15.09.2011 Nicaragua

Moving on looking back

Organisational development for social change – the Centro Antonio Valdivieso (CEAV)

medico has been supporting Nicaraguan civil society in its attempts to implement social and political changes in the country since the struggles against the Somoza dictatorship. The new beginning, marked by the revolution in the 1980s, was followed by disenchantment over neoliberal policies in the ‘90s and a discussion about misjudgements, global power relations and the role of psychosocial dynamics. ‘In order to understand and come to terms with our own history, we also need to analyse the history of our country,’ explains Marta Cabrera, head of the ecumenical centre founded in 1979 that offers a ‘psychosocial training programme for social change’ in a number of regions of Nicaragua. The training courses are attended by local grassroots organisations and disseminators committed to social change.

CEAV’s one year training process, which is divided into several workshops, is the result of a decade’s experience of psychosocial work. It was prompted by the observation that all the community workshops and local development projects on self-determination, gender issues or ecological sustainability in Nicaragua had only had a limited positive impact. As they tried to identify the reasons why many people lacked the initiative to take a pro-active approach to changing their life and the social situation, they came to the conclusion that Nicaragua as a country had been ‘wounded’ in many ways by the succession of social upheavals and natural disasters over the last decade. Many people fought in different ways to bring about the Sandinista revolution and social change. When the defeat came they were left to deal with it on their own, as there was no collective space in which to publicly express the pain, mourning and other emotions accumulated over the many years of sacrifice and struggle, in order to come to terms with the meaning of their experiences over that period.

The human subject as focus of alternative development approaches Many people, as they spoke of what they had lost, started to touch on other problems that had previously been hidden, such as a woman from León, who told us: ‘I am very sorry that I have lost my home but what is far worse is that I cannot sleep at night because I am frightened that my husband will lie in my daughter’s bed and abuse her.’

CEAV decided to develop a multi-dimensional approach to strengthening social organisations and the issues they dealt with: ‘We wanted to bring issues to the table that no-one was addressing: subjective, psychological, spiritual.’ Starting from the complexity of the realities of life and fully recognising the multilayered nature of what people have experienced, this is a holistic approach that does not equate development with economic growth and does not view society as something external and independent from individuals.

Institutional structures also needed to be examined. ‘In Nicaragua many organisations want to use a machete to carry out a heart operation,’ says Martha Cabrera. ‘They want to change the world whilst reproducing an outdated style of leadership inside organisations that makes any change impossible.’ The workshops gave them an opportunity to analyse and discuss the consequences of the revolution as well as the rapid social change resulting from the globalisation process of the last twenty years. They also helped them to understand why it is necessary to acknowledge the past ‘so we can go forward on a firm footing’.