EDITORIAL

Since its foundation, Cidade Escola Aprendiz has been driven by an essential idea: all people are capable of learning and they learn effectively in different places, with different people and throughout their whole lives. For us, therefore, education is not limited to the school, but it extends to life in the city and, as a fundamental human right, it should become a collective responsibility.

Our experience with the Neighborhood School program has taught us essentially two things. First, the diversity of interactions with languages, people and places dramatically assists the learning and the development of the learners. In this process, not only is their social and cultural repertoire expanded, but their autonomy to find the resources necessary for their future projects is strengthened significantly over time. Second, working within a network of institutions and professionals responsible for the learners fosters an environment of belonging and security. As such, instead of an institutionalization that creates dependency, Cidade Escola Aprendiz serves as a mediator between the learners and the city, developing their autonomy and the sense of responsibility of the entire community.

Cidade Escola Aprendiz arose from a highly local action, from a commitment to the development of a territory and with the perspective of becoming a reference and rethinking issues such as education, the city and engaged communication on social topics.

It is based on these lessons that we have been working for 18 years to address a wide range of challenges that impact so many people’s lives: the lack of knowledge and recognition by institutions about their lives and identities, the disjointed sectoral policies, the violation of all manner of rights, the restricted access to the city’s cultural heritage and the multiple social, economic and spatial inequalities that underpin the vulnerability to which many people are still exposed.

Therefore, in all the projects that we develop we build strategies based on our principles: focus on the interests and needs of the learners in all stages, in-depth understanding of their lives and identities, development of educational practices that nurture their autonomy, recognition of human and social potential and strong coordination between agents and local institutions.

Our experience presents very powerful strategies, especially for the development of children, adolescents and young people, and for the development of the city as a democratic space of inclusion and social participation.

The following premises guide us in our projects: support for the management of integral education policies, educating cities and human rights; training for teachers and public administrators in projects geared towards childhood and youth protagonism and intergenerationality; and combating the problem of out-of-school children and child labor.

This is how we have actively participated in the integral education movement, the international educating cities movement and the international children-in-school movement, through direct dialogue in the territories, with schools, families, public officials, governments and national and international foundations.
We are grateful to all our friends and partners for their trust and support and we invite you to discover the results of our work in 2015!

Natacha Costa

Executive Director of Cidade Escola Aprendiz