Family and Leadership
1700+ enabled parents and caretakers per year
80+ successful family interventions per year
350+ skill-equipped community leaders per year
Leadership begins at home.
Conviventia defends the God-given role of the family in establishing belief systems, teaching principles and values, and elevating society.
This is why we work from all fronts to strengthen this social institution, including conflict resolution, healthy family dynamics, good parenting approaches, general communication, and more; ensuring children can grow in safe and nurturing environments that promote holistic development.
Healthy families = Healthy communities.
Our Leadership Projects
Family Strengthening:
This project uses pragmatic and inclusive methodologies which allow for the resolution of critical family situations that pose a risk to boys, girls and young adults. We foster safe, stable and enabling environments that promote overall family wellbeing.
Scouts Initiative:
Children and young adults adopt skills and concepts that encourage leadership growth and improved self-image through our Scouts Initiative, setting firm foundations that equip them to be agents of change for their family and community.
EMP Schools for Community Leadership Development:
Curriculum founded on a Christian worldview, encouraging one’s acquisition of a code of ethics and moral guidelines; providing communities with capable and responsible leaders that contribute to social wellbeing and sustainable community transformation.
School for Parents and Family Counseling:
Taking a preventive approach, the Schools for Parents facilitate and stimulate stronger, healthier family dynamics; resulting in safer home environments, suitable for children’s holistic development.
Testimony from our Family Strengthening Program
By Leidy Murillo (mother- age 25) of the Vega Murillo family
My name is Leidy. I live with my husband and my two daughters; 11 year old Derly and 6 year old Dany. I heard about the Family Strengthening Team of Conviventia through the God is Love school in Altos de Cazuca. Four months ago my daughter Derly ran away from home because she failed some subjects at school and was scared of her father’s reaction. At home there was conflict because my husband is aggressive. He used to deal with us in very rude ways. When Derly made that decision to leave, I felt like I was the worst mother in the world. I was very afraid about what could happen to her. Thank God the police found her and referred us to the Colombian Institute of Family Welfare (ICBF, for the initials in Spanish).
There, we committed to improving our relationship with our daughters. This is how we entered Conviventia’s Family Strengthening Program. A few weeks later, my daughters talked to the social worker and told her that one of their uncles was displaying inappropriate sexual behavior toward them. I felt devastated by the news. Six months before that, I attempted to take my own life, and now, I felt prompted to try again. My whole life was upside down, I did not know why those things happened to my daughters. During the process with the Family Strengthening Team, we learned about trust and the importance of expressing our feelings before it is too late. I learned to communicate better with my daughters, to listen more intently. My husband could not participate in the sessions because of his job schedules, but he did all the assignments we got every week.
My daughters got really engaged in the process and shared their highlights of every session with my husband after work. I asked my daughters for forgiveness and I forgave them, too. Now my family is different. We still have an ongoing process with the ICBF, but we all have changed a lot. Each week, we make time to be together, play or go out. My husband is changing his attitude and behavior, he is more affectionate, and now, when he is upset, he is intentional in taking time to calm down. I began to balance my family-work life and the care of my daughters. I still contribute to the economy of our family but take better care of my daughters now. They also improved their academic performance, are more open with me, and are a lot more affectionate. I still have to adjust many things, implement more healthy authority, and they still find it hard to follow rules, but we are getting there.
I thank the Family Strengthening Team for the support received and for everything they taught me and my family. Every night my family and I pray and ask God to bless this organization in all you do. I have learned so much from the social worker, the psychologist and the chaplain. I now enjoy my family and understand that, despite all our failures as parents, we are not bad people, we just did not have the knowledge nor the tools to be better parents.
