WORLD ASSEMBLY OF URBAN INHABITANTS

Make our voices heard
Rethinking the city from the grassroots

Mexico City, 2-6 October 2000

Workshop: Educative City

The workgroup the Educative City was made up of 30 men and women from 4 countries (Mexico, El Salvador, Brasil and Argentina). The delegates came from social and civil organizations and urban popular movements, including sports groups and organizations and movements that work with people with disabilities and for the respect and care of pets, especially dogs.

The proposal of an Educative City is contained with in the principals of solidarity, harmonious & democratic living together, respect for diversity, and humanism. These principals can be found in the Charter of the International Association of Educative Cities (www.edcities.bcn.es). This association is made up of 150 cities from around the world and has its headquarters in Barcelona, Spain.

In the workgroup there was a rich sharing of the experiences of the participating organizations in developing educative projects.

In our countries, the neo-liberal policies imposed by the international financial institutions (such as the Word Bank and the International Monetary Fund) have increased the poverty and inequality at all levels and in all aspects of life. As a result education has a fundamental role in the process of liberation and resistance to these policies. The Educative City enriches the collective ideal and represents an intention to construct a future based on this ideal.

The workgroup defined education as process in which, from birth to death, one lives in learning processes that take into account the identity and culture of those who live in the city.

We all agreed that school is only a period, that you cannot throw away, of the education of human beings, but that in all our countries, the traditional model of schooling represents the interests of those who are in power and preserves social exclusion. As a result we assumed that the most significant learning processes in life are those that are outside of the school system.

We propose an Educative City in which:

1. The right to live of all its inhabitants is respected.
2. Productive processes are promoted (such as micro enterprise co-operatives, etc.) so that everyone has decent employment and a fair and just wage.
3. Cultural identities are respected, strengthened and enriched.
4. The rights of people with disabilities are respected, and the creation of schools is promoted to assist them. In particular, and in compliance with the UN standards for people with hearing disabilities, the teaching of sign language should be reinstated to permit everyone to communicate.
5. Formal, informal and alternative education should be included as part of the projects produced by the bilateral and multilateral agreements. This should be supportive of alternative projects such as community centers for children, Educating Mothers, and the popular education schools that are formed in the squatter communities and slums.
6. Projects proposed by the grassroots are developed.
7. Responsibility is assumed to see that formal education is delivered professionally and recognizes the profound impact that education has on the development of all of the city's inhabitants.
8. Physical education through sports is promoted as an intrinsic part of education.
9. The principle of the equality of all persons is recognized.
10. Full citizenship as an active part of the daily life of the inhabitants is guaranteed.
11. Values that make society sustainable are supported.
12. A healthy environment is sought.

The Educative City should:
A) recognize the importance of community based teachers with remuneration and professional development opportunities that reinforce their alternative social function.
B) promote education programs for young people, and in particular for native youth living in the city.
C) promote collective programs for the reconstruction of the social fabric that has been destroyed by application of neo-liberal policies in our countries.
D) promote with an education campaign, among other actions, respect and care of pets. This will assist in avoiding the massive reproduction that seriously damages the health of the city.

A mark of the Educative City is the struggle to resist the damage done by the neo-liberal model. This struggle can be reinforced by the creation of networks among all the participants in the transformation of the city. These networks can promote joint action and solidarity.

Given all the experiences and the impact education has on and for the city, the Educative City should assume the role of the agent of excellent education. The Educative City should promote education in order for everyone to live together in an integral and profoundly democratic way.

The challenge in the construction of an Educative City as an expression of the collective ideal, is to globalize solidarity and the struggle to resist the exclusionary neo-liberal model.

Drafting team: Eliana García, Nelson Hernández López