Democracy and Ecology High School: “A week that transformed us”
Between January 13 and 17, 2025, the Democracy and Ecology Secondary School took place, a civic education initiative jointly promoted by the Millennium Institute for Research on Violence and Democracy (VioDemos) and the Institute of Ecology and Biodiversity.
The intensive program spanned 5 days in which 32 students from public and private schools across 14 municipalities of the Metropolitan Region took part in workshops and classes at the UC Faculty of Social Sciences, located at the San Joaquín Campus. Each day was guided by one of the competencies for sustainable development (UNESCO), while each student worked on designing a social project to launch at their school or in their community. Participants arrived at the Secondary School with a proposal that was enriched throughout the week and that could apply for funding at the end of the week. Thus, of all the projects, 6 will be selected to be implemented in the first semester of 2025.
Agustina Dagnino, a student at Liceo Arturo Alessandri Palma, gave a few words at the closing ceremony of the Secondary School and said: “Today we close a week that will be remembered by all of us, not only for what we learned, but for everything that transformed us. This first edition of the school has been a very valuable and much-needed space.”
And she highlighted: “We arrived with many ideas, concerns and questions, and now we leave with tools that will always be useful to us and with much clearer and more concrete projects. These days gave us the chance to share with people our own age who are also interested in and concerned about pressing issues, who want to generate a positive impact on society. Among ourselves we got to know each other, perhaps many of us formed friendships and were able to collaborate with our peers.”
Catalina Salazar, a monitor at the Secondary School and a pedagogy in history student at USACH, explains that “during the school it was very important to foster the bond between the participants; in the first few days they were nervous, but by the end of the week we saw a transformation that makes us very happy, because the kids realize that projects not only require financial resources, but also work as networks, and they were collaborating with each other.”
Nélida Pohl, Director of Communications at IEB, comments that “this School could not have been possible with a single institution. It was vital that VioDemos and IEB came together, because from Ecology we cannot cover how important political action is for driving transformations, and VioDemos wanted to learn more about the environmental problems facing the planet.” And she adds: “From a scientific standpoint, it was a challenge to work with secondary school students, and we are very happy with the result; this is definitely something we want to do again in order to involve more and more students.”
Gabriela Piña, VioDemos researcher and Academic Director of the Secondary School, states that “it was very intense work and we are very happy with the result because the students were highly motivated and open to learning. For us, the task is not over yet, because we still need to finish evaluating the Secondary School, a process that was carried out in parallel, and to fund and follow up on 6 student projects.”
The Secondary School included three content blocks: “Democracy, Ecology and Citizenship: How Do We Organize Ourselves?”, “Crisis of the Commons” and “Security in an Uncertain Future.”
It also featured various reflection and hands-on workshops: “Debates on Feminisms Today”, “Human Rights in the 21st Century”, “The Problem of Disinformation and the Superpower to Fight It”, “Social Media Content for Social Projects”, “Climate Change and Activism: Student Performances in Chile”, “Allies: Citizenship, Power and Negotiation”, “The Price of Nature: What Are We Willing to Lose?”, “From Imaginaries to Images: Poster-Making Workshop”, Environmental Journalism Workshop and Democracy: Turn Your Voice Into Action!” and “What Did They Say?! Keys to Oral Communication.”
Serving as speakers were Rodrigo Mardones, UC professor of Political Science, María Paz Trebilcook, UAH professor of Sociology, Gabriela Piña, professor of Education at Universidad Mayor, Milena Grass, UC professor of Theater, and Hugo Rojas, UAH professor of Law, all of them VioDemos researchers. Also participating were Nélida Pohl, Director of Communications at IEB, Matías Guerrero, IEB researcher, and Sergio Toro professor at the Universidad Mayor School of Government and researcher at the Millennium Institute for Foundational Research on Data (IMFD).
Leading the workshops were: Fabián Padilla, IMFD doctoral student and creator of the platform fastcheck.cl; Rosario Valenzuela, anthropologist at the Center for Sustainable Urban Development (CEDEUS); Tamara Vidaurrázaga, researcher at the Anillo Disonancias, Comunidad, Universidad e Irrupción Feminista; Maria José Cot, UC professor of History; Valentina Aravena, journalist at the Millennium Institute VioDemos; Paula Vivallos and Colores García, both graphic designers linked to IEB, and Scarlet Barra, journalist at Senda de Darwin.
During the week there were also “Breakfasts with Activists,” sessions in which the students spoke with activists to learn about their experiences and dreams. Visiting the School were Julieta Martínez, founder of Tremendas.cl, Marcos Muñoz, environmental activist and promoter of urban gardens, Lucha Venegas, activist for the human rights of children and adolescents, and Catalina Silva, biology student, science communicator and environmental activist.
The Democracy and Ecology Secondary School was organized by the Millennium Institute for Research on Violence and Democracy (VioDemos) and the Institute of Ecology and Biodiversity (IEB), and was sponsored by the UNESCO Office in Santiago, the Office of the Ombudsperson for Children, the Millennium Institute for Foundational Research on Data (IMFD), the Universidad Mayor Faculty of Education and the Center for Sustainable Urban Development (CEDEUS). It was also supported by the UC Faculty of Social Sciences.
Source: Viodemos