[psych-hr] Viviana ValsGen comments on the IPEDEHP case study

[***Comments from the moderator: Viviana ValsGen sent me her comments
on the IPEDEHP case study in Spanish so that I could translate them
into English.  Vivi, I hope I have done you justice. Particularly
interesting about Vivi's comments on the IPEDEHP case study is that
Vivi knows IPEDEHP and Rosa Maria Mujica (one of IPEDEHP's founders
and the person responsible for designing and implementing IPEDEHP's
program for community leaders which is the focus of the case study)
quite well. Vivi has, since 1994, been working as a volunteer with a
group of Peruvian psychologists affiliated with Peruvian National
Human Rights Coordinator (one of the three parties that oversee
IPEDEHP's program for community leaders). Along with the other
psychologists, she provides assistance to victims of violence who come
to the Human Rights Coordinator. This group of psychologists was
established by Rosa (with the assistance of Elizabeth Lira and I
believe Matilde Ruderman), in 1994 when she took a leave of absence
from IPEDEHP to serve as the Executive Director of the Peruvian
National Human Rights Coordinator. Vivi has also, as she indicates
below, worked closely with the Peruvian Human Rights Education Network
which IPEDEHP helped to establish in 1986 and which it continues to
nurture. Here are Vivi's comments. ***]

My general impression of the IPEDEHP study and materials is very
positive. I know IPEDEHP quite well as I have had the good fortune, in
my capacity as a psychologist working with the National Human Rights
Coordinator, of having coordinated with the Peruvian Human Rights
Education Network of which IPEDEHP is a member.

My impression is that the changes that are alluded to in the case study are 
substantial. Key is the "discovery" on the part of individuals who attend 
IPEDEHP workshops that they have rights. This definitely changes their 
perspectives on life, the way they look at themselves.

I think that the methodology used to carry out the case study is very useful 
and appropriate within the context within which IPEDEHP operates. It 
provides a first step in a process that should be continued.

IPEDEHP's work has established a valuable network that sustains human rights 
work in Peru. Personally I have had the good fortune to be able to count on 
the support and assistance from this network from my position in the Peruvian 
National Human Rights Coordinator where I also carry out workshops at a 
national level.

One of the most important aspects of IPEDEHP's methodology is that it 
captures the personal in the work of human rights, and it does so in an 
integral fashion. We, as individuals, are the instruments of excellence in 
carrying out our work. It is because of this that the emphasis on the 
affective dimension provides the only way of sustaining our work in the field.

If you want me to expand on any of these points please let me know.

Viviana Vals Gen