On a daily basis, the Legion of Good Will’s assistance network benefits thousands of people, not only in Brazil but also in the six other countries where it has autonomous bases. Decades after its establishment, the LBV now has approximately 100 centers, located in South and North America as well as in Europe. In these units, modern social technologies are applied in the Organization’s educational and socio-assistance services. These programs involve replicable techniques and methodologies, promoting good responsible practices so as to offer the community the solutions needed to enact their own betterment.

To develop its social inclusion programs and projects towards sustainable development, the LBV establishes partnerships with agents from technical and scientific fields to meet public demands for food, education, income, health, and environment.

The LBV in the Bolivian Andean plateau (the Altiplano)

Since 1986, the Legion of Good Will of Bolivia, located in the capital city of La Paz, has been carrying out important socio-assistance programs. It maintains the Jesus Nursery School, which helps children between the ages of two and five who come from families living in vulnerable situations.

Arquivo BV

Two of these programs—Education in Action and Clean Teeth, Healthy Children—are examples of how social technologies play a fundamental role in regions that are lacking in infrastructure and are far away from large urban centers.

This year, seven educational centers in Collana Tolar, located 68 kilometers outside La Paz, benefited from the programs: Centro Belén, Nueva Esperanza, Taracollo, Huancarani, Wichicollo, Franz Tamayo, and Quillcoma. The region is populated by small rural communities of indigenous origin, which are traditional in the Bolivian Andean plateau.

Education for all

With the goals of reducing grade repetition and dropout rates, as well as investing in quality education, the Legion of Good Will of Bolivia has developed the Education in Action program. Since 2010, this program has worked successfully to contribute to the fulfillment of the second Millennium Development Goal: “Achieve universal primary education”.

In April, for example, the Education in Action program handed out hundreds of academic and school supply kits and provided training workshops for teachers. Importance was placed on the strategies and resources used for facilitating learning. This included creating bonds between teachers and students, as well as promoting ways to include parents in these activities.

For Federico Chira, teacher and general director of the educational centers of the community of Franz Tamayo, the LBV’s program represents an important encouragement for everybody: “Thank you! On behalf of the teachers and family members of the students, I thank you because this material is complete. This encourages children to go to school. We never had this type of support before, which is why we’re very grateful.”

Clean Teeth, Healthy Children

This program is responsible for holding oral health workshops, which provide information about brushing techniques, and distributing personal oral hygiene kits. The work is undertaken in partnership with professors and students from the Franz Tamayo and El Alto universities and is divided into three stages.

The first stage consists of a visit to different communities in order to identify and prepare a register of people who will be assisted. In the next stage, volunteer dentists give talks that provide guidance for parents, teachers, and students on the importance of brushing their teeth correctly. This is followed by dental care services, which includes the treatment for tooth decay and the application of fluoride, as well as tooth extraction surgery, if necessary. Each dental hygiene kit, which is distributed to every child, is equipped with: a mug, a child-sized toothbrush, a tube of toothpaste, a towel, a bar of soap, and a backpack to keep all the items in.

In the third and final stage of this program, there is a return visit to the same schools in order to reinforce preventive practices by way of a workshop entitled “Periodontal Diseases”. The toothbrushes that were initially distributed by the program are also replaced and an individual assessment is carried out by means of a recreational activity to check if the students have learned the good oral hygiene habits.

Teachers and health professionals alike highlight the value of this program in these rural communities, in which a large portion of the population does not even have a toothbrush, and those who do often share it with other family members. Teacher Orlando Marca Rodríguez, from the Rosa Grover School, says: “Few of us are concerned with dental hygiene and there’s little information available about it. In the name of the community and the children who were benefited from this campaign, I want to express my deepest thanks to the LBV, which assumed the role of helping with this work.”

A volunteer dentist in the LBV’s program, Dr. Jimena Ajata, from the Public University of El Alto, does not hide her satisfaction of participating in this socio-educational action, adding:“The work you’re doing is beautiful. I’m happy to see [this support] reach the population which is most in need of it and also the very young people.”

 

Vivian R. Ferreira

GOOD WILL — Is the energy sector increasing its greenhouse gas emissions?

Bárbara Rubim — Today it is the second largest source of greenhouse gases in Brazil, second only to soil use, which is responsible for most of the deforestation. But some studies show that over the next thirty years it is going to be the largest emitter we shall have. Therefore, the energy sector plays a key role in climate change.

GW — Which renewable energy sources are most viable in Brazil?

Bárbara Rubim — Apart from hydroelectric power stations, which are renewable but not sustainable because of all the consequences they generate in Indigenous and riverbank communities in the Amazon, for example, there are other renewable sources, such as wind power, solar energy, and biomass, and Brazil is extremely rich in all of them. Over the last four years, we have seen growth in wind power in our energy matrix, but solar energy, which is an abundant source in the country—no one doubts it is a “tropical country blessed [by God and beautiful] by nature”—and that could be generating electricity in the homes of all Brazilians, is still forgotten and ignored. . . . Greenpeace is working with a target of 100 percent renewable energy in our energy matrix by 2050. This is technically possible. The example of Germany is remarkable, because the best place in that country for the use of solar energy is 20 percent worse than the worst place in Brazil. Even so, ten million Germans benefit from this source of energy, while Brazil has just beaten its record of 700 systems installed—such a big difference.

GW — What is the main role of civil society at this moment in time?

Bárbara Rubim — The main role of Brazilian society is, in fact, that of following the negotiations that are taking place in the world and the official reports of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs— which is preparing our INDC (Intended Nationally Determined Contribution)—, and also to pressure government to be ambitious in establishing this target. We can no longer believe we have no power to change, because we certainly do have it.

Promoting the autonomy of women, many of them mothers and heads of family, improving their selfesteem and their ability to overcome challenges and day-to-day hardships are some of the goals of the Strengthening Lives group, an activity of the Good Will in Action program. Created in 2011 by the LBV of Paraguay, over the last four years the group has already benefited hundreds of women by offering them handicraft courses, holding talks on themes of interest to the population, and sharing practices that help promote sustainable development.

María Mendes

For Zulma Galeano, 34, member of the group from the San Ignacio de Loyola settlement, taking part in this activity has only brought her benefits. “Last year I started having crochet lessons. I was surprised to find out that they were offering free courses at the LBV, because in other places if you want to study and learn something you have to pay for it and I didn’t have any money for that. The little I earned was to buy food for my children. I thank the LBV for transforming my life and the lives of so many other people for the better,” she said. Ms. Galeano is currently selling her own crochet products, which has helped support her and her family.

The Good Will in Action program is carried out by the LBV in Asuncion, in the Villa Angélica settlement, in the city of Lambaré, and in the San Ignacio de Loyola settlement, in the city of Ciudad del Este. In all three locations the Organization provides classes in canvas and fabric painting, knitting, and shoe decorating to help remedy the socially vulnerable situation these communities find themselves in. Thanks to the partnership with the National Service for Professional Promotion (SNPP), of the Ministry of Labor, Employment, and Social Security of Paraguay, the Organization also runs courses in manicure and pedicure, hairdressing, among others.

In an interview given to GOOD WILL magazine, published in Issue No. 234, the doctor in molecular biology from the Federal University of São Paulo (UNIFESP) Lilian Piñero Eça, President of the Instituto de Pesquisa de Células-Tronco (IPCTRON) [Stem Cell Research Institute], explains aspects related to the start of life in human reproduction and the serious consequences of abortion on the physical and mental health of women.

Dr. Eça, who is also the scientific director of the Centro de Atualização em Saúde (CAS) [Health Updating Center] in São Paulo, warns of the danger of making the project for decriminalizing abortion in Brazil a law. She bases her arguments on her long experience shared with other professionals, in particular on the efforts of the interdisciplinary team of the CAS, in the treatment of those who interrupt their pregnancy.

The specialist defends citizenship rights as from the time of fertilization, the moment when the life of the individual begins. Instead of thinking about promoting death, the researcher recommends that first of all it is necessary to take care of the quality of health of Brazilians.

The opinion of the biomedical doctor adds to the broad discussion that places care for life in focus — for the Legion of Good Will this is a question that involves material, moral, and spiritual dimensions, since Life precedes conception. As the President of the LBV, José de Paiva Netto, says: “We are now body, but we are originally Spirit.”

 

GOOD WILL — Thank you for your willingness to meet with the LBV to talk about the consequences of abortion on the health of women.

Dr. Lilian Eça — It’s a pleasure to be with the Legion of Good Will once again. I’m always moved when I receive this invitation. I’m a supporter of all this marvelous energy of the LBV. I just hope I can clarify, with simplicity, the doubts of women and men as well, because no one gets pregnant alone! We can try not to get pregnant during our menstrual cycles, but after the pregnancy has taken hold we must maintain it for the health of the woman.

GW — During pregnancy, the woman’s body is transformed…

Dr. Lilian Eça — The start of human life is when the sperm and the ovum meet. That’s when the embryonic stem cells are formed, which will give rise to a human being. There we have all the proteins and the signaling for the future brain, the little legs, the little arms. (...) I study the cell signs of embryos in the uterus. We women have two hormones that are talked about a lot by gynecologists: estrogen and progesterone. The first is found in the organism most of the time. The protein molecules of estrogen signalize our whole body; that’s why women have no body hair; are more affectionate; and have a maternity nest. As soon as I’ve been fertilized and get pregnant, progesterone begins being secreted and substitutes the estrogen. Within 48 hours of becoming pregnant, all the trillions of cells that make up the woman have been transformed, and one of them is affection; you also start getting sleepy... Why do we get sleepy? So you stop wasting so much energy. It’s time to save energy for the baby. So the woman is completely signaled for the child. But then she takes a decision, either alone or with her partner, about not wanting this pregnancy, despite being completely signaled by progesterone in her trillions of cells, in her synapses... She has all the signals needed to form that unreproducible human being.

GW — Can abortion cause an imbalance in the organism?

Dr. Lilian Eça — By deciding to remove the child, you cause a blackout.... like pulling the plug on a computer, you know? When you try and start this computer again the chips don’t work.  You cause a blackout in trillions of cells. It was all affectionate, transformed for the nest, the cells were secreting a load of neurotransmitters and endorphins... When you pull the plug, by sucking out the fetus, the neurotransmitters are interrupted, because the progesterone that commands their secretion reduces. As a result, you can get depression for the rest of your life. If the woman has a greater tendency to depression, the lack of the neurotransmitter is a tragedy and no medication can recover her.

GW — Does a violent reaction occur in the body itself, with a high degree of aggression?

Dr. Lilian Eça — Total aggression! This is not being emancipated... is emancipation sucking out your fetus? No. Scientifically speaking this is regression. If you like your body, yourself, your neurotransmitter, your neurons, your brain, I would advise you to think trillions of times. Furthermore, you will run the risk of infection, the risk of sucking out more than you need to, because when you want to be a mother, you may no longer have the endometrial layer. If you remove the endometrial layer, the fetus loses mobility; or you end up having a greater tendency of having a fetus in the fallopian tubes; [in this case] not only the fetus has to be removed, but the tube as well. If I started talking about what abortion does to your physical and mental health, and there are women who have several, you wouldn’t agree to do it. 

GW — Is lack of information still a problem?

Dr. Lilian Eça — Unfortunately, Brazilians in general lack information and because of that they don’t fight for their rights. (...) So, having an abortion is not protecting life. The doctor swears an oath in favor of life from its beginning to its end, and then goes and takes away life? That’s a contradiction. We shall have to create a new university if this law is passed in Brazil. We’re not even prepared to carry out an ultrasound in pregnant women, so imagine doing this examination to remove children. Without a structure for the babies to be born, because there are a lot, can you imagine, therefore, what a waiting list for abortions there would be? I’m totally against it. What we have to do is build more hospitals, with more care, and better salaries for professionals; we have to have a health law.

GW — Do countries that allow abortion feel the effects of this?

Dr. Lilian Eça — Developed nations, like Denmark, where the law allows abortion, have a high number of female suicides. That is precisely because of the lack of neurotransmitters. A person only takes their own life when they are very depressed. (...) In addition to my research into cell signals, for many years I’ve been monitoring the behavior of women who have abortions through the Health Updating Center.  We have an interdisciplinary team — psychiatrists, nurses, biomedical doctors, dentists... I’m not alone in reaching these conclusions. They’re also the result of the monitoring done by other professionals.

GW — And what is your opinion on the interruption of the pregnancy of an anencephalic*1 baby?

Dr. Lilian Eça — You may be shocked, but it’s what I think... We always want our children to be completely healthy, logically, but if I carry out an ultrasound and I discover I have a baby with anencephaly I think it’s a lot healthier to give a chance to going through mourning than to rid oneself of it by having an abortion. In this case we know that their life is going to be shorter. (...) It’s the same thing, for example, in the case of having a healthy child and tomorrow they have an accident and stop being healthy. The mother will stay by its side, will live with this child, who will need her every day. There are contradictions. If I have my child inside me and it is sick, am I going to remove it? No way, we love them even more! (...) From the moment you become pregnant you have the responsibility for that being inside you.

____________________________________________________
*1 Anencephaly — A type of rare malformation of the neural tube, characterized by the partial absence of the encephalon and the cranial vault of the fetus.

 

Version: Rob Dinham
Revision: Rosana Bertolin

In a world that connects and develops faster and faster in terms of technology, globalization is a well-known fact. But despite so much progress, ideas that promote exclusivism and inequality have also reached a global level. In order to contribute towards urgently changing this scenario, young people from all over the world will get together for another edition of the Legion of Good Will’s (LBV) International Forum of the Ecumenical Protagonist Youth of the Good Will of God.

Vivian R. Ferreira

The proposal for a better world that guides the event is the expressive and internationally recognized banner of the President of the LBV Paiva Netto: the Globalization of Fraternal Love. The author, who is also the leader of the LBV’s Youth Movement, sent the proposition to the United Nations in 2007 in the article “Eight Millennium Goals — Responsibility of all those endowed with common sense”, defending the revolutionary action of Fraternity as an indispensable factor for progress towards the eradication of so many social ills: “To combat the globalization of poverty, we counterpose the globalization of Brotherhood, which spiritualizes and ennobles the Economy and disciplines it in a solidary way, as a strong instrument for reacting to the pseudofatalism of poverty.” 

The theme of the 39th edition of the International Forum of the Ecumenical Protagonist Youth of the Good Will of God was chosen by the young people themselves: “Globalization of Fraternal Love — Building a Better World”. Throughout the year the LBV’s Protagonist Youth developed many activities, which exemplify their protagonism in favor of a fair and solidary world. Among them were: ecumenical meetings and studies; social and environmental actions; artistic and cultural events; and communication campaigns. All of them were carried out from the perspective of all-encompassing Ecumenical Spirituality*.

Also part of this series of activities are the Spiritual and Cultural Rounds, which were held this year on May 4 in many regions of the world. On the conclusion of the Forum, June 21, 2014, the LBV’s International Music Festival will be held and Paiva Netto will lead the solemn session via satellite. The concluding event will take place simultaneously in all the Ecumenical Churches of the Religion of God, of the Christ, and of the Holy Spirit worldwide. 

You can check out soon the news and photos of the event on the Good Will Portal website: www.boavontade.com. For further information, write to english@boavontade.com.

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*Ecumenical Spirituality — This banner of the Legion of Good Will is present in all its socio-educational actions, because it is understood as “the cradle of the most generous values that are ​​born of the Soul; the dwelling of the emotions and of the reasoning enlightened by intuition; the atmosphere that embraces everything that transcends the ordinary field of matter and comes from the elevated human sensitivity, such as Truth, Mercy, Morals, Ethics, Honesty, and Brotherly Love.” Extract taken from the book É Urgente Reeducar! [It is Urgent to Re-educate!], which is the fundament of the LBV’s educational proposal, written by educator Paiva Netto, the author of various best-sellers who has sold more than 4.7 million books in Brazil and abroad.

International Women’s Day, which was celebrated on March 8, brings to mind the sacrifices that have been made and challenges faced by different women over the years in their struggle for equal rights. GOOD WILL Women magazine, a special publication of the Legion of Good Will (LBV), underlies just how much we still need to work in order to ensure that women are valued and how their presence in a wide variety of positions in society has an influence on the development of nations.

The new edition of the magazine was launched during the 59th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), which will take place between March 9 and 20 in the United Nations Headquarters in New York/USA. The event marks the 20th anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women held by the UN in 1995 in China’s capital. The objective is to measure the progress that has been made and involve governments and civil society in consolidating the Beijing Platform for Action, which two decades ago outlined the paths towards gender equality and the empowerment of women.

In this magazine (available in Portuguese, English, French, and Spanish) the LBV presents its recommendations for good social practices, based on its integrated solidary work on several lines of action in the areas of education, professional training, sustainability, and communication. These initiatives ensure that the women and girls who are assisted by the Organization have the opportunity to build a better future within the perspective of a Culture of Peace.

Another highlight of this edition of the magazine is the article “Beijing+20 (2015)” by journalist Paiva Netto, the President of the LBV, in which he stresses the role played by women in the evolution of Humanity.

The publication also brings an exclusive interview with the Executive Director of UN Women, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, who has been leading the entity with her strong strategic leadership and management practice. In her opinion, urgent measures and a consistent global effort are needed so that women and girls truly achieve equal rights that are respected.

Marco Grob

Since she took over as the Executive Director of UN Women almost two years ago, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka has led the entity with all her experience with women’s rights and her strong strategic leadership and management practice. In May 2014, at the launch event of the Beijing+20 international campaign titled “Empowering Women, Empowering Humanity: Picture it!”, she pointed out that we are at an unprecedented moment in History, in which joint efforts are being made in order to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015 and to define the next set of world goals: the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). For this reason she stressed that, “we must seize this once-in-a-generation opportunity to position gender equality, women’s rights, and women’s empowerment at the center of the global agenda.”

Phumzile’s résumé includes a remarkable career in politics in South Africa, her homeland and where she became the first woman to be made Vice President from 2005 until 2008. She became a member of Parliament in 1994 and presided the Committee on Public Services and Administration. She was also Deputy Minister of the Department of Trade and Industry (1996- 1999), Minister of Minerals and Energy (1999-2005), and acting Minister of Arts, Culture, Science, and Technology (2004). In 2008 she established the Umlambo Foundation aimed at providing support for schools in poor areas in South Africa, by means of guidance and teacher training, and in Malawi, where it helps bring about improvements in educational establishments through support from local partners.

In an exclusive interview with GOOD WILL magazine the executive director talked, among other topics, about the 20th anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women, which took place in Beijing (China) in 1995, and which will be celebrated during the 59th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), to be held between March 9 and 20 this year at the United Nations Headquarters in New York (USA). According to Ms. Mlambo-Ngcuka, this is the ideal moment to be moving boldly towards gender equality and empowerment of women, thus shortening the deadline for the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action, so that women and girls have equal rights with men, freedom, and opportunities in all sectors of life.

GOOD WILL — What have been the major advances in the fight for gender equality since the Fourth World Conference on Women?

Mlambo-Ngcuka — We have made significant strides in the last 20 years. There is more awareness now than ever before of the need for women to be fully involved as equal partners in all spheres of economic social and political participation. New laws and policies have been adopted to promote gender equality in all realms of public and private activity. Significant advances have been made in the global policy agenda on involving women in peace and security efforts globally. We are close to achieving gender parity in primary education, and in most regions, there are now more women than men enrolled in universities. Despite these achievements . . . , one out of three women experience sexual violence, or they have been abused by their partner. Women continue to bear the brunt of unpaid care work and remain utterly underrepresented in decision-making, both in the public sphere and in the private sector—they are still paid 10 to 30 percent less than men and concentrated in vulnerable, informal jobs, and only one in five parliamentarians are women.

UN Photo/ Albert González Farran

GW — What is the biggest concern for the agenda of UN Women for development post-2015?

Mlambo-Ngcuka — While the Millennium Development Goals spurred significant progress and triggered global attention and action, they yielded uneven results and did not go far enough in addressing key structural issues. For example, the MDG on gender equality and women’s empowerment did not cover fundamental issues such as women’s right to own property, the unequal division of household and care responsibilities, women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights, violence against women and girls, and women’s low participation in decision-making at all levels. The World Economic Forum estimates that at the current pace of progress, gender equality in economic participation and opportunity will not become a reality for another 81 years. We cannot wait that long. Governments need to comprehensively address these structural issues so that gender equality can become a reality by 2030. UN Women therefore advocates for a stand-alone goal in the post-2015 development agenda to achieve gender equality and for integration of gender equality concerns throughout the other priority areas and goals, with clear targets and indicators.

GW — In retrospect, looking over the 20 years since the Beijing Platform for Action and the 15 years since the Millennium Summit, what needs to be different now for countries to achieve this goal?

Mlambo-Ngcuka — We have a huge gap to bridge if we are to achieve the goal of living in a world free of gender inequality. Deeply entrenched discriminatory social norms persist, as well as stereotypes and practices that hold back progress on gender equality. In some areas of the world we have to work even harder to support the provision of safe spaces for girls to attend school, for them to take on professional roles, and for women to be candidates for political office without fear of violence and intimidation. . . . All parts of the government need to be responsible and accountable for the implementation of gender equality measures, from the villages to the cities, to the factory floor, to the corridors of power. The laws that are in place must be enforced and put in place where they are absent. The 128 countries that have at least one legal difference between women and men must revise these laws. We have to redefine what we call progress and raise our expectations to making bold leaps, not small incremental steps. In September, we will ask each head of state to commit to an action plan, a roadmap for a better future, for women and to indicate how the new commitments will be resourced.

Sâmara Caruso

GW — What is the role of South America in this context?

Mlambo-Ngcuka — Latin America and the Caribbean is inspiring in many ways. It has prominent female Heads of State and Government, for example in Argentina, in Brazil, or in Chile, where Michelle Bachelet, my predecessor at UN Women, is President. The region also has the highest levels of representation of women in parliament, with 26 percent. The Americas were also first to enact a binding regional instrument to prevent, punish, and eradicate violence against women and girls, the Belém do Pará Convention, in 1994. This powerful regional Convention served as the basis for the regional instrument of the Council of Europe on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, [also known as] the Istanbul Convention, which just entered into force last year. Latin America and the Caribbean has also made significant strides as regards reparations for victims of sexual violence in conflict, peace, and security. In Colombia, for example, civil society, supported by UN Women, successfully advocated for stronger gender analysis and greater representation of women in the peace talks between the government and the FARC [Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia].

GW — The Legion of Good Will defends that gender issues should be strengthened in school curricula. In your opinion, what would be the best strategy to make educational practices more sensitive to gender issues?

Mlambo-Ngcuka — I commend the Legion of Good Will for the emphasis it places on strengthening the gender sensitivity of educational practices. Like you, I firmly believe that gender perspectives in education must be strengthened. The question we must ask is how we do this for maximum and sustainable impact. Strengthening gender sensitivity in education is not about adding on a gender component to processes and strategies that are inherently gender-biased. For example, it is not enough to increase the number of female teachers if there are no efforts to fundamentally transform how they teach and to revise the curriculum to offer equal learning opportunities for boys and girls. Similarly, increasing the enrolment of girls in courses that remain tailored towards boys’ interests will not achieve the desired results. We must revise our curricula and methods of instruction, provide school facilities that are responsive to both girls’ and boys’ needs, and ensure the safety and security of girls in education. We must also find girl-friendly ways of teaching science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) so that on leaving school girls are appropriately prepared to compete in a market that is increasingly geared towards jobs in science and technology. This is crucial if we are to retain the interest of girls and women in education so that they can stay in school longer and graduate with relevant skills.

Arquivo BV

In order to contribute to the debates of the 59th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), to be held between March 9 and 20, 2015, at the United Nations Headquarters, in New York, USA, the Legion of Good Will (LBV)—a Brazilian civil society organization with general consultative status at the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) since 1999—submits this written statement to share its good practices in the areas of education and social assistance. The focus of this year’s session, “Beijing+20 (2015),” will be an excellent opportunity for assessing the progress that has been made and the setbacks that have occurred since 1995, the year when the Fourth World Conference on Women took place— which stands as a milestone in the fight for gender equality and for an end to discrimination against women and girls.

Despite the significant social and economic progress that has been made by many countries over the last 20 years, gender inequality still persists. The urgent need for greater progress encourages us at the Legion of Good Will to develop with families and communities educational and social assistance programs that reconsider and discuss existing cultural patterns in order to be more inclusive from the gender and race perspective.

The LBV believes that the current scenario of inequality continues to exist because the roots of the problem—the fact that millions of people lack understanding about self-knowledge and living with diversity—have not yet been addressed. These are complex and delicate issues that cannot be considered of low priority, because they require effective public policies right away. That is why it is necessary to re-educate individuals in order for them to be included, transform, and unite society as a whole. This is what we are looking to develop within the 150 cities spread throughout the seven countries where the LBV develops its work: Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, Portugal, the United States, and Uruguay.

Education: a platform for inclusive development

         Education must be structured as a platform that transforms, as Brazilian educator José de Paiva Netto, President of the LBV, argues in the articles he has published in the press since the 1980s and that have been gathered and published in his book É Urgente Reeducar! [It is Urgent to Re-educate!], which is the basis of the Organization’s educational proposal:

“The great goal to be achieved right away lies in education! And we go further: ‘only Re-education, and [the re-education] even of educators,’ as advocated by Alziro Zarur (1914-1979), late founder of the Legion of Good Will, can guarantee us times of prosperity and harmony. We need to re-educate ourselves urgently in order to be able to re-educate. . . . While efficient education desired by all those of common sense does not prevail, any nation will suffer the captivity that the lack of preparation imposes upon itself” (Paiva Netto, 2010).

This concept is in line with the Report to UNESCO of the International Commission on Education for the 21^st Century:

“We must be guided by the Utopian aim of steering the world towards greater mutual understanding, a greater sense of responsibility and greater solidarity, through acceptance of our spiritual and cultural differences. Education, by providing access to knowledge for all, has precisely this universal task of helping people to understand the world and to understand others” (Delors, 1996).

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) proposes four pillars of Learning, plus a fifth in the topic of Sustainable Development. The countries have made notable progress in two of the five pillars (“Learning to know” and “Learning to do”), which are more technical by nature, and have created standards and assessment strategies of a national or even international character, as the example of the PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

The other three pillars (“Learning to be”, “Learning to live together”, and “Learning to transform”) aim to provide individuals with these reflective and socioenvironmental skills. With the pillars of a more holistic and social character, the general results are more diffuse, subjective, and without specific standards. In this sense, our experience of six decades can bring significant contribution, considering that we have achieved an impact that has been growing year by year. In 2013, adding all the figures of the seven countries where this work is developed, the LBV provided 12 million services and benefits for the population living in social vulnerability.

With this approach in mind, our educators developed curriculum directives for primary and secondary education, starting with the premise that each person must be seen as a complete being, in other words, a biopsychosocial spirit-being. This proposal, which is broad in its scope, can be applied in the most diverse social and cultural realities; our school system is nondenominational and our students come from families that have a wide variety of religious and non-religious backgrounds.

The teaching content was organized on the basis of the social, cognitive, and spiritual needs of each age group, in line with the learning pillars that have been proposed by UNESCO and with the national curriculum parameters of the countries where we operate. Specific themes were defined for each grade and are further developed each trimester.

This educational proposal also supports families by allocating multidisciplinary teams of educational psychologists, social workers, nutritionists, and other professionals within the schools. All this contributes to ensure higher academic performance levels, zero dropout rates, and a drug and violence-free environment within the Legion of Good Will’s educational network.

The generating themes are developed in-depth by having one of the subjects, “Ecumenical Culture,” integrated within the others. Skills-building training, defining interdisciplinary strategies, exchange of experiences, and teaching reference meetings are held with teachers before each trimester.

The pedagogical team defines the objectives for the proposed subjects according to each age group. In short, some of the objectives are:

• to investigate the meaning of life, by observing various cultural, social, and spiritual approaches, in order to draw inferences with regard to the multiple human qualities that are not restricted to the material circumstances of each individual;

• to understand aspects of one’s own identity, in order to realize the human need for cooperation and to investigate the role of friendship and spirituality in achieving personal and collective well-being;

• to develop the concept of “Freedom” and relate it to the practice of responsibility and charity, in its broad sense of solidarity and altruism;

• to analyze the feelings of happiness, by understanding its relationship with the practice of all-encompassing ecumenism and charity in the construction of a Culture of Peace;

• to know oneself, by understanding the need to live in group (family/community) and the importance of good relationships;

• to recognize oneself as a unique being, endowed with qualities and talents that must be shared in order to be multiplied;

• to recognize ourselves in our fellow being by exercising solidarity, respect, and friendship;

• to know the value of religiousness, by understanding the values and paths constructed by Humanity in the search for its spiritual origin;

• to recognize the importance of companionship and good actions for the strengthening of solidary citizenship.

The LBV considers it to be fundamental for schools to preserve their autonomy; it is up to the parents or legal guardians to choose what type of education they wish to provide for their children and teenagers. However, it alerts that, generally speaking, only a minority of families have the privilege of exercising this right. There is also the risk that this stance will represent a tacit incentive to introduce an exclusively contentbased education, aimed strongly at preparing students for the academic and professional markets, which is necessary, but superficial from the point of view of the social and environmental challenges we have to face.

In this context, struggling families, of which the parents have insufficient schooling and the children a reduced number of school hours, are penalized by the harmful effects of the advertising that is aimed at children by media content that adds little or nothing to changing their realities. In turn, often reinforces existing prejudices and stereotypes, including those related to the roles of gender and the place of different races in society.

For us at the Legion of Good Will, “the media also have an essential role to play in Education, particularly with children. What we see today is the ‘dis-education’ of childhood because of violence and pornography, and because of the lack of a structure of values and principles that lead to personal safety, given the challenges of a world in constant transformation. And a shaky childhood basis continues to develop during adolescence and adulthood. What a shame!” (Paiva Netto, 2010).

Vivian R. Ferreira

Good Will Students for Peace

To foster a more in-depth approach to topics of social relevance, like gender equality for example, in schools that are not part of our network, we created the Good Will Students for Peace program. This social technology is applied in schools of low-income regions in the United States, where educators from the Legion of Good Will work collaboratively with educators from partner public schools. It consists of integrating values-based activities and projects within the school’s existing curriculum, helping children and young people who participate to improve their academic performance while developing solidary leadership attitudes.

The initiative follows our teaching line, which has its own methodology, the MAPREI – Learning Method through Rational-Emotional-Intuitive Research. It is comprised of six stages, which are condensed into the three phases of the program: Mobilization and Engagement; Group Activity Development; and Results Presentation and Individual Internalization. The students become engaged in different projects, debates and, above all, receive hands-on experience in external activities that have an impact on their communities. The initiative follows our teaching line, which has its own methodology, the MAPREI – Learning Method through Rational-Emotional-Intuitive Research. It is comprised of six stages, which are condensed into the three phases of the program: Mobilization and Engagement; Group Activity Development; and Results Presentation and Individual Internalization. The students become engaged in different projects, debates and, above all, receive hands-on experience in external activities that have an impact on their communities.

At the conclusion of each cycle an assembly is held bringing together students, family members, and teachers from the school. The results of the projects that have been developed are presented to everyone and each student receives an award together with a pin, which affirms the continuity of their commitment to the cause in question.

The level of participation of students and the application of structured questionnaires both before and after the project, provide the indicators needed for monitoring this work. The positive results are evident in the improvement of their academic performance that in turn favors a school environment that is free from violence. In 2014, the LBV-USA received official recognition from the city of Orange, New Jersey, because of the results achieved by the program.

Teaching line

The educational proposal to which Paiva Netto has dedicated himself proposes a new learning model, which aligns “Brain and Heart” and has successfully been applied in the Legion of Good Will’s social and educational network. Fundamentally, it has two segments:

• in the Pedagogy of Affection, the focus is on children up to 10 years of age. It combines feeling with the cognitive development of the little ones in such a way that love and affection permeate all the knowledge that is passed on and the environments in which they live, including the school environment;

• in the Ecumenical Citizen, or Solidary Citizen, Pedagogy, the focus on teenagers and adults enables the individual to seek the full exercise of Planetary Citizenship. It is worth highlighting that the LBV’s teaching line “is based on values that come from Fraternal Love, which has been brought to Earth by various luminaries, notably Jesus, the Ecumenical Christ, therefore universal, the Divine Statesman” (Paiva Netto, 2010).

The term “Ecumenism” is used by the LBV in the etymological sense of the word, meaning “of worldwide scope or applicability; universal”; it is not restricted to religion.

Social development

Alongside lines of action of a preventive educational aspect, we have other social assistance programs mostly directed at women, who today are experiencing situations of vulnerability or violation of their rights in accordance with the requirements of each territory. This affects all age groups, albeit with different emphases (learning to live together and strengthening ties, productive inclusion, healthy motherhood, and social leadership).

We provide individual assistance and workshops, which enable the participants to exercise their rights, thus strengthening their autonomy as they construct or reconstruct their individual, family, and community projects. Every day we Curitiba (Brazil) Vinícius Ramão transform the stories of thousands of lives.

To conclude, we reaffirm our commitment to the cause of gender equality; as a Brazilian civil society organization, the LBV is honored to have taken part of this ongoing collective action since the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China. We are at the entire disposal of organizations and governments that are interested in replicating our social and educational technologies, especially in the fields of Social Assistance, Education, and Social Communication.

Bibliography

Delors, Jacques. Learning: the treasure within. Paris: Unesco, 1996. Paiva Netto, José de. É Urgente Reeducar!. São Paulo: Elevação, 2010.