Gulliver Project

In the garden of love there is a meteor dance. Gulliver Project 2017.

The sun that I am, is a friend of peace
When a poem is born in my heart I feel peace

My language, is a friend of poetry that fights for peace
I want a word that looks like peace
I have never met in my country.
Collective text. Gulliver Project 2015
Read at the II World Poetry Summit for Peace and Reconciliation of Colombia

The project consists of a series of developing processes that qualify their beneficiaries (children, adolescents and young people) in the use of language within creative content as a factor that promotes the improvement of social, cognitive and emotional skills as well as knowledge, and full exercise and defense of human rights through cultural empowerment driving leadership in their communities, and demanding cultural interventions in which they can present their creations and apply what they have learned and assimilated. Our experience with children and young people that are socially at risk has taught us that when they are surrounded by supportive adults, they are able to acquire the necessary skills and confidence to change positively their own lives. We have also learned that when children and young people are able to speak up for their own rights, this is a powerful tool, and is the most effective and lasting way to ensure their protection.

Workshops are developed during 20 weeks in the school day in which through a methodology that states that creative thinking is a skill for life that when is empowered and cultivated, through writing sessions and creative reading (in charge of the trainers-creators in these aspects and with the support of plastic, music, theater and video-art artists), it generates progress for the qualification of the child in oral, written, gestural, non-verbal, sign and symbolic expressions. Advancing in these aspects, with the appropriate collaborative environments allows children to better develop life skills such as: empathy, assertive communication, critical thinking, interpersonal relationships and management of emotions and feelings.

Building a possible world. Gulliver Project 2016.

General objective: To contribute to the creation of a new culture of community life, active participation, peace and reconciliation within the country, through the development of massive social processes and interventions based on the transformative power of poetry and art.

The Gulliver Project enrich oral and written expressions, social skills, knowledge, in defense of the human rights.

To increase the capacities of the communities in the most multitudinous and qualitative way, to build new sensibilities, tools and creative ways to act towards the search of peace and coexistence, with the implementation of poetic and artistic actions thus facilitating the peacekeeping process and strengthening the social weave in the city of Medellin, its metropolitan area, municipalities of Antioquia and cities of Colombia.

The sun that I am is a friend of peace (Project Gulliver 2015).

Approach

Extended coverage in public scenarios, strategically distributed, and create an environment conducive to peace and reconciliation in Colombia.

To make visible the foundational presence, protector of the Earth and constructor of the community weave as well as the social harmony of the aboriginal peoples of the world, as a significant contribution to the generation of imagery and practices of peaceful coexistence.

Generate new paradigms for child and young. To support and publicly highlight the constructive and purposeful approach of poets and artists with divergent political, philosophical and/or social convictions.

To carry out the evaluation and recognition of young poets of the world as the essential actors in the transformation of language and culture within communities affected by social conflicts.

To qualify and empower culturally the marginalized communities, through a poetic and artistic pedagogy for peace.

To enhance the scope and range of national and international actions to ensure a more favorable environment for the construction of a culture of peace.

To strengthen and contribute to the active actions of the World Poetic Movement (WPM), which has a substantial influence on the construction of a culture of peace at national and global level, including the performances and processes of young poets from all over the world.

My house is the Earth, my fire the word (Gulliver Project, 2014).

Description of general difficulties

Medellín is a city whose population is subject to permanent tension, since its inhabitants are in the midst of confrontations of violent forces of illegal control of the community. It is observed that this problem affects the collective imaginary; It also involves the reduction of the communicative and creative abilities and competences of the language and implies a low level of argumentation and elucidation to face creatively the different conflicts that are debated in the light of the participation, diversity and democratic plurality within communities.

In this way, communities in the zones of intervention need to create new symbols that allow advancing in the construction of peace. It is necessary to culturally empower girls, boys, adolescents, women and the general population as a form of shielding to the various risk factors such recruitment in bands outside the law. Furthermore, children and youth in marginalized neighborhoods need access to alternative and complementary training dynamics that benefit their full development of their social and cognitive skills such as creative thinking, self-knowledge, assertive communication, interpersonal relationships, management of emotions and feelings, skills that are not deepen in classrooms.

Also, It is essential to continue supporting the processes that are already developing on this issue, to continue promoting spaces for citizens to find in art and poetry, alternative life projects and tools to resolve their conflicts.

A sweet life goes through my body (Project Gulliver 2013)

Facts & Figures

The Gulliver Project has been developed for 13 years:

September 2005 - September 2006 and July 2007 to July 2008. Supported by Fondation France Libertés
Years 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017. Supported by Alta Mane Italy, Alta Mane and Right Livelihood Foundation.
2018. Supported by Right Livelihood Foundation.

The project have intervened 16 zones of Medellin, 66 neighborhoods in both urban and rural areas in Medellín and Antioquia. Municipalities of Caldas, La Estrella and El Retiro.

Beneficiaries up to 2017

Beneficiaries: 4.130 children from 8 to 12 years old.
148 work-shops with 148 groups. Each workshop takes one year of duration.

Search for the Golden Sun (Gulliver Project) 2012