Fundación Luz Casanova and Fundación Edelvives have signed a collaboration agreement to conduct workshops on gender-based violence in educational centers.
This was highlighted in a press conference held this Monday at the Espacio Luz Vallekas in Madrid. They have committed to carrying out training and awareness workshops on gender-based violence in the educational field, aimed at students, teachers, and families.
In this regard, the director of Fundación Luz Casanova, Maite Pacheco, pointed out that adolescent girls, along with women over 60 years old, are the ones who report the least violence suffered and are statistically «more underrepresented.»
Likewise, Pacheco emphasized «the need to continue implementing educational programs and awareness campaigns aimed at the adolescent population to prevent and eradicate gender-based violence from the earliest stages of life.»
«Alliance with an entity like Fundación Edelvives represents a great advancement and milestone, as it allows us to broaden our foundational mission and expand horizons to reach and sensitize more people, especially young people who are the central pillar for which this alliance is born, without forgetting two such important agents in the development of any adolescent, such as the family and teachers,» she noted.
On the other hand, the head of educational counseling and communication area of Fundación Edelvives, Mª Ángeles López, stated that «only through school, through education, can we correct inappropriate behaviors and transform society.» She also mentioned that, despite the approval in 2021 of the Comprehensive Protection Law for Children and Adolescents against Violence (LOPIVI), «in many cases the law is applied only after the damage has been done and intervention protocols need to be activated.» «And in too many cases, when the harm caused against women and girls is already irreparable,» she lamented.
Regarding the training proposal, Lopez emphasized the importance of having training that «teaches them to identify the different types of violence that fall under gender-based violence; that teaches them to build healthy relationships between people of different sexes and teaches them to live and coexist in equality.»
Furthermore, the social educator at Fundación Luz Casanova, Claudia Brasa Virgili, indicated that «the situations of abuse experienced by adolescents are usually related to emotional abuse and involve excessive control and isolation from their peer group.» She also warned about new technologies, which «are mainly influencing issues of control (publications, likes, followers, conversations, location), loss of privacy, blackmail, manipulation, and pressure when sending sexualized content.»
Additionally, the head of training and institutional advisor at Fundación Edelvives, Miriam Ozcoidi, stressed the importance of creating a safe space. «They feel confident to share their thoughts without feeling judged, as well as understand and learn how relationships work, the importance of relating from respect, good treatment, and care for others,» she assured.
According to both foundations, the workshops aim to prevent gender-based violence in adolescents, focusing on young people between 13 and 20 years old, from affective sexual education and healthy relationship perspectives. For this purpose, they are offered «training in values such as equality and respect, emphasizing conflict resolution, as well as the analysis of male and female roles.» They also work «to empower them to become agents of change against gender-based violence in different educational and associative environments, enabling them to detect situations of violence among their peers.»
These workshops for young people are implemented through the ‘Making Ourselves Visible’ program, developed by Fundación Luz Casanova since 2018. In 2024, it reached 351 adolescents: 164 girls and 187 boys.
FUENTE