History and work experience

In the sixteen years of work of ESPIRAL por la VIDA, we have carried out activities in 150 educational centers and more than 120 communities in the eight regions of the State of Oaxaca, being a reference in the rights of children and youth in the State, both for government agencies and for the networks of civil organizations with which we participate in joint actions.

All the projects we have carried out have had an impact on public spaces of social impact, generating processes of transformation and development through the promotion of alternatives to confront situations of risk and/or conflict that arise in the communities to girls and young women, high school students, as well as women leaders or women with community positions. We establish with them, networks that strengthen the elements and favorable resources they possess, so that they are perceived as actors of social change.

We actively participate in the construction of public policies, both municipal and state, as well  in the promotion and lobbying of laws or state reforms in favor of children and adolescents, such as the first law in the country in favor of the rights of this sector of the population, the modification of the Civil Code to establish the age of majority in marriages, the promotion of programs to eradicate gender violence, the promotion of justice in cases of pederasty, the promotion and dissemination of preventive measures for teenage pregnancy, among others.

From the beginning in 2005 until the end of 2008, Espiral por la vida has worked a methodology to combat violence, through the promotion of a culture of peaceful conflict resolution and rehabilitation to addictions, we achieved the systematization of our model of innovative and effective practices with a high impact on the generation of youth promoters, in communities in the 8 regions of the State of Oaxaca in which it was implemented with an impact of 4,519 beneficiaries, some of whom still work for the youth of their communities.

From 2009 to 2013, the institution was the state operator of the ConstruyeT Program (Ministry of Public Education, UNICEF and UNDP), whose objective was the promotion of coexistence from the culture of peace and non-violence and the generation of an environment of inclusion and respect in the educational community. Throughout this project, Espiral served 100 high schools in the State of Oaxaca, with an impact on more than 45,000 young people and with a documented result of a decrease in school dropout rates by two percentage points in the schools in which we worked.

As of 2014, the institution emphasized its work and attention to the promotion of gender equality and social inclusion with projects developed in favor of girls, adolescents and women in Oaxaca, such as: the generation of Protocols for the care of daughters and sons of Women Victims of Violence attended in the Justice Centers for Women in the State of Oaxaca; Program for the promotion of sexual rights, prevention of teenage pregnancy and support guide in the sexual education of young women, to recognize their sexual rights and encourage responsibility for the exercise of responsible sexuality; projects to promote the leadership of young women, through community youth assemblies, an experience of the exercise of the right to participation of young women in municipalities with indigenous predominance in the 8 regions of the State of Oaxaca; active participation in working groups for the eradication of sex tourism with children and adolescents in Oaxaca and generation of support networks between government, tourism sector and civil society.

In 2016, we coordinated and co-participated in diploma courses and seminars for gender equality in the Universities of the State of Oaxaca; and for the IMO, the edition of Manuals for women’s political participation: “Manual for the prevention and attention of violence from the municipal unions in Oaxaca” and “Manual for the training of women in municipal community positions for the prevention and attention of violence against women”.

During 2017 and 2018, we participated in the call for the Proequidad Program, operated by the National Institute of Women, InMujeres, with whose financial support we achieved the design and operation of the projects:

• • “Integration of youth rights promotion teams for the political participation of women in Oaxaca”, with the objective of promoting the political participation of women in spaces of public representation, through a process of training and empowerment of women leaders, authorities and young students of higher secondary education, in five municipalities of the Sierra Juárez: Quiotepec, Nuevo Zoquiapam, Ixtlán de Juárez, Ixtepeji and Aloapam .
  • “Observatorio Ciudadano de Defensa de los Derechos Políticos de las Mujeres Serranas”, as a continuity of the previous project of 2017, with the same objective of training and empowerment of women leaders, authorities and young students but expanding with Guelatao, Capulalpam, Natividad, Xiacuí and Jaltianguis,,, to a total of 10 municipalities of the Sierra Juárez, District of Ixtlán, State of Oaxaca, and empowering a total of 76 women, 20 of which constituted the Observatory.