The arts, culture and education as factors in comprehensive prevention

strategies

Washington, D.C., 6 de octubre de 2009

Second Meeting of Ministers dealing with Public Security in the Americas MISPA II

November 5,2009

Lenore Yaffee García, Director

Office of Education and Culture, Executive Secretariat for Integral Development

Elements of the Presentation• Risk factors (violence affecting youth,

delinquent behavior, gangs)• One response: “Toward a Culture of Non-

Violence: the role of arts and culture” • Research findings: Arts, culture, prevention• Research findings: Education and prevention• Some OAS responses• Conclusions

Risk factors• Absence or weak presence of the state (the gang

provides what legitimate institutions do not)• Presence of organized crime, easy access to arms• Absence of viable options for young people

– Employment– Relevant education– Legitimate spaces to associate, express themselves, and be

recognized– Negative image of youth in popular media

• Family factors• Fragmented responses, lack of comprehensive

policies

Youth unemployment• Youth face much higher rates of unemployment than do

adults.• In Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), open

unemployment is at 16% for youth while for adults, the rate is 5% (worse in some countries).

• Among the unemployed, youth represent 46% of the total.• There are 10 million unemployed youth in the region.• 22 million youth neither study nor work.• More than 30 million work in the informal sector or in

precarious conditions.

ILO. Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean Decent work and youth - Latin America Lima: ILO, Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean, 2008.

Education in numbers…• 57.6% - net enrolment rate in pre-primary education

(children 4 – 5 years old), much lower for 0-3 years• Low levels of educational quality: nearly half of third

graders in LA performed at the lowest measurable level in math and 1/3 performed at the lowest level in reading (SERCE UNESCO study)

• Secondary education (2007): on average 70.8% of the population had entered secondary education; however only ≤ 60% of the population between 20 and 24 years old had completed this education level (2007 data)

Completion of Secondary Education - 2007

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

BB

BS

CL

AR

PE

BO

VN

PN

CO

EC

BR

CR

DO

PY

SV

MX

BZ

UY NI

GT

HN

DM

SR

Co

mp

leti

on

IS

CE

D 3

(12)

(2)

8

18

28

38

48

58

68

78

88

Pe

rce

nta

ge

ch

an

ge

I-I

II

I (Population 30-34) III (Population 20-24) Change I - III

We see improvement in conclusion of this level in all countries. Nonetheless, in 11 of 23 countries, more than half of youth did not finished secondary education

“Towards a culture of non-violence: the role of arts and culture”

• Project of the Inter-American Committee on Culture (CIC) on the topic of the 39th OAS General Assembly: “Towards a culture of non-violence”

• 4 experiences, one per sub-region

• Governmental and civil society programs

• Developed with the “Ignite the Americas 2009” network

Arts and culture in prevention strategies

• Culture engages vulnerable and marginalized youth and can serve as a bridge to broader civic engagement.

• A longitudinal study of after-school arts programming for youth found that at-risk children demonstrated art skill development, pro-social skills, increased confidence, improved interpersonal, conflict resolution and problem-solving skills, and decreased levels of emotional problems, anti-social behavior, academic failure, and alchohol use.

• A U.S. study found that quality arts education for students 4-12 lets the state recover 1.5 times its investment through savings to the justice system and more tax revenue.

• (In Canada) there is high demand for relevant cultural programs from youth but limited supply.

Other examples of prevention programs based on arts and culture in the member states

•Escuelas libres – Dominican Republic (State Secretariat of Culture), and related programs in Brazil, Guatemala

•National Child and Youth Orchestra System of Venezuela – involving more than 250,000 students each year from very high-risk communities

•Orchestra Program for Youth at Risk in the Caribbean (based on the Venezuelan Child and Youth Orchestra System) OAS Cultural Affairs

•Puntos de Cultura (Brasil)

Education as a Prevention Strategy: Starting Early

• Investment in early childhood education (Perry Preschool study) – Nobel Economist James Heckman:

1

US$15,000 p/person

2

Results: society and the individual reaped US$195,000 (US$171,000 deriving from less crime)

High Scope – Age 40

Program No Program % %

Arrested 5+ times 36 53

Graduated High School 63 45

Earnings > $20K at age 40 60 40

Schweinhart, 2005

05-231

Early Brain Development and Aggressive or Criminal Behavior

• “Many of the most costly and damaging societal problems (e.g., delinquency, substance use, and adult mental disorder) have their origins in early conduct problems. ….Approximately half the children identified with behavior problems in preschool continue to exhibit the behavior pattern throughout childhood and into early adolescence….Several preventive interventions, particularly those focused on enhancing children´s cognitive skills, have also reduced child aggression.

(Domitrovich, C, and Greenberg, Mark, Preventive Interventions that Reduce Aggression in YOung Children, online 6-16-03

Aggression, early development, and later outcomes

• Children who from a young age do not learn to replace physical aggression with more appropriate social behaviors…are much more likely to leave school, to be problematic, to have criminal or delinquent behaviors, to have problems with drug consumption and unemployment.

(Tremblay 2003 in Early childhood learning prevents youth violence, Tremblay, Gervais, Petitclerc, CEECD 2008)

• A significant correlation found between juvenile crime and the development of language at 6, 18 and 24 months.

(Stattin, H. et al en Journal of Abnormal Psychology)

The paradox of Prevention, cost-benefit, and politics

• Full benefits of early childhood care and education will be realized in 25 years.

• Democratic governments face elections every 4 or 5 years.

• There is a need to sensitize the public in general and reach a consensus that permits prevention to become a policy of the state, not a single administration (Fraser Mustard)

Some responses in the OAS Framework: Citizen, community and youth participation

Some responses in the OAS framework: An holistic approach and inter-institutional coordination

•Collaboration CIE – CIC: “The role of arts and communications media in the promoting democratic values and practices in children and youth”

•Planning meeting Nov 09•Inter-American Cultural Information Network

•Communications strategy. Horizontal cooperation fund.•Collaboration with UNHABITAT and Harvard University – the role of arts in the prevention of urban youth violence; portfolio on promising practices.

Some responses in the OAS framework: political commitments

• Hemispheric Commitment to Early Childhood Education (2007)

• Quito Declaration (Better Opportunities for Youth of the Americas: Rethinking Secondary Education) and Youth Encounter (2009)

• Interamerican Program on Education in Democratic Values and Practices– Courses for educators– Educational and informational resources

• Declaration of Medellín (GA 2008), Focal Point on Youth and Youth Strategy; collaboration with UN exemplary programs)

• Regional Youth Forums in Central America and Prevention Strategies through Social Networking (through Mérida initiative)

What young people are asking for (from Quito Charter August 2009)

• Una educación activa y participativa que permita aprender haciendo, que el alumno sea actor y no solo receptor.

• Garantizar que los estudiantes puedan desenvolverse en diferentes actividades deportivas, artísticas y culturales en los centros educativos.

• Fortalecer y crear organizaciones nacionales estudiantiles, respaldadas por acuerdos y reglamentos internacionales y locales para incrementar la participación como ciudadanos, que por no ser mayores de edad no se les restrinja ser parte de la democracia participativa y protagónica.

• Apoyo desde el Ministro de Educación, para dar mayor importancia la participación estudiantil, apoyando a las organizaciones que aglutinan a los estudiantes de secundaria, aceptando la institucionalidad y criterios que establezcan dichas organizaciones. (de Carta de Quito)

What young people are asking for(cont’d)• La incorporación de talleres de prevención de riesgos en los

establecimientos….Además, exigir que el tema de seguridad escolar sea preocupación permanente y no eventual, incorporarlo en la práctica diaria, en un proceso formativo desde la base de valores de una manera integral a la conducta humana.

• Crear mecanismos que detecten a jóvenes en riesgo y les ayuden a superar su problemática.

• Trabajo preventivo entre el Ministerio de Educación y el de Salud, para capacitar a los estudiantes para que sean facilitadores en sus instituciones educativas alrededor del tema de conductas de riesgo, en especial sobre el tema de educación sexual, consumo de sustancias, etc., creando programas sociales y de recreación sana.

• La resolución pacifica de conflictos se logrará cuando los estudiantes se sientan capaces de proponer y se tomen verdaderamente en cuenta sus opiniones como personas y sujetos de la educación, ya que somos nosotros los que conocemos mejor que nadie nuestras necesidades y demandas

Conclusions: effective prevention strategies• Invest and intervene early• Foster societal commitment to support the adoption of policies of

state focused on prevention• Seek comprehensive solutions by working intersectorally• Identify high-risk communities, offer services to all• Promote youth participation and leadership – see young people as

part of the solution• Criminalize crime, not the fact of being young or of belonging to a

group• Consider programs involving arts, culture and education to give young

people viable paths to the future, development of skills that are in demand in the labor market and the affirmation of their worth as people

• Support the collection and analysis of data to determine effectiveness.

RM00084E