The Latin American Movement Gente que Avanza (GQA) is a civil nonprofit organization based in Montevideo, Uruguay that has been focusing on educative work for over 40 years.
The main objective of the work is to form and train youth, according to the Christian principles, to be positive leaders in the different areas of their societies.
Our mission is to train youth as social entrepreneurs with firm values, ready and prepared to work for the construction of a more integrated Latin America and a world that is more just, solidary, fraternal and peaceful. All that would be done through personal change and social commitment. We seek to be a training space, based in Latin America but open to men and women from all over the world that would feel the vocation to serve and be role models and positive leaders in their different societies.
WHY DO WE EXIST
Despite all the scientific and technological development, we notice that many people, particularly young people, tend to feel insecurity, frustration, anxiety, anguish, fear, and stress, commit suicide, use violence to resolve conflicts, use alcohol and drugs, and in the end, feel the existential emptiness.
Psychological studies have identified a negative relation between the technical complexity of today's society and the ability of the individual to instinctively enjoy, decreasing the ability to enjoy life. Love, affection, friendship and mutual trust, that are fundamental components of a good life (a quality life), are not in favour nowadays because of the fast rhythm of modern societies. Human relationships become functional and utilitarian, diffuse an individualistic ethic of competition that tends to frame the interpersonal communication in terms of inhibiting deeper development of affection and cooperation.
This situation reminds us of the need for training to enable a balanced development of different aspects of a person such as intellectual, emotional, moral and spiritual development of young men and women.
It is essential that people stop and find anew the contact with themselves, in order to attain ability of greater self-control, put forth their skills to be able to confront more assertively the challenges of a daily life to be protagonists of their personal history and also constructors of the societies that would be more just, united and pacific.
Basing on the fact that society does not necessarily is to be considered as developed just because of disposing abundant capital, but on the fact how much it has succeeded in expanding the potential of the individuals within it. These potentials not only have to do with the professional performance (developing technical skills), but also involve the personal sphere, if we are willing to achieve a real quality of life. A quality life is not limited only to economic progress but requires people to be able to grow and develop in an integral way.
AIMS OF THE LATIN AMERICAN MOVEMENT GENTE QUE AVANZA
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Foster change in people and a greater determination to put in service the qualities and talents of each one to build a better society.
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Educate and train young people to be leaders that their countries need in different fields of action, through the education based on an integral concept of the individual.
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Contribute to the integration of the positive image of Latin America to the rest of the world.
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Affirm the values and the mission of the family as a community of love and life, that contributes to the formation of men and women that are fraternal and solidary.
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Promote the values and dignity of a person through arts and media.
WHAT DOES THE TRAINING PROGRAMME CONSIST OF
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The premise that the human factor has been and will be the main factor that composes a society and its various institutions, the Latin American movement Gente Que Avanza, through the work of the Training Centre for Youth, offers an educational program aimed at enhancing the personal development and raising the awareness of the social role of the men and women from all around the continent and the world.
The program, with duration of one academic year, combines pedagogical tools of formal and non-formal education with the aim to train protagonists for the construction and acquisition of new knowledge, and educators, facilitators and companions of the training process. The program comprises four formative stages, requiring a full-time dedication, two are held in Montevideo and two in outreaches in the interior of the country and other Latin American country.
AIMS OF THE PROGRAMME
It is intended that when upon completion of the program participants:
1) Have a better knowledge and understanding of oneself, develop a healthy self-esteem, learn to value positively oneself and others, develop skills to create better interpersonal relationships.
2) Be able to formulate a life plan that would include development of different aspects of his/her person: the spiritual, physical, intellectual and social.
3) Discover the importance that has giving meaning to life and be able to establish a set of values that would guide their actions.
4) Discover their ability to practice positive leadership, developing skills such as teamwork, decision-making and assertive communication with people surrounding them.
5) Count with minimum theoretical elements that would allow having a better understanding of the global and Latin American reality, to develop a critical awareness of the surroundings of the person.
6) Have a greater knowledge and appreciation of Latin American cultures, appropriating some of its forms of arts (music and dance).
7) Assume an attitude of respect for diversity and plurality of the continent and appreciate integration and unity among nations and countries of Latin America.
8) Ability to become changemakers in their families and communities, living values such as justice, fraternity, solidarity, tolerance and respect for life.
SPIRITUALITY
The importance of Spirituality is that it unites the charisma and the mission of the Movement Gente Que Avanza, and does it within each person who wants to live this charisma. We are convinced that Gente Que Avanza is a work of God that emerged in response to the needs of today's world.
Gente Que Avanze – a part of an integral and transcendental concept of the Human Being. It acknowledges not only the ability to distinguish between true and/or false using intelligence, but also to discern between good and bad because there is an awareness of a spiritual as well as the biological, psychological and social dimension.
The human being is not something but someone who is invited to discover the true meaning of his/her life and accomplish that through a specific vocation. We believe that there is a plan for each of us and that we will discover that step by step, mainly through meditation, quiet time to hear the inner voice, to listen to the voice of God; to know discovering his will through different events, happenings and people through whom He speaks to us. This project is a part of a common process.
As the change in people is a fundamental aspect of Gente Que Avanza, we believe that it is God who works in the lives of people through their openness and decisions they make. He transforms us by giving New Life, when we leave aside those things that keep us from being the persons we are, when we accept our limitations, when we free us from our setbacks through forgiveness and reconciliation. Then He uses us as instruments to transmit that Life to others.
This spirituality leads us to a constant growth and meeting ourselves, and the harmonious development of our talents and qualities. This will lead us to living in a community so that we will be a meeting point with others, ferment in the society, its transformers and promoters of change in people through personal testimony and service. The knowledge of God’s love towards us is the greatest motivation for this service.
Gente Que Avanza values the dignity of all people, and for its universality, respects the freedom of awareness and beliefs. It transmits values inspired by Christianity and the participants that are Christians focus their spirituality in the person of Christ.
At the same the personal process of each individual is taken into account, as God is infinitely respectful to our freedom.
Being children of the same Father we all become brothers and sisters, and a part of the same family. As soon as we understand and live that, we will be building a new world we all yearn for.
NOTE: GQA is not a religious movement. All religious beliefs or the absence of any are respected. The same way it is asked to respect the spirituality of the Movement.
VOLUNTARY WORK
During the program, youth participants will be devoted to external activities, sometimes paid, with different organized groups, they will do it on voluntary basis as a part of their development and learning. The organization and not a specific person shall receive such remuneration.
SELF-DISCIPLINES
The group counts with certain internal standards during the training period. Participants are asked to assume three main self-disciplines:
1) No smoking: As the group has values that uphold life in every way, it would be an attitude of inconsistency if members themselves harm their own health.
2) No alcohol: It’s a great responsibility we assume with the families that receive us in their homes, also the daily activities that require total disposition and clarity at all the times, makes us to have this discipline to respond to all this and also to support people who have problems with alcohol and whom we meet in our activities.
3) No flirting: Being a mixed group (boys and girls), it’s fundamental that, for the healthy development of the interpersonal relations in the group, nobody plays with feelings of other participants of the group. We will also be living together with young people in the families that host us, getting to know them in our activities; therefore we need to have the attitude of total respect and maturity in our actions to avoid hurting or creating misunderstandings and wrong interpretations in people. This will allow us to fully experience the ten months of coexistence and living together in the group.
ACTIVITIES
During the ten months of training, the participants will have the opportunity to take part in the activities with Social Media (radio, television and newspapers), will hold meetings with organized groups and give various workshops within the course of "Integral Development of Personality" about the following topics:
Self-esteem
Knowledge of oneself and of others Inner freedom
Interpersonal relations
Think, feel and decide
Live and coexist with others
Vocation and the sense of life
Besides all that participants will organize meetings with families that will receive them in their homes, prepare and present small artistic performances, meet with political, religious, social and institutional authorities.
