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Nicaraguan and Dominican Men Working on Visit Britain and Europe A group of men from Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic will visit Europe in October to talk about reducing violence against women by challenging deep-rooted masculine attitudes and behaviour. They will discuss their pioneering popular education work at a series of meetings in Britain, Ireland, Spain and Belgium. The tour is being facilitated by the Catholic Institute for International Relations International Cooperation for Development (CIIR/ICD). Men from the Nicaragua-based Association of Men Against Violence have been engaged in groundbreaking work on masculinities and gender based violence since the mid-1990s. The methods developed in Nicaragua have recently been tried in the Dominican Republic with impressive results. One visitor will be from the Dominican organisation MOVIDA. Despite advances in gender analysis, women still
face male violence on an appalling scale. In a study in 1998 in Nicaragua,
68% of women reported having suffered physical, psychological or sexual
violence at some point in their life. For the majority, husbands or
partners were the main perpetrators. Men who have taken part in the
masculinities and gender education programme have reported real reductions
in their use of violence against women as a result of the workshops. The three-week tour in Europe titled “Men
Aren’t from Mars: Masculinities and Non Violence in Latin America and
the Caribbean” aims to contribute to a shift in thinking from women as
victims towards focusing on men as the perpetrators of gender violence. It
will examined how concepts of masculinities tend to promote and legitimise
the use of physical and psychological violence. This project aims to
address some of the root causes. It also addresses the lack of attention
paid to men’s responsibility, by sharing experiences of innovative work
from Nicaragua with European organisations, including men’s groups,
women’s organisations, NGOs, gender networks, community projects,
government and law-enforcement officials. A 2-day Conference is planned in London for October
9th and 10th. The itinerary for the tour includes: Oct
1
Liverpool (contact Tim Allen, CAFOD; tel: 0151 933 7780; tallen@cafod.org.uk
/ Chas Raws, tel: 0151-342-4425) Oct
2-3
Ireland (contact John Daly, APSO; tel: (353-1) 661-4411; jdaly@apso.ie) Oct
4-7
Scotland (contact Geraldine MacDonald; tel: 0141 354 5555; gmcdonald@sciaf.org.uk) Oct
9-10
London (contact Vanessa Kurz, CIIR/ICD; vanessa@ciir.org;
tel: 020 7288 8610; website: www.ciir.org) Oct
12
Bristol (contact Alix Hughes, UWE; tel: 0117 965 6261; Alix.Hughes@uwe.ac.uk)
Oct
15-16 Belgium
(contact Roland Mayerl; city.shelter@skynet.be)
Oct 17-18 Spain (contact Ernest Canada; tel: 933 010 171; ernest.sodepau@pangea.org) José
Lucía Tavárez Henríquez
studied psychology, Hispanic literature and philosophy in his native
country Dominican Republic. Since 1982, he has been University Professor
in the following subjects: Philosophy, Dominican History, History of
Western Philosophy, Contemporary Hispanic-American Literature, Industrial
Psychology. During that time he also worked in various other areas,
including as the director of the Programme ‘Popular Education and
Medical Assistance to Cane Cutter in the Sugar Plantations’, and more
recently as Human Resource Manager in the Compañía
Anónima Tabacalera. He has published various articles in national
newspapers and magazines and a collection of poems: “De Amor, Desamor y
Rabia”. Emiliano
Andrés Herrera Rodríguez
studied
medicine and general surgery in Nicaragua and did a masters in
public health in Sweden. He currently is research assistant in
Reproductive and Child health, domestic violence, adolescent sexuality,
and is Assitant Professor in the Department of Preventative Medicine and
Public Health. He is Vice-Coordinator of the Centro de Atención y
Recreación para Adolescentes de Sutiava (CARAS); and Vice-President of
the Asociación de Hombres Contra la Violencia de Nicaragua (AHCV). Last
year he developed the Gender and Public Health Training Module for
the Panamerican Health Organisation. Nicaraguan
Juan ‘Johnny’ Benicio Jiménez
Vásquez,
graduated in
Social Work from the Central American University in 1996. He has
wide experience of community work primarily specialising in youth work.
This includes work with child labourers, children and youth with
addictions,
and work with street children in the refuge of Casa Alianza
Nicaragua. He also has experience of
adult literacy promotion. He has worked on issues of masculinity
and gender since 1997, both at the community level in Cuidad Sandino, a
sprawling urban neighbourhood of Managua, as well as doing research for
the Puntos de Encuentro Foundation. He has been the Executive Coordinator
of the Association of Men Against Violence since it was set up in August
2000. Paddy Welsh is a specialist in popular education who has lived in Nicaragua for 15 years. He has worked as a Development Worker with International Cooperation for Development CIIR’s skillshare programme in Nicaragua for the last 6 years. He is a specialist in methodologies of popular participation and is author of the CIIR book Men Aren’t from Mars: Unlearning Machismo in Nicaragua. He has worked on issues of gender and masculinity for over ten years. -------------------------------------------------------------- A
tour organised by CIIR |