WUNRN
Brazil & Canada - 1000 Women Brazil Project for Education & Training of Disadvantaged Women
Maria Aparecida Batista Marinho,
left, and Marta de Lima, right, both participants in the Mulheres Mil program,
putting their new skills to work while reading a book in the library.
A typical small Brazilian village
in the North and North-East where the original 1000 Mulheres Mil live.
Marta de Lima shows off some of
her recent handicraft creations, which she will sell using the skills learned
through Mulheres Mil.
Maria Aparecida Batista Marinho is the first in her
family to overcome illiteracy. A housewife and student at 37, she dreams
of becoming a teacher and serves as an inspiring example for her 5 daughters.
She is not alone.
Maria is one of one thousand Brazilian women who participated in Mulheres Mil
("Thousand Women"), a program funded by the Canadian International
Development Agency and co-managed by the Association of Canadian Community
Colleges (ACCC) and the Brazilian Ministry of Education. This
relationship between Canadian and Brazilian partners has helped some 13 federal
technical education centres in
"It is horrible to be illiterate; it is the same as being blind. I was blind and now I can see." -Maria Aparecida Batista Marinho
So successful has this project
been that Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff recently approved it as a national
program, with a goal of training 100,000 women by 2014. To do so,
Mulheres Mil was
born out of collaboration between Brazilian and Canadian colleges and
professional associations to offer training for chambermaids in the Brazilian
state of
Notwithstanding this simple
beginning, the program's aims have been anything but modest. One of the
main priorities of the training is to develop a sense of self-esteem and
confidence in the women participating – some of whom feared working on a
computer, writing on the blackboard, or even being asked to write their own
names. In contrast, today, the sense of self-worth of so many of the
participants is remarkable, as are their contributions to their communities.
Vera Lúcia Francisca da Silva, one of many women who have benefitted from the
program, used to think of an education as something above her.
"Now," she says, "I see that I am capable of studying,
that I can pass any test I want, that all it takes is to believe in
oneself."
"We were transformed through
our work with our dedicated and energetic Brazilian colleagues and look forward
to many more years of growth in our institutional exchanges,” said ACCC's
Vice-President Paul Brennan. “In the end, this will prepare us better for our
shared global challenge: providing accessible education to all."
"We share a vision of a world
where women from all segments of society are empowered with education and are
gainfully engaged in their communities,” he said. “Together we can share
lessons learned and explore future directions for national and international
action to support this goal.”
Initiatives such as Mulheres Mil can help
continue this progress as