what we do - Community Work

Initial Contact

Focus Areas

- Emotional

- Social

- Cognitive

- Physical

Community work

Success

Sustaining Impact

Testimonials

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Juconi´s community work is an extension of its successful training centre. The work has two main objectives:

• To provide Juconi families and graduates with appropriate social opportunities which allow them to continue to progress as individuals and as families. This also equips them with the skills and confidence to form action groups that will contribute actively and positively to their immediate community.

• To provide the areas in which Juconi Works with support in developing a more inclusive and appropriate place where children can develop.
  
  

Support and Participation Groups

Juconi organises and helps to set up support groups to benefit individuals and local communities. Mothers who have been physically abused or who have family-related or personal problems meet together with a Juconi therapeutic facilitator to explore how they can support each other’s progress in overcoming past and present difficulties. Juconi graduates are encouraged to participate in these groups and use their experiences to help others.

Youth and children’s activity groups offer an alternative space for reflection and integration within the community. The groups provide a forum for children to express their opinions, learn about their rights and develop leadership skills. Through activties such as art clubs, children learn how to identify the issues that matter to them, as well as how explore and discuss them creatively.

Participation and Social Development

Groups are formed from diverse members of the local community including teachers, community leaders, mothers, NGOs and health workers. These groups then become fundamental in initiating change from within. Drawing on the members´ experiences and resources, action groups become agents of positive change in the community, ensuring that projects are well-managed, sustainable and benefit the whole community. As part of a strategy to limit violence in the community an action group recently organised a “reclaim the park” day to make sure their local recreational space was safe and clean for them and their children. The project´s successful end was marked with a community festival.

Training and Support for local schools Drawing on the successful experiences of Juconi´s Training Centre, the community programme supports schools within the areas where we work. Through training and workshops, we help teachers develop the skills they need to integrate street-involved and other vulnerable children into their classrooms. As the training becomes more participative and child-centred, the whole school benefits. The support we provide makes a difference not only to the quality of the education but is also a positive mechanism for integrating the school into the wider community and ensuring that it begins to play a more central role in local regeneration.