A school for city builders, Chile's leadership program

A school for community leaders and a space for interaction and exchange among participants, Chile's "Escuela Constructores de Ciudad"  (School for City Builders)completes this year its fifth cycle of training programs for various organizations and communities throughout the nation.

Led by Sur Corporación de Estudios Sociales y Educación (South Corporation for Social Studies and Education), the school is grounded on a sensitivity to the various realities faced by Latin American cities.

"We see that in general our nation’s cities reveal worryingly high levels of social inequality. This translates into severe inequality in terms of quality of life between different groups in the same city, the formation of ghettos in the suburbs, social disintegration and all kinds of violence,” explains Alejandra Sandoval, coordinator of the Escuela Constructores de Ciudad initiative.

The problem of housing is one of the organization’s primary concerns in terms of its assessment of the reality of urban life. Specifically, the organization is concerned with the problem of a Chilean citizen group called “con techo” (with roof), the term given to residents of public housing projects created as part of the Chilean government’s housing policy throughout the last 25 years. The group’s focus on housing centers on general issues such as the inadequacy of  public policy to guarantee the right to decent housing, the problem of access to land, the expulsion of the poor from urban centers and deficiencies in  urban planning. "All these problems are based on an unfortunate reality in which individuals and civil society participation has limited capacity to impact," Alejandra expresses.

In response to this claim, the program aims to deliver conceptual tools, methodologies and practices, to enable participants to understand the problems faced by their locality, specifically urban problems, and to confront the burden placed on their organizations and communities.

"We want to support the formation of a social demand, the subsequent development of requests from civil society, and to incite reflection on the role of social organizations in the construction of the city, linking the problem of housing and urban development to the dynamics and social policies of the city", expresses Alejandra.

The program includes workshops throughout the six month period in which theoretical discussions are combined with practical presentations from social organizations and in which participants partake in seminars that include exercises and reflection.

From Protesting to Applying

 
The themes addressed in each session are diverse and build upon the memory, identity, and conflicts in the neighborhood, as well as ideas for change. “We move from a place of protesting to one of applying, promoting active citizenship, interpreting the struggle as an expression of rights and developing the tools to actualize those rights,” Alejandra affirms. “The guidance and skills of the leaders are consolidated so as to develop a sense of energy, solidarity and democracy,” she adds. The school seeks to encourage leaders to act in accordance with the interests and rights of the communities.

Leadership training is supplemented by providing guidelines and tools to encourage the formation of a network of organizations in proximity to one another.

"We want to provide a space for leaders and people from different sectors of the city to meet," Alejandra asserts. "This allows for individuals to see that their problems are not necessarily unique and provides for the exchange of experiences and the possibility for joint action between groups with mutual interests. There is also the possibility for consolidation based on the territorial situation of groups, in which leaders might increase participation and dissemination of their work throughout their organization’s region.”

It is clear that there is a high level of satisfaction from participants. The participant’s from the last session gave the school the grade of 4.6 on a scale of 1 to 5, demonstrating satisfaction relating to operational ability as well as quality of teaching and student participation. 

"Such indicators are very encouraging for participating leaders. It was an enormous pleasure to have participated in this school where I met people from diverse backgrounds from my own. I was introduced to other realities, which helped me a lot to construct alternative perspectives," affirmed Andrea Gonzalez, participant from the 2007 session.

With Open Doors

At another level, the program promotes personal and psychosocial development, includes a workshop on organizational and territorial diagnosis, and a class on digital literacy and internet skills.

In the words of a representative from the la Unión Comunal de Recoleta, reflecting on her experience with the program, "it's been very rewarding and helpful. Now I can slam the table and declare, “I have rights and can express them, because now I know what I am talking about.”

The school, offering space for 40 students this session, does not charge its students. It offers breakfast and lunch, plus child care for children older than 4 years. The program ends with a party that takes place in a public space in the city, where, by its very nature, the completed work and acquired tools are made visible to the public.

Read Further:

Sitio Sur  (Website in Spanish)

Translated by Nathaniel Wolfson