Community action is essential not only to transform the reality of the people served, but also of their environment and territory
In this International Year of Cooperatives, from Suara we want to dedicate the month of November to how from cooperativism we promote community action to improve the reality of people, their environment and the territory.
Cooperatives seek the social and economic transformation of our societies and, to make this possible, they do so with projects that are rooted in the territory. For this reason, they are born from the territory and get involved in the community.
Therefore, it is very important to work in a network with the public administration and social entities, such as, for example, from Suara Cooperativa we do in the Network of People in Homelessness (XASPLL), where we have allied with the Barcelona City Council and the city's entities to work in a coordinated way to improve the situation of people at high risk of social exclusion.
This November marks the European Day of People in Homelessness and the World Day of People in Homelessness. One of the great current challenges is how we deal with hate speech and aporophobic discourse. In this context, the homelessness services of Suara Cooperativa are training ourselves to deal with these hate speech and aporophobic discourses to see how we can eradicate them with actions that also involve the community.
It is also important to involve young people in the transformation of their societies. For this reason, the students of the training cycle of La Bastida collaborate with the Sostre 360º project of Maresme, managed by Suara Cooperativa, where we accompany young people in a situation of homelessness.
Survivors of gender-based violence
Another of the challenges of today's society is how we accompany women who have survived gender-based violence. Often, their self-esteem has been damaged by years of abuse while they do not have a relational network.
Therefore, from the services we promote different actions in which we involve them to help them create a network among themselves and in which they participate directly with the aim of empowering them in decision-making to improve their self-esteem and emotional and psychological well-being.
An example of this is that last year, on November 25, International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, we co-created a video with the women treated in a service, which we manage with Cáritas de Barcelona, for survivors of gender-based violence, their sons and/or daughters actively participated in it. They are the ones who chose the song, which they sang, one of their sons played on the piano, they chose the images that were represented in each scene and they acted them out.
This is not the only example, this year we have made a series of video podcasts with Cadena Cope, where women who have been treated in this service have been able to explain their experience as survivors of gender-based violence.
Educating with cooperative values
However, if we want to transform our societies, we need to work on it from early childhood. Therefore, in the services for children, adolescents and young people that we manage at Suara Cooperativa, we promote an education focused on cooperative values.
“With a major, accelerated and strongly individualistic crisis of values, educating in cooperative values is no longer just a pedagogical option: it is an urgent necessity”, defends Marta Gómez, Head of Protection and Good Treatment of Children and Adolescents at Suara Cooperativa, in this article in the newspaper El Jornal.
Therefore, from schools, Socio-Educational Intervention Services (SIS), Residential Educational Action Centers (CRAE), or any other service where we accompany children, adolescents or young people, we promote values such as democracy, social justice, equality, solidarity or empathy while promoting teamwork, collaborative projects or assemblies. With this, they are not only taught to resolve conflicts or engage in dialogue, but they are also prepared to live in society in an active, responsible and committed way.
Next November 20th is International Children's Rights Day and, in this context, it is essential that from a very young age we educate them on the importance of participating and collaborating in the community in order to build more just, equitable, egalitarian and cohesive societies.
