El nudo de Lili (Lili’s knot)
A children’s story from the My School, a Safe Place project.
Program · Capacity strengthening
My School, a Safe Place
A program to prevent violence and sexual abuse against children and adolescents in schools in Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala. We work with students, teachers, families and education authorities so that school becomes a place where children learn to recognize abuse, talk about it and ask for help.
Why it exists
Abuse thrives on silence; school can break it
In Central America, much of the violence and sexual abuse against children and adolescents happens in the very spaces meant to protect them: the home, the neighborhood and also the school. The abuser is often someone known and in a position of authority, and victims stay silent out of fear, shame, or because no one ever taught them how to name what is happening to them.
School is where children spend the most hours outside the home, and where a trusted adult can spot a warning sign in time. But for that, the school community needs information, tools and clear agreements: what abuse is, how to talk about it in age-appropriate language, what to do when a child discloses something, and whom to turn to.
My School, a Safe Place was created to meet that need from a feminist, rights-based perspective: abuse is neither an accident nor a private matter, but an expression of unequal power relations — between adults and children, between men and women — that can be questioned and changed.
How we work
The whole school community, not just the classroom
The program combines Puntos de Encuentro's experience in communication for social change with training processes in schools in Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala:
- With children and adolescents: playful activities and audiovisual resources — such as the Little Red Riding Hood story adapted for the project — so they can recognize risky situations, know that their body is their own, and learn to ask for help without guilt.
- With teachers and school staff: training to identify warning signs, listen without re-victimizing and activate the appropriate response pathway.
- With mothers, fathers and families: conversations to dispel myths, talk about sexuality and prevention according to age, and strengthen trust at home.
- With education authorities and local partners: clear protection and reporting pathways, in coordination with organizations in each country.
Materials are produced in formats schools can keep using after the project: videos, guides and stories, available to school communities and to other organizations that want to replicate the experience.
The project in six minutes
Project: My School, a Safe Place
Presentation of the program (in Spanish): what we do in schools and why. Produced by Puntos de Encuentro.
Length: 6:23 · Published on the Puntos de Encuentro Nicaragua channel
Audiovisual resources
Resources for the classroom and home
Audiovisual resources from the project (in Spanish) for working with children and families.
Length: 5:31 · Project audiovisual resource
A short film on the power relations that sustain abuse (in Spanish). Produced by Puntos de Encuentro.
Stories to download
Three illustrated stories, free
Stories from the project to read with children in the classroom and at home (in Spanish). Free PDF download.
Julián, el gatito que quería ser cocinero (Julián, the kitten who wanted to be a cook)
A children’s story from the My School, a Safe Place project.
El río de las piedras preciosas (The river of precious stones)
A children’s story from the My School, a Safe Place project.
How it weaves into the other programs
Prevent at school, change at home and in the street
- GenGen. Organizations working with children and youth in Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua adopt the generational and gender approach this program applies in schools: children have a voice and rights, not just needs.
- Masculinities. Preventing abuse also means working with men and boys on power, consent and care.
- DKY Digital. Our youth media outlet carries prevention and sexual and reproductive rights messages to the same networks where adolescents and young people get their information.
- Women's integral health. Psychological support for women who experienced violence shows the consequences of abuse that was not stopped in time — and why prevention in childhood is the best investment.
My School, a Safe Place is implemented in the region by Asociación Puntos de Encuentro with partner organizations in each country. Fundación Puntos de Encuentro Inc. channels support from donors in the United States to reach more schools. If your school or organization wants to join or use the materials, write to info@fundacionpuntosdeencuentroinc.org.
Add your thread
Every school that joins protects hundreds of children
Your gift trains teachers and families, produces materials and reaches new schools in Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala.
Fundación Puntos de Encuentro Inc. is a 501(c)(3) organization. Your donation is tax-deductible in the United States.