Juega + with empathy
Juega+ is an organization that delivers tools for life through recreational strategies allowing empathic interaction within the school community.
About You
About You
First Name
Alexandra
Last Name
Benado
Twitter URL
Facebook URL
About Your Organization
Organization Name
Juega+
Organization Website
Organization Country
Chile, XX, Santiago de Chile
Country where this project is creating social impact
Chile
Is your organization a
Business
Your role in Education
Other.
The type of school(s) your solution is affiliated with
Public (tuition-free)
How long has your organization been operating?
More than 5 years
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Innovation
Select the stage that best applies to your solution
Start-Up (a pilot that has just begun operating)
How long has your solution been in operation?
Operating for more than 5 years
The Need: What problem are you trying to solve?
Within the school syllabus there are no clear guidelines defining how to deal with living together, empathy, values, communication, diversity, which are vital elements for academic development, to change aggressive domineering relationships into cooperative relationships, thus aiming at the creation of great citizens committed to the common good. Some initiatives only propose traditional non-inclusive methodologies which make no impact on the school community, do not set up competences that may pave the way for a program that may be sustainable through time. Empathy is a condition inherent to the development of the educational process and many times its own players are not responsible for deciding what type of coexistence should prevail.
The Solution: What is your solution? Be specific!
To transform teaching methods, to empower school community players, to coordinate an educational process with proactive spaces to encourage new forms of relationships. Play as a core element , since it is one of the most effective tools to promote teaching and transfer knowledge thanks to the possibility to simulate reality through a less threatening scenario in terms of making mistakes. To accept differences, cooperation, respect for agreements and engagements, personal and environmental care. These are all elements that we find in the center of the sports dynamics and the activities performed in contact with nature. We carry out our tasks in those areas because they offer the appropriate space to better develop empathy. Children live together in harmony since they accumulate experience through interacting in scenarios where they must make decisions together with their peers. They become integral persons and transformer citizens.
The Model: Walk us through a specific example of how your solution makes a difference; include your primary activities
We have created the Textbook called Juega+ Album. This tool is based on “playwork” and on “handouts economy”, which involves a system of conduct modification. Only the positive reinforcement is used. It is rewarded through picture cards and in case a pupil has not been able to comply with the agreed conduct, he/she will not be punished with absence of picture cards. The conducts to be rewarded are selected between all the pupils and their teachers. This allows pupils to always have a positive relationship with each other, proposing coexistence based on empathy and trust and not on punishment. The Textbook Juega+ Album offers syllabus contents which are transversally associated to all subject-matters and the creation of spaces where activities are generated t that favor working on the issue of good life- together. A school orchard should be prepared; compost should be created; sports events should be organized; technological objects should be built; habits for a healthy life should be promoted; entrepreneurial projects should be developed. Activities involving playing with parents are included. Parents also have access to picture cards and conducts are reinforced by playing at home and learning with their children. The playing experience determines a variation in the relational system between the pupils and between pupils and teachers. The idea is that it is possible to reach a consensus on the different coexistence-related areas that we want to strengthen and those that we want to help eradicate because they go against a good interaction.
The Marketplace: Who are your peers and competitors? Identify others also working to address the needs you are and what differentiates you from them. What challenges could these players pose to your success or growth?
Organizations that -through legislation- obtain official resources to develop programs –at school- relating to school coexistence. We're different from those orgs because we have an educational tool. We propound play, cooperation, the building of common places and, mainly, empathy as transforming agents to make changes in the school community. We foresee possible conflicts and solve them with participatory, inclusive proposals. We set up competences in the players so that they may permanently replicate the experience in their social environment as a whole. Organizations dealing with issues relating to living together at school represent a challenge for us in terms of permanent innovation in order to compete with them and always generate programs with an ever increasing level of excellence
Now that you have thought out your entry, help us pitch it.
Define your company, program, service, or product in 1-2 short sentences [136 characters]
We deliver tools for life, through playful strategies that enable empathic interaction in the school community.
Identify what is innovative about your solution in 1-2 short sentences [136 characters]
The Textbook Juega+ Album is an educational tool that enables positive chances in attitudes through the “playwork” method.
Social Impact
This Entry is about (Issues)
What has been the impact of your solution to date?
We've benefited more than 90.000 boys and girls and have trained more than 400 teachers in 14 regions, 51 communities and 167 schools throughout Chile with different educational and social programs where we have successfully applied the tool provided by the textbook Juega+Album. We've made programs aimed at fostering a healthy life and environmental care programs, making changes to the syllabus in the areas of Physical an Technological Education. Sixty percent of the population on which we have made an impact is vulnerable. They're public educational units & the families that compose them usually belong to the lowest quintile. We've developed impact studies in connection with our programs to evaluate this tool from a qualitative & a quantitative viewpoint. We've empowered educational communities to generate teaching methods based on playing and to implement active spaces where students may put into practice cooperation & respect values, acceptance of diversity, commitment, & identity
What is your projected impact over the next 1-3 years?
In 2012 we are planning to make an impact with our program specifically oriented to the subject of living together at school and the development of empathy, on 10.000 boys and girls in the first basic cycle. We are going to work in 8 public schools in the community of Independence in Santiago, as part of the municipal policy to systematize coexistence at school by developing a textbook that may be replicated at the community schools and then in other locations. We will also work with 8 public schools in the community of Calama in the North of Chile, with the same methodology but as partners of a group of companies and local organizations that are trying to provide an answer to social demands in that area. This project is planned for a long-term intervention (8 years).
Winning entries present a strong plan for how they will achieve and track growth. Identify your six-month milestone for growing your impact
To make an impact at least on 5000 students with the program called Juega+ con empatía
Identify three major tasks you will have to complete to reach your six-month milestone
Task 1
Obtain financing for one of the two programs planned for this year through different contests.
Task 2
To generate trust in the beneficiaries and the financing partners to achieve success which will allow for a much greater growth.
Task 3
To evaluate the impact of our program in terms of average results in order to deliver new and better indicators.
Now think bigger! Identify your 12-month impact milestone
To make an impact on 10.000 boys and girls with programs referring to living together through Juega+ con empatía
Identify three major tasks you will have to complete to reach your 12-month milestone
Task 1
To generate a process of value restoration of the Good Coexistence at School through a program for the first basic cycle.
Task 2
To systematize coexistence at basic-cycle schools through a community manual on living together at school.
Task 3
To generate in the school community the need to create physical proactive spaces to work on the subject of empathy.
Founding Story: We want to hear about your "Aha!" moment. Share the story of where and when the founder(s) saw this solution's potential to change the world [125 words]
The founding partners are professionals from the Catholic University and also professionals who were former members of the national ping-pong and hockey teams. When they were students they were leaders of social organizations such as Un Techo para Chile (“A Roof for Chile”). This enabled them to travel all over Chile and share with many families, living their reality. Their experience as sportsmen and the acquisition of the values that they obtained during their training encouraged them to give back at social level what they had learnt. This is how they created Juega+, an organization of young professionals committed to social development and innovation. They created a textbook called Juega+ in order to promote the educational programs that they deliver to children for a healthy sustainable life. It was so successful that they adapted it to the school syllabus and it has now also become an excellent teaching
Sustainability
Tell us about your partnerships
At present we have had an alliance for 6 years with the Lider supermarkets (currently Walmartchile), 3 years with the Company called Transelec (energy), 4 years with Falabella (retail), 1year with Aguas Andinas (Andean Waters) (Barcelona Waters) and this year we are in the process of generating alliances with Scotiabank, CalamaPlus, the Municipality of Independencia. Our educational tools are sponsored by the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Environment and the Natonal Institute of Sports.
What type of team (staff, volunteers, etc.) will ensure that you achieve the growth milestones identified in the Social Impact section? [75 words]
We are a central 6-person team and we work with 67 specialized monitors with our programs throughout the country. We have also trained 150 school teachers who become program promoters and provide sustainability through time in school communities. Sometimes we generate alliances with institutes and universities and they send their students to us, to make practical works in different disciplines as physical education teachers, sociologists, psychologists, eco-tourism administrators,etc. –This make it possible for us to make studies or different tasks at low cost.
Please elaborate on any needs or offers you have mentioned above and/or suggest categories of support that aren't specified within the list
Due to the fact that we are a small group and work on social projects we need means to co-finance projects. We want to enlarge our networking to exchange experiences and have access to new financing partners. We would like to obtain advice to evaluate projects. We offer information, cooperation and spaces to generate innovative ideas in order to share initiatives in education-related issues.
 | 64 weeks ago Jessi Wolz updated this Competition Entry. |
