Family Enrichment in the World

Family Enrichment in Venezuela

During the month of May, we have received news regarding the development of Family Enrichment in the South American country of Venezuela. Matrimonial Love II is currently finishing up. Twenty-nine couples participated, and left with the desire to continue their training through these courses and to invite other couples to participate. During the next academic year, beginning in September, this course will be offered again. First Decisions will be offered in Caracas. The experience with this first group of couples has been excellent. All have been grateful, used the material at home, and enjoyed the course.

Second Conference of Presidents of Family Enrichment Centers of Spain

On May 4, the Second Conference of Presidents of Family Enrichment Centers took place in Madrid. Three very important items were addressed during this meeting: 1) the organization’s general assembly was held; 2) José Miguel Cubillo presented the new branding of IFFD in a program entitled, “Towards a New Brand Architecture”; and finally, 3) an status report on the work being done by the various technical committees (Spanish, French, German, and English) in reviewing and updating all the materials for courses currently offered was given.

First Steps in Africa

A First Steps course has wrapped up in the city of Yaoundé, Cameroon. Clovis Metang, moderator and coordinator of Family Enrichment in this country, reports that seventeen couples participated. At the end of the session, they expressed their satisfaction at having been part of the course. Metang says that the experience has been gratifying.

From Brazil, News About a New Course

Sidney Melo, moderator and head of the Family Enrichment center in Belo Horizonte, Brazil (part of the Instituto Brasileiro da Família), sends news of the first session of the fourth edition of the Matrimonial Love course in this city of more than two million inhabitants.

Fifteen local couples participated in this first session. The satisfaction of both the participants and the organization was palpable. Between portions of the session, there was a time during which everyone took the opportunity to learn from each other and share impressions and experiences.

Training weekend in Sintra

More than twenty couples belonging to CENOFA (Portugal Family Enrichment Center) met in Sintra, a Portuguese village situated about 30 kilometers from Lisbon, April 19-21.

On Saturday they got to know each other and did some activities involving family. On Sunday, they participated in a moderator training session given by experts who traveled from Barcelona, Spain. In this session, participants, along with guest moderators, discussed common issues related to the functioning of Family Enrichment centers, administration, organization, and promotion, as well as the task of selection and functions of head coordinators: equipment, tracking of participants, etc.

In addition, Laura Sánchez, a Spanish moderator, gave a lecture entitled, “Parents as a Model of Love,” in which she spoke about the possible difficulties that couples face today, the complementarity between male and female, and the role of parents. She ended with an explanation of what Family Enrichment offers to each family: training, friendship, strength, and confidence among members.

All participants and their families spent a very pleasant weekend and are already thinking about the next meeting.

Singapore Begins with “First Steps”

As announced last month, Family Enrichment moderators traveled to Singapore to help launch First Steps. And the fruits have been immediate! During the month of April, the first session of First Steps took place, involving twenty couples, half of which were from Singapore. The  rest were foreigners from countries as diverse as the Philippines, Argentina, Spain, Portugal, New Zealand, and India. The second session is scheduled for May 3

Technical Committees Are Underway

The work of the different technical committees is commendable. They work to update and improve all the cases and technical notes that are taught around the world, which is a  fundamental task for Family Enrichment’s expansion and for the adaptation of each topic to the uses and customs of each country.

The technical committee working with Spanish-language materials gathers at fortnightly intervals. Experts from Spain, Mexico, and Ecuador, with collaboration from Italy (which has its own committee), have been working for two years on updating all the materials in this language. Although not yet finished with this task, they have done very important work in reviewing all programs and developing some new ones (ten in total), with their respective presentations, scripts, and literature. Their next target will be updating and developing moderator training materials.

At the end of 2012, the French technical committee formed to carry out the task of updating, translating, and adaptating the courses in this language. This  work has been undertaken by experts from Canada, French-speaking Belgium, France, and Ivory Coast. In addition, the German-language technical committee launched earlier this year, with experts from Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. These two technical committees meet every four weeks.

International Action

Celebration of the International Day of Families in the European Parliament

An event celebrating the International Day of Families was organized by IFFD and twelve other organizations in the European Parliament. Assistance was provided by more than 160 MEPs, academics and representatives of NGOs, and ten experts on the reconciliation of work and family life, including the president of Eurofound, the founder of Betreut, the delegate from the region of Veneto, and the Austrian MEP Heinz K. Becker, as well as the Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Citizenship, László Andor.

IFFD award at Madrid Vivo Foundation

On March 20, the patron of the Madrid Vivo Foundation, Juan-Miguel Villar-Mir, received the IFFD award on behalf of his institution. The IFFD Award is given by the International Federation for Family Development, in this instance for Villar-Mir’s decision to direct one of his entity’s sections to the particular promotion of families. The award would have been granted February 12, at the first event organized by IFFD at the headquarters of the United Nations in New York, but Villar-Mir was unable to attend that event. The March 20 ceremony was held at the headquarters of the OHL, and attended by the Secretary General of the same, Javier Cremades. The Secretary General of IFFD, Javier Vidal-Quadras, was also recognized.

In Bucarest, participations on the preparations for the Twentieth anniversary of the Cairo Conference on Population and Development

The director of international relations of IFFD, Ignacio Socías, participated in a meeting of experts in Bucarest (ICDP), to prepare for the Twentieth Anniversary of the Cairo Conference on Population and Development, which will take place in 2014. The meeting was organized by the Population Fund of the United Nations (UNFPA) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), and held April 25-26.
In his presentation, Socías focused on personal freedom as a universal value opposed to the tangible and to dogmatism, and the family as the primary and essential education.

Publication on the web

The book on the occasion of the European meeting of experts in Brussels can be downloaded here.

IFFD Papers

A series of position papers on current affairs an topics that have to do with family enrichment.

IFFD Papper nº 20

What do families really need?

The challenge of work-family balance

[1 May 2013]

16-18 May 2014

For more information: infocongress2014@iffd.org

TFW is a “think tank” inspired by IFFD dedicated to analyzing the social reality of the family.

 Vídeos (Canal YouTube).