants. Personal development programs. Identity of group implementing a project. Training to conduct activities.

Commitment and social responsibility to others are encouraged. “Group” behaviour is encouraged Socialization and group identity elements are encouraged. Proposal to shift from: the “subjective” feeling of no project, no future, insignificance  to a significant, important and social recognition role.

Youths in groups as prevention agents No teenager will get drunk alone or start drinking alone. There is always “someone else” -a slightly older peer and a group. Program organization a- An adult professional coordinates each Program. b- Motivates and organizes a group of between 12 to 15 youths in the higher classes. c- Conducts a training course between 12 and 16 hours long. d- The course imparts training for students to conduct workshops in pairs or groups of threes. e- The professional supervises workshop implementation. f- Conducts group activities on experience review.

Resilience: individual attributes §introspection §independence §ability to relate §initiative §sense of humour §creativity §consistent self-esteem (Suarez Ojeda, 1997)

Community Resilience: §collective self-esteem §cultural identity §social humour §honesty on the part of government

Relational resilience §Recognizing the problems and limitations to be faced §Communicating openly and clearly about them §Taking stock of available personal and collective resources §Organizing and reorganizing strategies and methodologies as often as needed, reviewing and evaluating achievements and losses.

Goals (own) Ability to build projects (Constructive) decision- making Critical judgment (positive choices) Responsibilities and social commitment (strong) Self-concept and self-image (high) Self-esteem (alta) Social and cultural capital (high) Goals (of others) Difficulty in building projects (Destructive) decision-making Critical judgment (negative choices) Responsibilities and social commitment (weak)) Self-concept and self-image (low) Self-esteem (low) Social and cultural capital (low)

“Do not accept the usual state of things as the natural state of things. Because in times of bloody disorder, of organized confusion, of deliberate arbitrariness, of dehumanized humanity, nothing should seem natural, nothing should seem impossible to change.” Bertold Brecht