Social and community projects are not possible without continuity. Beyond the needs of international agencies or local governments in presenting quantitative results, educational, cultural and social transformations at community level can only be reviewed in the long term and from the complex reflection on everyday life. In the
Parlante
we believe that communication and education are excellent tools to work patiently and from the grassroots, for a new citizenship.
It would be a truly active citizenry, capable of recognizing their own beliefs and values, the social and cultural norms that condition their lives, to identify problems and propose solutions that help solve them.
Thus, at the beginning of 2013, the Mediterranean City Community Plan together with various neighborhood entities detected different problems: stigmatization and prejudice against certain groups, school dropout, unemployment, teenage pregnancy, as well as the bad image of the neighborhood in the environment, which was called Villa Desahucio.
With this first idea he began to work with elParlante. According to the dictionary, an undeshuciada is a person who has no hope: Ciutat Esperança would thus become an edu-community project that, based on the use of theater, video and photography, promotes a critical look, information, reflection and debate, raising awareness about the complexity of the different realities that happen in the neighborhood, but above all promoting the good things that happen in the territory, valuing its diverse and supportive spaces, generating a sense of belonging and love for the territory.
Thus, with uninterrupted activities for 4 years, 7 editions have been carried out from which 18 children, girls and adolescents, 60 young people and 16 adults have benefited, in addition to at least 300 people from the neighborhood who have attended the events. We have also made an inertial exhibition, a pedagogical guide to accompany the videos in the schools and we have won an award for the short film A moment -about the unplanned pregnancy- that led us to compete in another participatory film festival in Tangier (Morocco). For these initiatives, a new face of the neighborhood has been presented on Barcelona Televisión and El Periódico de Cataluña.
What are we in now? At another level of participation. The young people who have consolidated the work group define the topics to be worked on, are trained in the themes –which come out of their closest realities-, build scripts, act, record and edit with our accompaniment. The short film of this year we hope to present within the framework of a television program, also community, with special guests and that would be made in the neighborhood itself and broadcast live on YouTube.
The next step? Consolidate together a space that is already of, by and for the neighborhood, as well as evaluate and systematize what has happened so far, hoping that local governments understand the importance of investment in arts and citizenship education. An intergenerational and intersectional education, with a gender perspective, that talks about health, that prioritizes emotions, in short, that goes beyond the classroom and that connects with the different spheres of the community in the long term.