"To have resilient communities, we need to have socio-educational agents."

"The term resilience has many different definitions and approaches. Resilience is usually understood from a more individual perspective, as how an individual is able to overcome adverse situations without suffering medium- or long-term damage. However, the concept of community resilience goes beyond the individual. We speak of resilient communities as those that are able to access, develop, or utilize various resources—not only personal ones, but also those from the social and community context—that are useful for coping with situations and environments characterized by adversity or difficulty. The pandemic, for example, clearly demonstrated this. Therefore, it's about mobilizing not only personal resources but also resources within the social and community context."

"This guide is the final product of a research process into projects and practices that, during the pandemic, we could characterize as resilient practices from the perspective of community resilience. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected from children, young people, professionals, organizations, and government agencies that had carried out these projects or practices during the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on all of this, a model for analyzing resilient practices was developed with the aim of..." This model helps foster the creation of projects, practices, or programs that promote community resilience , or analyze existing programs to determine if they are promoting this resilience. It is a practical guide in checklist format with 20 indicators grouped into three main dimensions: support and personalization, collective action – social capital, and communication.

What is resilience and why is it important in adolescence?

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In the dimension of support and personalization, there are 9 indicators related to: whether the program includes emotional support from family or friends—during the pandemic, children especially valued having received emotional support, and those who did not receive it would have liked to receive this emotional support; whether the program has spaces for support, guidance, and orientation to foster different types of support, in addition to emotional, social, or instrumental support; whether the program promotes equity; whether it includes spaces for social interaction—also heavily emphasized during the pandemic; whether there are actions to promote personalized learning pathways that are flexible and connected to the context; whether it fosters and recognizes diversity; whether it encourages reflection on one's own learning; whether it identifies the interests and needs of the people who will be part of this program; and finally, whether it promotes active participation.

In the dimension of collective action and social capital we talk about the existence of alliances, networking, coordination of services, collective projects, support and mutual aid networks, participatory culture, access to and use of resources, equipment and services, how the associative network is activated or what are the facilitating roles of leadership.
In the dimension of communication actions, we talked about whether communication reaches everyone and through diverse communication channels – during Covid there were online information channels, but how did it reach people without internet access –; how adaptable and accessible these communication supports are; whether communication contributes to generating collaboration and, finally, the agility, fluidity and feedback of this information.”

"We must take them into account, especially because when we see these situations of adversity arise, for many children school has already disappeared; they are left with belonging to an association network or the fact that they were already able to enjoy sports or cultural activities, among others, outside the school environment, which at that time was very important. The existence of these prior connections is important because if you have to build them in the moment of adversity, it is much more difficult than if you already have them and can draw on them."

"It's important to understand, from the outset, this broader concept of education, which isn't limited to the school setting. All these socio-educational spaces can be a source of learning, connection, and economic, instrumental, and social support just as important as the school environment. Therefore, the existence of and connection to these spaces will carry significant weight. For some children, it may complement the role of school, while for others, conversely, at certain times in their lives, it may even be more important than the school itself."

Socio-educational agents are a fundamental support for adolescents and young people

“During the pandemic, families played a crucial role, and children recognize this. When given a list of the people who had helped them most during the pandemic, their families, and especially their mothers, were at the top of the list. However, not all children had this family support. Many children relied primarily on their families. This was especially true during the initial stages of lockdown, when schools and other organizations didn't yet know how to act or how to reach children and young people. Families were there and provided emotional, practical, and informational support. But some children didn't have this support, perhaps because their parents worked all day outside the home, and some children felt very alone. When, for whatever reason, families can't provide this support, social and educational services often play a key role .”

Promoting family resilience

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"If we don't have their voice, we don't know how to contribute to their well-being. In other words, we can't understand what can contribute to that well-being if they don't tell us, so we're unlikely to truly contribute to their well-being. Therefore, it's extremely important to have their participation, their voice, and of course, their opinion ."

If we don't take into account the voices of adolescents and young people, we don't know how to contribute to their well-being.

We learned about many interesting and varied experiences; some existed only during the Covid pandemic and then disappeared, while others have transformed and continued. There were experiences in the school setting, others focused on leisure activities, after-school programs, or open centers, and even some involving the inclusion of people with disabilities.

One example of experiences is the creation of a radio station that involved primary and secondary school teachers and students and was a very participatory and important communication tool during the pandemic; others are resources designed for people with disabilities or aimed at the LGBTI population, who were largely forgotten during the pandemic.