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Our network in action
Our network in action
April 2013
Paper Maché Workshop with Melvin Jones and Una Luz en Tu Vida
On Friday, April 19, 2013, three partners of the Una Luz en Tu Vida association arrived at Melvin Jones’s office in La Libertad to attend a paper maché workshop!
For some time now, Nataly Llerena, Marcia Villacis and Marcia’s sister Alexandra have had a very specific goal: to work with their association’s beneficiaries to develop paper maché activities.They liked the idea, but first they needed to learn the basics. With the help of Melvin Jones, another association in the network, they were able to do it.
The three enthusiastic women traveled to La Libertad for a three-hour workshop on paper maché that combined both theory and practice. After presenting some of the works created by Melvin Jones’s beneficiaries, Margarita Gonzales, the lead instructor, began the workshop.
The three phases—soaking, stirring and draining—consisted of intensely detailed steps. The women were eager to jump right in and attempt the process themselves. After three hours of training and practice, the workshop came to an end. The students were exhausted but exhilarated!
Through this effort, handicapped persons in the city of Quero will be able to do what their friends did in La Libertad—and maybe even surpass them! Indeed the people in Quero are very aware that the beneficiaries of Melvin Jones have won several computers by way of a paper maché competition. That’s how you motivate our Una Luz en Tu Vida team!
March 2013
The Babel Brass Band stops off at One More Option !
From the 11th February to the 5th April 2013, ten engineering students from a school in Paris, who are also members of their school band, the ‘Babel Brass Band’ came to Jovenes Para el Futuro and Clave de Sur to share their passion for music with the beneficiaries.
For our ten volunteers, this Equatorian adventure began in the town of Ambato at the premise of the Jovenes Para El Futuro association. Over the next 5 weeks, the group and the children of the association worked together to develop a performance comprising of theatre and musical groups.
The story was as follows: Daniel, an elephant without a trunk is chased out of Africa and undertakes a long journey to the Amazon to find a solution to his problem.
With the help of costumes designed by the children and instruments made from recycled material, the story came to life on the 19th March before a large and admiring public who had come for the occasion.
Although saying their goodbyes was difficult, the Babel Brass Band had to eventually leave the Andes for the sun of Guayaquil, and the Clave De Sur association.This time, our ten volunteers had only a week to develop a concert with the trainee musicians from the Guasmo.With the aim of diversifying the musical activities proposed by the association, the Babel Brass Band held beginners workshops in percussion and jazz rhythms.
This week resulted in a concert at the Nahim Isaias Museum in Guayaquil, in which all the players presented the fruit of their collaboration. Again, the experiment was successful both from a strictly musical perspective, and as an enriching intercultural exchange.
After two months of intense work and exchanges in Ecuador, the Babel Brass Band troupe now heads in the direction of Africa, their heads still filled with Latin rhythms and unforgettable memories...
Click here to see the video of the concert with Jovenes Para el Futuro
January 2013
Hogar Para Todos invites Las Marias to hold an awareness day on violences against women
On Saturday, 19 January 2013, the "Las Marias" organisation was welcomed into the "Hogar Para Todos" Foundation, to hold a workshop on violence against women. Sixteen people helped by the Hogar Para Todos Foundation, along with Mélanie Corvez, UODP volunteer for the Foundation, attended the workshop run by two members of the Las Marias team.
The awareness day started around 9:00am after a warm welcome from the Hogar Para Todos staff. The aim of the meeting was, through the medium of interactive workshops, to list and categorise the different types of violence inflicted upon women and to inform the audience of the rights these women have to call for change.
In these workshops, the participants took part in activities such as working in groups of four to create a short play about the four types of abuse: physical, psychological, economic and sexual.
In another, more intimate, workshop, the participants wrote down on a piece of paper one pledge they would make to avoid finding themselves back in a violent situation. Then on another piece of paper, they wrote down a violent memory that they never want to go through again. These papers were then burned as a symbol of their new start.
Here is Mélanie's account, and a clear-cut summary of the present situation:
"In Ecuador, 6 out of 10 women are victims of some form of violence. It's only natural to think of physical abuse first, as it's the most visible. But it's not the only form of abuse. For this reason, the day provided an opportunity to discuss other forms of abuse: psychological, financial and sexual.
Through a number of different interactive activities, they also tried to explain the role of the patriarch, which is strongly determined by society and history, and the origin of inequalities between men and women. They also established that while abuse can happen in a relationship, it can also happen at work or within the family. The visit from Las Marias has allowed all of the participants to think about the different forms of abuse, and to see that they represent a violation of human rights which should not under any circumstances be trivialised or excused."
This training, coordinated by Une Option de Plus, has allowed women and girls who have been subject to abuse and welcomed in to the Hogar Para Todos to become more aware of their rights and recover their self esteem. This only scratches the surface of the contributions made by Las Marias, who want to be able to follow up this awareness campaign in other associations within the network.
November 2012
Clave de Sur and Las Marias unite for Day of Elimination of Violence Against Women
On the 23rd of November 2012, on the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, the women’s centre Las Marias took over the squares of Gualeceo and Paute to conduct an awareness campaign.
In order to liven up the event, the association invited the young musicians of Clave de Sur for a concert, as suggested and overseen by the Une Option de Plus team.
The morning got off to a good start with an event in Gualaceo market square. The whole Las Marias team rallied round to make the day meaningful: talking to passers-by, handing out leaflets, bracelets and t-shirts...with loudspeakers standing to one side of these events broadcasting the key messages of the association: respect for women, and respect for women's bodies, choices and rights. The young musicians of Clave de Sur provided a musical performance that lived up to the occasion, making the day’s message their own, and becoming activists themselves.
As soon as the concert had finished, everyone moved to Paute square,
to meet others from Las Marias. In the square, events were already getting started. A large audience had turned out for the occasion. The two associations began their presentations again, and their collaboration worked well.
In fact, united by a shared message, these two completely different associations were able to combine their talents to increase the impact of their two respective projects. This fruitful event demonstrates without a doubt the benefit of collaborative work between associations.
Here, we can see the wisdom in the saying "Unity is strength", which is, in effect, the guiding principle of Une Option de Plus.
October 2012
Project manager meeting
On Friday, September 28, 2013, as part of Une Option de Plus network’s inter-association conference, we organized a meeting with three volunteers currently acting as project managers at the associations Jovenes para 
el future, Una luz en tu vida and Cristo de la Calle.
The project managers were joined by representatives from associations affected by and interested in the topic of project management.
A fourth association, Plan Ecuasol, also attended after learning about project management’s benefits and range of impact.
Many associations in the Une Option de Plus network have recognized the importance of developing and improving their project management capabilities.
The three volunteers listened to representatives from their associations and worked with them to brainstorm, plan and share their knowledge. This helped in the diagnosis, projection and evaluation of the association’s various projects and thus their sustainability over the medium-long-term.
The meeting helped members capitalize on project management knowledge and tools developed by the volunteers in their 3 associations, which committed to developing and building their medium-long-term association project.
Septiembre 2012
Some of the network’s member organisations meet in Quito to share ideas and opportunities around sponsorship and cooperation.
Coordinated by Una Opción Más, the network’s member organisations demonstrated their interest in sharing different methods and opportunities for sponsorship and cooperation with public and private bodies. So, on Thursday 20 September 2012, representatives from Plan Ecuasol, Jóvenes para el Futuro, Cristo de la Calle, Una Luz en Tu Vida and UNISUR met with the UOM team and with Jackeline Coronal (Programme Director of Human Rights and Intercultural Mediation of the "Allichik kuri" Community) at the UOM headquarters in Quito to discuss and share different options for sponsorship, twinning and other types of cooperation with public and private institutions.
In keeping with the meeting’s agenda, Plan Ecuasol began by sharing its experiences of a programme of child sponsorship, as well as their management of a system to receive students studying at the Universidad Politécnica de Quito to assist with educational support activities.
The members of other organisations were invited to share their own initiatives and experiences. Paola Pinza, of the organisation UNISUR, gave a presentation detailing the implementation of a twinning project between two educational institutions; one being a difficult-to-access rural school, and the other a school in the centre of Quito, whose economic and social contexts are completely different. The objective of the project is to raise awareness amongst the interested parties (institution directors, teachers, students, parents) about their complex social reality, or rather, social realities, thus generating the commitment and involvement of these actors in a dynamic and reciprocal exchange of information.
In conclusion, the meeting’s main objective was to foster ways to improve the assistance provided to the beneficiaries through the implementation of projects which would help the organisations at the financial level (through child sponsorship), the human level (through cooperation with universities) and even the institutional level (through twinning with other organisations).
The discussions were rich and all participants left the meeting feeling satisfied, having benefitted greatly from new ideas which may be used to diversify the sources of financial support and cooperation in order to improve the structure and smooth running of their organisations.
August 2012
The association "Fuente de Vida" met with the “Fpanjez” Association to develop techniques in occupational therapy.
Coordinated by Une Option de Plus, the FPANJEZ association invited two members of Fuente de Vida to share their experiences on the benefits of occupational therapy, on August 22, 23 and 24 in Zaruma.
It started with a session of orientation presented by the FPANJEZ team, during which children from the school put on a performing art show (singing, dancing, and sketches) for the members of the association Fuente de Vida. The meeting was then organized around workshops and discussions between stakeholders of both organizations.
While the members of Fountain of Life were able to observe the different activities developed by FPANJEZ, the staff of the host organization equally benefited from the skills in arts and crafts taught by the two occupational therapy teachers from the institution from Taura.
This workshop, intended for teachers and parents of the beneficiaries of the school, was also an opportunity for children with disabilities at FPANJEZ to make their own necklaces and bracelets, while developing their dexterity and creativity.
This inter-association meeting enabled the two organizations to get to know each other better and to exchange knowledge and skills in caring for people with disabilities. This dynamic form of network is to be promoted because it is a great way to build stronger relationships between the associations that are members of Une Option de Plus as well as enriching their professional practices and improving the support to their beneficiaries.
Following the same logic, new meetings between Une Option de Plus member associations are scheduled soon.
June 2012
Clave de Sur and Fuente de Vida: two associations in Harmony
Under the leadership of the Une Option de Plus team, Fuente de Vida hosted young musicians from the Clave de Sur Association on Saturday 12 May 2012 in Taura to celebrate Mother's Day.
The Clave de Sur Association, from the South of Guayaquil, performed an hour-and-a-half-long concert for the beneficiaries of Fuente de Vida, which was dedicated to the mothers of children with disabilities. This shared moment of music was very well received by its audience, and has encouraged further exchanges between members of the two organizations.
This inter-association meeting had a two-fold aim: both to provide access to culture to those who sometimes find themselves isolated, and to create synergies between the member associations of the Une Option de Plus network in Ecuador.
Encouraged by this first experience, Clave de Sur has shown enthusiasm for the idea of repeating this type of joint event to benefit other network relations. Fuente de Vida, which hosted the event, has expressed a wish to repeat this experience in the future.
May 2012
Children visit Rosa Elvira de León for the first time.
As part of the "Dear Garden" project, a joint project of two associations, Hogar Para Todos and Rosa Elvira de Leon, several meetings have taken place between the children and the elderly.
On Saturday 12th May, Lucy Hoyos, Ana Calle, and Lucile, volunteer nutritionist for both associations hosted the first exchange between the children and the elderly, enabling them to get to know each other. This moment was very rewarding and the children are ready to start a gardening project team with the elderly. Therefore, eight children aged between 6 and 10 years are expected to come every week to do some gardening and to explore the environment...
The younger children become more familiar with nature, with the garden and with the existence of new fruits and vegetables. This should help them to better understand their meals which are prepared to ultimately improve their nutritional balance.
The two French volunteers Lucile and Aliénor organized a workshop on the topic of nutrition. On the morning of Saturday 19th May, the children met again with the elderly to create a table of nutrition ... Through activities involving cutting, pasting and coloring, they studied the quality of the daily menu available to them. Some of the menus have since been improved; it is an opportunity for the children to be agents of their own nutritional change!
In the afternoon, the group started to work in the garden: tilling, providing manure, raking and lots more. All of this work allowed them to discover the pleasures of gardening: the community exercise outdoors, small injuries from all the effort, bits of dirt on trousers, the pride of an accomplished job... The material provided is minimal and the requirements for the project development are significant. Therefore, the associations are always looking for small financial donations.
Bonds are already evident. Children regularly ask to go and see "granny-doll", an old lady who dances all day long on the terrace. They regularly ask the staff of the institution about Rosa Elvira de León’s President, Fernando, a man who is appreciated when he brings refreshments to the workers !
We wish to congratulate both organizations for their commitment to this fun, exciting, motivating and original project.