Think Creative - Issue 2

Dispatches

updates from around our world

Proponte Más family promoters (from left) Karla, Marcia and Wendy collaborate on reaching out to families in the Tres de Mayo neighborhood of Tegucigalpa, Honduras.

Neighbors guide youth away from violence

Honduras // Proponte Más

Every few weeks, four women make their rounds in their neighborhood of Tres de Mayo, on the outskirts of the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa, where rival gangs have spurred high levels of crime and violence. Nataly, Wendy, Karla and Marcia are check- ing in with the youth and families they work with through a violence prevention program called Proponte Más. They serve as a team of “family promoters” – community leaders who work directly with families to keep youth from increasing their risk for engaging with the gangs and violence that are all too common in the Tres de Mayo area. Funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development and implemented by Creative Associates International, Proponte Más has trained 72 family promoters in five of the coun-

try’s most violent areas. For families working hard to keep their kids safe, the regular visits have been a welcome support, says Wendy, one of the promoters. “When I visited my first family and told them about the program, I was able to see how pleased they seemed when we showed an in- terest in their child,” she says. “That’s when the doors of their homes just open wide.” Promoters like Wendy are trained by Propon- te Más to walk families through activities and conversations aimed at making youth more resilient to the factors that may pull them toward crime and violence. The promoters work to build family bonds, improve parental supervision, strengthen communication and change risky behavior in youth.

“Getting families to establish positive behav- ior patterns is the most efficient way through which we can achieve positive changes in the country,” Wendy says. Proponte Más sees the family structure as the best asset to prevent youth from becoming part of a cycle of violence and aims to help parents or guardians create home environments that are supportive and generate a sense of belong- ing for their children. In the city of San Pedro Sula, for example, family promoters in the Rivera Hernández neighborhood have helped repair the relation- ship between 11-year-old Ángel and his parents. Family promoter coordinator Nolvia says the team in Rivera Hernández quickly recognized that much of Ángel’s disobedience toward his

Photo by Emanuel Rodríguez

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