With Colombian partners, ISHHR will facilitate women´s, girls´ and HRDs´ Rights to equal education and freedom from violence
Pitch your solution.
The problem is gender discrimination and violence.
The solution can be 12 years of education for all
Increasing girls` and young women´s participation involves deconstructing the barriers that prevent them from continuing
ISHHR, established in 1987 by European and Latin American trauma specialists, works with mental health consequences of violence. Colombian partners working with education lead an Organization Committee of 20 NGOs. Together we work with service providers on evidence-based approaches to education and mental health, in schools, group sessions, workshops, supervision and seminars. Objectives: to change systems affecting the lives of 51% of the local population, achieving specific results in education.
Health care repairs what is weakened or hurt; education works to prevent through resource development; the two interact. Our target groups: 1) teachers, 2) health personal and 3) women/girls will facilitate the development of these resources. Outcomes will multiply as trainees reach out to their networks, institutions, neighborhoods.
Film your elevator pitch.
What specific problem are you solving?
Discrimination, sexual violence,and school-leaving
The victims of "Crimes against liberty and sexual integrity" in the Colombian conflict were 89.58% women and girls (RNI, 2018). The Peace Accords promised a new era, and much is achieved - yet
instability, violence and summary executions continue. Women and
indigenous Human Rights Defenders are particularly targeted. How do young women feel about this? What impact does it have on their lives? That´s the problem. To achieve lasting change in gender discrimination we need to understand its socio-cultural roots and address them - for victims, families and society.
The beneficiaries are citizens of Antioquia department, population 6,407,000, which, in the words of the Colombian Truth Commission, in spite of enduring
"all forms of victimization: massacres, enforced disappearances, kidnappings, extrajudicial executions, forced displacements and recruitments, sexual violence"
has succeeded
"in consolidating a broad and diverse social fabric of collective action, resistance and resilience. By different perspectives and ways of acting, Antioquia has met the impact of armed confrontation and the transformation of its environment, thanks to the leadership of ethnic organizations, of women, of youth, trade unions and of defence of human rights.”[1]
How to harness this resilience ?
What is your solution?
Our joint solution will achieve specific results in education and mental health using an innovative, incremental model. We start out in Antioquia by first empowering:
100 teachers from 10 municipalities trained to develop socio-emotional capacities in the classroom (already underway)
20 professional and community-based psychosocial caregivers to implement Trauma Recovery Techniques (TRT) in groups
20 caregivers to implement the International Child Development Programme (ICDP) with women, girls and families
20 Change Agents to help women prevent Gender Based Violence (GBV) in their networks, changing behavior, practices and attitudes
20 psychosocial caregivers and HRDs in workshops on the GBV Manual
Facilitator teams in these methods for change are already engaged, both from Colombia and other parts of the world. Many workshops are train-the-trainers labs, where a participant may become a facilitator, continuing to qualify colleagues or associates in her network
Economy and technology develop best in stable societies; improving education and mental health will help to stabilize Colombian society.
Zoom or Skype are our technical solutions for person-to-person communications with facilitators around the world; 3-day seminars on generative collaboration will open up interdisciplinary channels between school and mental health professionals. For more on the technological implementation model: http://www.liberatingstructures.com/
Who does your solution serve, and in what ways will the solution impact their lives?
Those served are daughters and granddaughters of 50 years of internecine warfare in a Colombian region, both city and country-dwellers in Antioquia Department.
They are young women and little girls, leaders and workers in NGOs and CSOs, deans of university faculties, students, ex-combatants, teachers, nurses and paramedics, mothers and housewives.
Harnessing the brain`s innovative power, ISHHR will engage women and girls in schools and labs, in collaboration with our main partner and Educational Coordinator, Corporación Región, https://www.region.org.co. In higher education, Universidad de Antioquia (UdeA) and Universidad Católica Luis Amigó are central to the coalition.
To understand better and engage young women and girls outside of school in our Solution, we cooperate with multiple channels and networks in Antioquia, including the 20 NGOs / CSOs in our Local Organization Committee who meet and work with them daily. These include Caritas Colombiana, Cruz Roja Colombiana, Seccional Antioquia, Fundación Forjando Futuros, Fundación ICDP, Fundación Oriéntame, CIASE, Humanas, ONU Mujeres, Pastoral Social Medellín, PBI, Reconectando, Sisma Mujer, Abogados sin Fronteras, Casa Tres Patios, Centro Fe y Cultura, Codacop, Comité Internacional Cruz Roja, Conciudadania and Corporación Región.
Five of these NGOs are woman-led and woman-run.
Which dimension of the Challenge does your solution most closely address?
Increase the number of girls and young women participating in formal and informal learning and training
Explain how the problem, your solution, and your solution’s target population relate to the Challenge and your selected dimension.
From our perspective, work to increase girls` and young women´s participation at school must be supported by addressing the human barriers that prevent them—especially those living with violence—from reaching their goals. This is our other Challenge dimension. The goal is 12 years´schooling for everyone, with a special focus on girls who may fall behind. To achieve this, dialogues with families - fathers, brothers, partners, colleagues and leaders - are essential to the Solution. In addition to traditional pedagogical models, schools will focus on developing digital literacy in girls to help them make the transition from education to the work force.
In what city, town, or region is your solution team headquartered?
Medellín, Medellin, Antioquia, Colombia
What is your solution’s stage of development?
Growth: An organization with an established product, service, or business model rolled out in one or, ideally, several communities, which is poised for further growth
Who is the primary delegate for your solution?
Gwynyth Øverland CEO ISHHR Norway
More About Your Solution
If your solution has a website, provide a link here:
https://www.ishhr.com
If your solution proposes an app that is currently live, provide a link to your app online or in an app store here:
https://www.kvinneligomskjæring.no
If you have additional video content that explains your solution, provide a YouTube or Vimeo link here:
Which of the following categories best describes your solution?
A new technology
Describe what makes your solution innovative.
Other organizations have worked in post-conflict regions in the 30 years that ISHHR has been active in the field. IRCT, the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims, focuses particularly on torture, f.ex. ISHHR addresses all forms of post conflict trauma, including rape. We are in contact with Dr Denis Mukwege and Human Rights activist Nadia Murad, Nobel Peace laureates 2018 "for their efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict” and look forward to meeting them in Colombia.
To create a new dimension of performance, ISHHR collaborates with teachers, health workers and Human Rights Defenders concerned with the impact of gross human rights violations on the health and efficacy of individuals. Our capacity building enables health professionals and community workers from conflict and post-conflict environments to explore strategies for use in difficult and dangerous circumstances, by exchanging experiences and learning from each other. Professionals engaged in post-war reconstruction and in promoting psycho-social recovery in other regions find such cooperation rewarding from a practical, clinical and social planning point of view, as well as from an academic and research perspective.
The method is relevant for Colombia. In addition to gender, it addresses current issues in treatment and care of survivors of traumatic human rights abuse, post-conflict reconciliation, challenges faced by internally displaced peoples (IDPs), traditional healing and the role of rituals, working with missing persons’ families on social activism, empowerment and reconciliation, helping the helpers and the role of women in building peace.
Describe the core technology that powers your solution.
Although technology has become almost synonymous with digital solutions, and these are essential for our work, as mentioned above, we hold with the ancient Greeks, that a "systematic treatment" or the "application of science" is a technology (Tekhnologia, OED). In this collaboration between professionals in the two sciences of mental health and education, the last decades of developments in our fields are systematic applications of science.
In the science of pedagogics, John Hattie’s 2009 book, Visible
Learning: A synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement,
pulls together huge amounts of educational research, giving individual elements
of teaching and learning a “d” value: an effect size on student learning. The
average of these effect sizes, d=0.4, is known as the “hinge point“, a value beyond
which we should focus our efforts and where we are more likely to achieve
significant gains with students.
In health science, see for example the neuro-psychological discoveries of the withering of the brain´s synapses after traumatic events and dysfunction of circuits involving the medial prefrontal cortex. Recovering lost functions by use of appropriate treatment and care are advanced "softwares", providing the core technology for mental health specialists.Siegel´s (2012) The Developing Mind: How Relationships and the Brain Interact to Shape Who We Are, is an excellent guide ,to the research powering these significant scientific and technical advances, incorporating cutting-edge topics, including neuroplasticity, epigenetics, mindfulness, and the neural correlates of consciousness.
This knowledge underlies Trauma Informed Care and Practice for children and youth (Bath, 2004).
Provide evidence that this technology works.
Expert evidence:
Hattie, J. (2008). Visible learning: a synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement.
Routledge
Cited by 4,4084
In November 2008, John Hattie's ground breaking book Visible Learning synthesized the results of more than fifteen years research involving millions of students and represented the biggest ever collection of evidence-based research into what actually works in schools
Siegel, D (2012). The Developing Mind: How Relationships and the Brain Interact to Shape Who We Are. New York, Guilford.
Siegel, D (2006). An Interpersonal Neurobiology Approach to Psychotherapy
Interpersonal neurobiology is a “consilient” approach that examines the
independent fields of knowing to find the common principles that emerge to
paint a picture of the “larger whole” of human experience and development.
Interpersonal neurobiology extracts wisdom from more than a
dozen different disciplines of science on human experience
and the process of change across the lifespan. This article summarizes the
principles of interpersonal neurobiology, with an emphasis on neuroscience
findings regarding the mirror neuron system and neural plasticity.
Please select the technologies currently used in your solution:
Audiovisual Media
Behavioral Technology
What is your theory of change?
Davis et al., in their review article below (2015), did an extended web search of key behavioral science journals to identify theories of behavior and behavior change of potential relevance. Our team explored in particular theories incorporating social, cultural, psychological and pedagogical factors.
What was the behavior we wanted to change? The overall objectives: (a) Raise levels of education for girls and women; (b) Prevent Violence against women and girls through changes in behavior, practices and attitudes
Since interventions are more effective if they simultaneously target variables at different levels, e.g., individual, community and population (NICE, 2007), we chose to work as follows to effect change in Antioquia, Colombia:
Provide opportunities for learning and empowerment on different levels.
On the individual level: create possibilities for a heart to heart talk with a school nurse
On the community level, train schools and social networks to deal with gender-based violence (GBV)
Teachers learning to moderate classroom discussions and dialog, in time, can serve the population at large: both women and girls and men and boys that may be - or become – perpetrators**
**Work to prevent young men from becoming perpetrators is essential to achieve success with the goals, and more education may not be enough. Men without work, for example, can end in a downward spiral of depression, alcohol abuse and violence. For this reason, ISHHR chooses to include training and teaching not only for women and girls, but also groups for men: veterans; teachers, policemen, former combatants, government employees, trade unionists and businessmen.
In addition, women and girls subject to violence in their own childhood may be powerless to oppose it, to fight back, to walk away, to bring charges - because these alternatives are unknown to them. The project will work to integrate these and other alternative behaviors into the toolbox of women ́s identity.
Reference
"Theories of behaviour and behaviour change across the social and behavioural sciences: a scoping review"
Select the key characteristics of your target population.
Women & Girls
Rural
Peri-Urban
Urban
Low-Income
Minorities & Previously Excluded Populations
Persons with Disabilities
Which of the UN Sustainable Development Goals does your solution address?
1. No Poverty
3. Good Health and Well-Being
4. Quality Education
5. Gender Equality
10. Reduced Inequalities
11. Sustainable Cities and Communities
16. Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions
In which countries do you currently operate?
Colombia
In which countries will you be operating within the next year?
Colombia
Peru
How many people does your solution currently serve? How many will it serve in one year? In five years?
Our partner and educational coordinator Corporacion Region serves teachers in 10 municipalities of the Aburrá Valley (pop:3,726,219) by training them to develop socio-emotional capacities in secondary and middle school pupils: 210,242; 51% girls. See attached videos of their program. With enough funding, these programs can expand in Antioquia (pop:6,407,000).
By means of the training workshops listed under "What is your solution?” our alliance will initiate networks of change. We have signed 5 workshop facilitator teams, both international and Colombian experts in these methods, who: #1) will train 100 teachers in how to develop socio-emotional capacities in the classroom: #2) will train 20 NGOs and community-based psychosocial caregivers in implementing Trauma Recovery Techniques (TRT); #3) will help 20 women and men to improve their parental roles using International Child Development Programme (ICDP); #4) will train 20 women as Change Agents, to teach the prevention of Gender Based Violence (GBV) in their networks, by changing behavior, practices and attitudes, and #5) will train 20 trainers in the GBV Manual for 200 psychosocial caregivers and HRDs
In this model for replication and spreading, one extended train-the-trainers workshop can qualify 10 participants. Ideally, if each participant then trains 10 friends or colleagues from her or his network over several weeks.: 10=>100=>1000=>10,000=>100,000=> 1,000,000 in 5 steps in approximately one year. The numbers suggested are optimal; ensuring replication will require professional supervision and eyes-on follow-up; yet if all workshops were a fraction as successful, those influenced could number 5 million in 5 years
What are your goals within the next year and within the next five years?
The end results of educating more girls to a higher level relate to the fact that education and active engagement in society reduce violence and contribute to more peaceful, productive and innovative societies. In the first year, we expect to see:
Decrease in female mortality[1] As GBV decreases and accountability of security services improves
Decrease in female morbidity, As access to and quality of health care for women improve due to participation of Colombian service providers in a global network
Increase in secondary education, particularly for girls. Although our main goals are to train and educate adults working with young women and girls, the end goal is empowering girls to pursue their interests and commit to education.
In order to monitor systemic improvements in education and gender based violence over five years, we will:
Track statistics and register changes in school attendance and results:
National examination results girls in secondary school
Percentages of girls graduating
Young women entering high school and higher education
Track statistics and register changes in Gender Based Violence,
What barriers currently exist for you to accomplish your goals in the next year and in the next five years?
Our chief barriers are financial and - possibly - legal. In spite of continued applications, we still need funding. Perhaps donors have begun to regard the words “Human Rights” as a threat: Andrew Gilmour, Vice Secretary General of OHCHR, said as much in a public address (Oslo 13 November 2018). It seems that certain governments and commercial interests actually try to use leverage to threaten the Office of the High Commissioner. If this is the case, we have come to a sorry pass.
The governance and political economy of Colombia have changed radically since the former president led the work of establishing peace. Millions lack access to basic services while experiencing an increase in violence and insecurity. The situation for social leaders has dramatically deteriorated with a stark increase in attacks, threats and homicides over the last two years. Homicide rate increased in 2018 for the first time in ten years.
Among Human Rights Defenders working for CSOs in Colombia in remote and dangerous areas, women and indigenous HRDs are particularly targeted for summary execution, even by the state. Many of our stakeholders support HRDs and depend on them for following up populations in remote areas (PBI, Humanas, Sisma Mujer to name a few). To gain an understanding of the situation for the most vulnerable citizens will mean devoting time and resources to side-by-side follow-up with experienced local guides. In such conditions, legal obstacles may appear on the path to universal Human Rights.
How do you plan to overcome these barriers?
We are not faint of heart!
Colombia struggles to implement the peace agreement signed in 2016, but the agreement still lives, and progress is being made.
Dag Nagoda, Norwegian Special envoy for Colombia, states:
“Norway is a guarantor of the Peace Process. To be a credible guarantor, you must have the confidence of both sides, maintain impartiality and work discretely… If we criticize it, we only play into the hands of those that would destroy it. If we want to defend it, we must show that there is something to defend.
One achievement is that the vast majority of former combatants, almost 90% of FARC, remain in processes of reintegration today - a remarkable achievement by international standards. Many are in productive projects, preparing a better future for their families and communities, in spite of the security situation. Key institutions, Truth Commission and Commission for Los Desaparecidos are the most sophisticated institutions of their kind in the world – the backbone of the peace process.” (Meeting in Norwegian Human Rights Fund 22/11/2019).
We agree with Nagoda´s position and strive to maintain an open dialogue with all sides.
in this attempt, ISHHR is fortunate to have the support of Caritas Colombiana and of Father Francisco de Roux, leader of the Truth Commission, who kindly agreed to open the final ISHHR Conference. In spite of possible legal obstacles, such a mark of support from highly respected clerics mean something in a nation that is over 90% Catholic
About Your Team
What type of organization is your solution team?
Other, including part of a larger organization (please explain below)
If you selected Other, please explain here.
ISHHR is a non-profit voluntary international NGO, with a global network of individual members belonging to different organizations (for history, see www.ishhr.com). From among the members who state their candidacy, 8-11 delegates are elected to the Council (Board) by the General Assembly for 3-6 year terms. The Council is responsible for capacity-building projects in post-conflict regions. A secretariat function is delegated to the six members of the ExCom, including Coordinator, Secretary General, Treasurer and Secretary. as well as to principle partner organizations in Colombia who share responsibility for. planning and execution. In the current period ISHHR Norway hosts the secretariat.
How many people work on your solution team?
Currently, the ISHHR Council elected 2018 has 11 delegates representing the Netherlands, Turkey, Serbia, Spain, Uganda, Norway, Colombia, UK, Georgia and Australia (see www.ishhr.com). The 11 members work part time in supporting the project. The Executive Committee consists of 6 people, including Coordinator, Secretary General, Treasurer and Secretary, who lead the secretariat and are permanently on call.
The ExCom cooperates closely with lead partner and Educational Coordinator, Corporación Región (CR), which invests many hours in the project, and two universities. A Memorandum of Understanding forms the basis for a partnership-contract with CR as soon as funds become available.
Why are you and your team well-positioned to deliver this solution?
Our collective professional experience of working with survivors of gross Human Rights abuse after conflict spans many decades:
Hande Karakilic Ucer, Secretary General (Turkey). Psychiatrist in clinical practice; former Director, Mental Health Center, Turkish Security Forces; coordinated treatment of asylum-seekers for UNHCR
Tatjana Obradovic, Coordinator (Serbia) MA Social Policy, Know How Centre, specializes in child protection, social protection and inclusion, working with community development, minorities and marginalized group
Shaun Nemorin, Treasurer (Australia), Team Leader of STARTTS’ School Liaison Program, managing psycho-physical intervention programs in schools across New South Wales for trauma-impacted refugee students.
Gwynyth Øverland PhD Clinical Sociology, Secretary (USA-Norway), 30 years working with survivors (e.g Cambodia), research on trauma, resilience, culture and violent extremism (2013, 2014, 2018).
Boris Drožđek PhD, psychiatrist/ psychotherapist and researcher with long experience in treating victims of war and political violence, former ExCom IRCT.
Sofía Colorado Valencia (Colombia), psychologist since 2006, has worked with children and families at risk, supervising the reestablishment of basic human rights.
Rolf Vårdal, clinical physiotherapist, Centre for Migration Health, Bergen, 20 years working with refugees and groups of survivors in post-conflict Peru after CAI (conflicto armado inferno).
*Professor Nora Sveaass, clinical psychologist, developed the manual Mental health and gender-based violence: Helping survivors of sexual violence in conflict. Member of UN Committee Against Torture 2005–2013; currently member of UN Subcommittee for the Prevention of Torture; received University of Oslo’s Human Rights Prize (2018) and Royal Norwegian Order of Saint Olav (2019) for her work on human rights
* Facilitator
What organizations do you currently partner with, if any? How are you working with them?
ISHHR has three groups of partners in regard to capacity building in Colombia:
The Council : professionals representing different organizations around the world, with extensive experience of working in post conflict regions. For more details of their backgrounds, see www.ishhr.com, Council Members. In addition we have a Local Organization Committee (LOC) on the ground in Antioquia: Corporación Región, with its focus on education, cooperates with other Colombian NGOs and institutions that have agreed to contribute to and support the ISHHR initiative, while furthering their own ideal goals and mandates. These include the two universities, https://www.funlam.edu.co (Dean Luz Marina Arango) and Universidad de Antioquia www.udea.edu.co (Professor Steven Arozco Arcile)
LOC representatives` meeting /workshop at UdeA, Medellin, 30/0/819:
Caritas Colombiana, Cruz Roja Colombiana, Seccional Antioquia, Fundación Forjando Futuros, Fundación ICDP, Fundación Oriéntame, CIASE, Humanas, ONU Mujeres, Pastoral Social Medellín, PBI, Reconectando, Sisma Mujer, Abogados sin Fronteras, Casa Tres Patios, Centro Fe y Cultura, Codacop, Comité Internacional Cruz Roja, Conciudadania-ISHHR.
ISHHR hopes to cooperate with those working specifically with women ́s rights and prevention of violence against women in Colombia: Humanas (Regional Center of Human Rights and Justice); Sisma Mujer (International Cooperation for Women in Conflict zones) promotes and defends the Human Rights of women; CIASE (Corporation of Investigation and Action, Social and Economical) focuses Indigenous women; FOKUS (Forum for Women and Development) promotes women’s empowerment, rights and access to resources.
ISHHR´s Scientific Committee, supported by the two universities, includes academics from Europe and the Americas, and facilitators e.g. *Nora Sveaass (see Team).
Your Business Model & Funding
What is your business model?
ISHHR´s key customers and beneficiaries are organizations and institutions that work primarily with mental health, safety and education. Under About your team, What organizations do you currently partner with, you will find more detail. ISHHR provides these organizations, institutions, NGOs and professionals with state of the art models and techniques for use in mental health and educational work, to facilitate these partners´ and services´ work with the final beneficiaries: girls, women, families, and societies in cities and remote areas in Colombia as well as in the home countries of professional participants in and leaders of training seminars and symposia.
Do you primarily provide products or services directly to individuals, or to other organizations?
Organizations (B2B)
What is your path to financial sustainability?
Since ISHHR is not a business but a non-profit voluntary organization; it has been dependent on aid from governments and international organizations since the 1980s, and profits from the related social enterprise have been completely re-invested in the work of the organization. Perhaps the model is outmoded (see section on Barriers currently existing,) but we must start where we are.
ISHHR awaits a decision on two current applications for grants, with responses due in September and October.
