The Literacy, Women and Leadership programme of Fundação Cuidar O Futuro, developed in May 2003 with Maria de Lurdes Pintasilgo, emerged from a long experience of literacy, training and women's consciousness-raising programmes and projects carried out by the founding Graal Association.
Upon verifying the importance of Paulo Freire's philosophy and methodology of consciousness-raising in developing these new proposals, we saw, on one hand, the need for a critical analysis of his postulates, and on the other, the need to broaden the objective of literacy to new dimensions, namely leadership.
This programme draws on the structuring inspiration of Paulo Freire and Maria de Lourdes Pintasilgo. Acknowledging the relevance of both their thinking presupposes not only the need to challenge dominant societal dynamics, but also implies a difficult and constant task of expanding networks of resistance to an increasingly inhumane world, in which the quality of life of all living beings is deteriorating day after day.
General objectives of the programme
- Deepen and "re-ground" the work of leadership from the perspective of an ethics of care;
- Create new social bonds and work "in networks" to improve quality of life through shared leaderships, both in professional work contexts and in personal and civic life contexts;
- Foster partnerships.
Phase II (January 2009 – December 2011)
A second action-research project entitled Literacy for Gender Equality and Quality of Life: Shared Leaderships was being developed.
This project was carried out within the scope of the Literacy, Women and Leadership Programme and the Development and Quality of Life Programme.
The experimental phase of the project began on 16 May with the holding of a first workshop entitled Gender Equality in Reinventing Leaderships, in partnership with the Paulo Freire Institute and the Lusophone University.
The objectives of this action-research project are:
- Foster, among social and educational intervention professionals, reflection, debate and the development of intervention skills for promoting empowerment processes and increasing the quality of life of populations through a gender equality perspective;
- Promote, among local leaders and/or professionals in decision-making positions, and citizens in general, reflection-action processes around emerging leaderships in professional, community and family contexts;
- Establish empirical and theoretical foundations for the deepening of studies, reflections and consequent practices for development and quality of life within the thematic areas of the project;
- Promote interaction between cultural mediators, workshop facilitators and researchers to facilitate the construction -- and constant renewal -- of a unifying praxis of theoretical deepening and action in the field.
Phase I (September 2004 – December 2008)
In September 2004, the first action-research project was launched, entitled Literacy of Women for Leadership, which ended in December 2008.
The objectives of this action-research project are:
- Mobilise the theoretical and practical knowledge condensed in the history of the Graal in Portugal regarding women's consciousness-raising and use the systematised experience in the development of new educational proposals;
- Conduct theoretical research to re-ground training work in the area of leadership and new forms of literacy;
- Design and deliver workshops on training women for leadership;
- Evaluate and publish the results of the project.
Scientific Coordination
Marijke de Koning (Fundação Cuidar O Futuro; Centre for Research and Intervention in Education of the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences of the University of Porto)
Helena Costa Araújo (Centre for Research and Intervention in Education of the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences of the University of Porto)
Publications
