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As a Nicaragua NGO, the majority of the staff are Nicaraguans.
There are also international staff members from Panama,
Spain, and the USA. We have been privileged to have
had international staff from Mexico, Scotland, Canada,
Germany, Italy, Australia, Uruguay. The staff are divided
into four teams: administration, methodological support
with a commitment to gender equality, rural and urban.
The last two have specific responsibility for our work
at a local or territorial level. The methodological
support/gender team is responsible for organizing the
reflection-training courses at a national level and
for giving support to the work carried out at a local
level.
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The following is a translation of our mission statement,
along with general and specific institutional objectives:
Mission Statement
CANTERA's mission is to enable people, united in their
diversity, to be protagonists in the building of a
more human, egalitarian and sustainable society. Our
holistic concept and methodology of popular education
with a gender perspective is based on
- a concept of integral human development
- a systemic vision of reality
- a dynamic and respectful relationship with Nature,
seeking ecological and sustainable harmony
- the ethical and spiritual development of persons.
Main Objectives
- Contribute
to processes of social transformation through the
promotion of systematic reflection, analysis, re-elaboration
and dissemination of the philosophy and practice
of
popular education.
- Contribute
to local development proposals that take into account
and promote cultural
identities, egalitarian
relationships and the integral development of all
human beings.
- Within
the framework of the challenges that an ever changing
social reality imposes upon
us, constantly
search for coherence between our philosophy of
popular education, our internal organizational
structures and
the transforming practices that we promote.
Specific Objectives
- Strengthen and support – with a special
commitment to gender equality – local people,
groups and organizations in their efforts to initiate
and follow through on plans to improve their economic,
political and social conditions.
- Strengthen
and broaden our methodology offerings on a national
and international
level, and to create
appropriate mechanisms of follow-up to measure their
impact.
- Document
our work experiences, enriched with reflection, to
be able to offer orientations
for models
of integral human development.
- Broaden
and deepen in all our works the dimensions of holistic
health, ethics and
spirituality.
- Continue
revising the organization and internal functioning
of CANTERA on all levels
to assure the
coherence of our concepts, mission, objectives and
transversal values in relation to the context in which
we live and work
- Implement
mechanisms of institutional sustainability, of development
of financial solidarity
and of promoting
the efficient use of resources.
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CANTERA'S
MAIN ACTIVITIES
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National:
A series of methodological training courses for NGO
staff members, community leaders, members of cooperatives,
associations, local groups, etc., are conducted every
year. Topics cover: personal and communal leadership
development, community organizing, gender work with
women, gender work with men, power and non-violence,
work with pre-schoolers and young children, work with
adolescents and youth, culture and social transformation,
sistematizing of experiences, alternative medicine
and spirituality.
Normally, each course is conceived as a series of 3
or 4 workshops throughout the year, each of which lasts
for 4 days. An average of between 40-50 men and women
take part in each workshop. A participatory methodology,
based on lived experience, is implemented in each of
the workshops, to enable collective reflection, analysis,
the generation of new concepts and concrete proposals.
After each workshop, the reflections, analysis, debates,
conclusions and proposals are systematized by members
of the CANTERA team and published.
Local:
CANTERA guarantees methodological and practical accompaniment
to development processes in 3 local government areas
in Nicaragua:
- in various rural communities of Belén, Rivas,
in the south east of Nicaragua, where a Central American
NGO, in the process of forming a coalition of Popular
Education Centers in Mexico and Central America, “willed” their
community work to the newly-formed CANTERA;
- in the town and nearby rural communities in Mateare,
north of Managua, where CANTERA was named recipient
of a donation of some undeveloped farm land. From there
we developed a relationship with the town and later
with the surrounding rural communities;
- in Ciudad Sandino (Sandino City), one of the poorest
and the largest settlement area of the country (c.
170,000+ population with an unemployment rate of up
to 80%).
- And two barrios of Managua and other areas also benefit
from our accompaniment and support.
Our emphasis is on: gender analysis; the strengthening
of individual and collective cultural identities; attention
to vulnerable sectors of children and youth, small
farmers, women; support for community organizing; participatory
democracy and the search for viable, environmentally
friendly, ethical, small scale development alternatives.
Hurricane Mitch also gave rise to much relief, emergency
and reconstruction efforts by CANTERA, made possible
by donations from individuals, groups and organizations.
A special project post-Mitch was begun in San Andrés
de la Palanca, Mateare, which included post-trauma
emotional and spiritual training, participative community
development, reforestation, rebuilding of roads, reconstruction
of houses, replanting with ecologically sound methods,
training of local promoters in natural medicine, work
with women and children, with families, socio-cultural
activities, and processes for the integration of members
of rural communities, new settlement areas and the
existing town. Our work has now expanded to other small
rural communities who are now also benefiting from
the experiences gleaned from the post-Mitch experiences
as well as our earlier rural experiences.
In
our territories, we work with:
1. local leaders (men, women, youth, children)
in: community development; organizational skills;
gender
training; community diagnostics; participatory
planning; strategies for self-reliance, self-management
and
sustainability; citizenship education and training
for democracy; methodology,
methods and techniques of Popular Education; workshops
in socio-cultural development.
2. women’s groups: organic agriculture and horticulture;
training in bee keeping/honey production; networking
and organization; gender training; alternative credit
program for women’s collectives; self-help/support
groups.
3. farmers (mostly men but some women): Organic
agriculture; alternative crops and farming techniques;
strengthening
of organizational skills; legal advice; sharing
of experiences at a national and central American
level.
4. youth: culture; sports; recreation; scholarships;
organizational support; formation (human and social
values, sexual education, human rights, etc.);
gender training; the preparation of young workshop
facilitators
who promote youth-to-youth formation; community
and rural libraries; support of literacy and environmental
initiatives taken by young people; recuperation
of
local history and culture; bee keeping; organizational,
planning, evaluating, systematizing skills; participation
in municipal and national movements.
5. children: culture; sports; recreation; scholarships;
leadership development; pre-school education (no
longer funded by the government); formation of
our pre-school
teachers, with our teachers then sharing the training
they receive; promotion of networks of communitarian
preschool teachers.
6. parents and families: involvement and responsibility
of parents (fathers as well as mothers) in the
education and formation of their children; actions
to help
sustain the project; personal, family and social
formation;
community and civic activities.
CANTERA also participates in a number of networks
and coalitions of grassroots organizations on international,
national and local levels such as educational networks,
coalitions for sustainable human development, women
against violence, men against violence, groups
working for women’s and children’s
rights, coalitions of NGOs, etc....Our good relations
with so many social
development groups allows for good interchanges
of ideas and good collaboration and interchange
of efforts.
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CANTERA'S
CONCEPT OF DEVELOPMENT
|
 CANTERA's mission is to enable people, united in their
diversity, to be protagonists in the building of
a more human, egalitarian and sustainable society.
With this mission statement in mind CANTERA has attempted
to arrive at a concept of development that is responsible
and conscientious, one that regards the environment
as a whole, living organism. This implies the reconstruction
of the balance between people, plants, animals and
the earth. We believe that development must favor life,
harmony and equilibrium. It must regenerate the environment,
in its broadest sense, for all people and for future
generations.
Popular Education is the process we use to achieve
our development goals. We regard it as a dynamic framework
for analyzing reality and transforming current concepts,
practices, styles and ways of relating to each other.
It embraces the whole person; physical, psychological,
spiritual, cultural, ethical and aesthetical. It emphasizes
personal growth and equality between and among men
and women. We encourage each individual's talents and
values and believe development can lead to an improvement
in the level and quality of life for the individual
as well as the collective through participation, organization
and management in an active, conscientious and voluntary
manner.
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CANTERA'S
CONCEPT OF GENDER
|
 In
whatever society, community, organization, institution,
or group that exists (including the family), there
has historically and traditionally existed structures
of power, of violence, of discrimination, of injustice,
of subordination and exploitation of the weak, and
in a special way, of women and girls. The challenge
is to be able to analyze those experiences – both
personal and historical – and to begin to develop
a new sensitivity; a different way of seeing and feeling;
of making decisions, planning and evaluating; a new
way of “being” and of relating that is
based on a conviction that the human community is one
of relationships of equality, not of domination. Therefore
every human dynamic must take into account the reality,
the needs, experiences, rights and opportunities of
women/girls as well as of men/boys, of the young and
old as well as the adult, of the poor as well as the
rich, of the “weak” as well as the “strong”.
How to construct the equal and equitable relationships
on all levels that we desire, that can enhance our
satisfaction, happiness, quality and meaning of life
on all levels?
Gender work with Women
In 1992 we began developing a course to facilitate
serious reflection on gender issues of women in
Nicaragua. Since national and world contexts
constantly shift,
so have our courses been adapted each year to create
the appropriate spaces of sharing and critical
reflection in order to address the nuances
and sometimes newer
issues arising from women’s lived, historical
experiences. Presently, in our Methodological Course
on Popular Education with and between Women we focus
on
- Identity
and Gender Condition of Women
- Gender
and Power
- Affectivity,
Communication and Sexuality
- And
a Mixed Workshop, focusing on Communication and Intimacy
as fundamental
human skills in the process
of forging Just Relations.
Each workshop finalizes with some concrete
decisions and commitments assumed by each
participant; we begin the next workshop with
a happy re-encounter
and a
serious sharing and analysis of the journey
lived
since the
last gathering, in the light of the commitments
of each one.
…
And the women said, “This is wonderful for us.
But if we don’t start working with the men, too,
we’ll never achieve the equality of relationship
that we desire…”
Masculinity
CANTERA's work in the area of masculinity
began in September of 1994 when a group
of men met
in Nicaragua
to discuss the social construction of "masculinity".
This exchange and period of reflection led to the development
of the methodological course Masculinity and Popular
Education", which CANTERA continues to develop
and run each year, parallel to the Women’s course.
The workshops are held in the same Center, though apart,
and provide moments of coming together to reflect on
special themes. Then in the final workshop of the course,
the groups come together.
Our work in masculinity fits within the
larger concept of gender, whose main
principle is
to contribute to the construction of
equal rights
between men
and
women.
In particular, to a better quality of
life, improved opportunities, greater
participation,
and a new
vision of gender relations. We consider
the work we do among
men just one element in the larger struggle
to construct a new society, one in which
women enjoy
equality
in both public and private life.
At the same time we recognize that the
same sex/gender system that maintains
the dominance
of men over
women is also harmful to men and that
our work in masculinity
is not simply a means of supporting the
struggle of the women's movement. We
encourage the
participation of men in the dismantling
of the system of
male dominance that dehumanizes men and
women with
such devastating
consequences. We believe that men and
women together can build a more just
and humane
society, with
equal opportunities, rights and responsibilities
for all.
In our Methodological Course on Popular
Education with and between Men Workshop
we focus on
• Identity, Male Communication and Power
• Gender, Power and Violence
• Affectivity and Sexuality
• And a Mixed Workshop, focusing on Communication and
Intimacy as fundamental human skills in the process
of forging Just Relations. Natural/Alternative Medicine
CANTERA has a holistic and preventative
approach to health that empowers
the individual to manage their
own health – health of body and health of spirit.
This holistic approach is called 'comfortable medicine'
('medicina agradable') and is based on a philosophy
that encourages the individual to listen to the body
and follow what the body needs, likes and wants.
As part of that holistic approach to medicine CANTERA
promotes the use of the traditional (native), natural
techniques and products which continue to be widely
used in Nicaragua today, based on the use of earth,
water and herbs.
We also support the use of:
• reflexology
• tai chi and similar body-spirit exercises
• acupuncture and acupressure
• relaxing and therapeutic massage
• iridology
• sea water and its nutrients
 CANTERA
trains and supports a large number
of health workers in communities
all over Nicaragua, including
about 30 of the poorer suburbs ('barrios' ) of
Managua and in Belén, Mateare and Ciudad Sandino. The
participants are usually women from local communities
who make a commitment to use their new skills to provide
health services in their barrios on a voluntary basis.
Most of these women and men come from the Christian
community. Many go on to become trainers ('multiplicadores')
for others in their 'barrios'.
CANTERA provides the training in return for a contribution
in kind, usually towards the food during the workshops.
CANTERA requires that a second, local person be
involved in the agreement to provide training to
give encouragement
and support to the health worker as well as help
to monitor the activities of the participant after
the
basic training is concluded.
Scholarships are also given to some participants
in the program who show particular talent but need
assistance
to complete their formal education. CANTERA pays
for their education at primary and secondary level
as a
way of helping them to develop their full potential,
personally, as leaders in their community and as
practitioners in the field of natural medicine.
CANTERA also provides advanced training at low
cost using specialists from within Nicaragua and
from
other parts of the world.
Once the participants have completed the training
they often go on to establish independent health
posts in
their communities. CANTERA continues to support
them with advice on management, administration,
interpersonal
communication and conflict resolution. CANTERA
also supplies low cost and sometimes subsidized
resources
including half price books, blood pressure and
pulse monitors, acupuncture needles, scientific
charts
and models and other products otherwise difficult
to obtain
in Nicaragua.
Most of the participants in CANTERA's training
programs on natural medicine are women. Women tend
to be leaders
in the Nicaraguan communities. The head of the
family is generally a women, they are generally
the guardians
of the family's health and through their biological
connection with childbirth are connected to the
promotion of life.
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 In 1989 CANTERA was invited to
Ciudad Sandino (Sandino City) to
work with a youth group who were
on the
edge of delinquency and with their families. Ciudad
Sandino
is a settlement area, begun in 1968-69 after a
flood of Lake Managua into a shanty
town on a near bank.
About 300 people settled in the UN tent city for
the next 2 or 3 years; it expanded enormously after
the
1972 earthquake that devastated Managua.
Ciudad Sandino has continued to expand with each
natural and unnatural disaster that strikes this
small country
of about 5 million people with a land mass about
equal to that of the state of Louisiana. It now
has a population
of about 170,000 people, with no local industries,
bad roadways, not enough schools, no opportunities
for employment, etc. Virtually every family of
Ciudad Sandino falls into categories of either
poverty or
misery.
Our mission in CANTERA is to accompany local community
efforts and processes that promote personal and
collective transformation in order to support and
participate
in creating a more participative, humane, loving,
equalitarian community and society. Since roughly
two thirds of
the population is under 25 years of age, work with
children and youth, developing their self esteem,
talents, leadership qualities is urgent, so that
they can be
subjects of their own development.
In Ciudad Sandino, CANTERA staff and over 80 volunteers
from the community, are engaged in the following
activities:
• four pre-schools for 4 and 5-year-olds
• courses in dance, guitar, recorder, keyboard, art,
crafts, and integrated activities that can also
include story-telling, reading and writing, for children and
for youth
• an extensive sports program for boys and girls, children
and youth, that has expanded to become a municipal
movement
• music and dance groups of children and of youth
• scholarships for children and youth
• a make-shift library operating out of a small old donated
trailer (vital because there are no texts or
libraries in the public schools)
• programs for parents of all the above groups
•
training sessions and retreats for the various teachers,
teachers’ aids, volunteer librarians and
other youth and adult volunteers
• interchanges with other similar programs
• formation workshops for youth and interchanges with
other youth groups
• training and promotion of local community members as
facilitators of workshops in a variety of themes,
so that they themselves now facilitate many local workshops
in Ciudad Sandino and in other parts of the country
• on-going training in leadership, planning, evaluation,
etc. so that the local community continues in
its process of being protagonist of its own integral development,
organization and transformation
•
participation and leadership in the mayor’s Councils
for Children and for Youth, as well as leadership in
the National Council of Youth and an elected member
in the President’s Secretariat for Youth
• participation in a network of youth groups in our territories
and barrios, with relationships with other youth
movements.
Similar programs also exist on a smaller scale
in our territories of Belén and Mateare.
Members of CANTERA in Ciudad Sandino and other
areas also participate in local and national networks
and
coalitions with other governmental and non-governmental
agencies who are concerned with children, youth,
ecology, health, anti-drugs, community betterment,
etc.
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CANTERA
came to life in 1988. The founder, Anabel Torres, a Nicaraguan
Sister of St. Agnes, had been the co-coordinator of the
popular education team at another Nicaraguan non-government
organization CEPA (Center for Educational and Agricultural
Promotion). CEPA is one of the oldest Non Governmental
Organizations (NGOs) in Nicaragua and was founded in the
1970’s, the organizational expression of Christians
in Nicaragua committed to ideals of social justice, within
a liberation theology context. At that time Nicaragua was
living under the Somoza dictatorship. 