We have History…

All great works are born from processes which have touched the innermost fibres of the human being. José María Vélaz is no exception. Chilean by birth and from a Spanish family. When he was a child he had to leave with his mother for the peninsula, where his education was linked to the schools of the Society of Jesus.

In his youth, after some years at university, he opted to become a member of this religious congregation and from then on, like the founder of the order (Saint Ignatius of Loyola), he would become a pilgrim and a builder of hope. In 1946, José was assigned to Venezuela when he was 36 years old and he had already been a Jesuit for 18 years.

The reality experienced in Latin America would soon mark a new itinerary in his mission. Get in touch with poverty and the scandalous conditions of marginalisation and exclusion of most of the country’s population would challenge him in a definitive way. While working at the Colegio San José in Mérida, he began his first experiments, which would eventually lead to the creation of a network of schools on the outskirts of the cities and in rural areas. It was in 1960 when this network was named “Fe y Alegría”. Vélaz easily fits the profile of a man of the cloth and saviour of the underprivileged. However, the work of this particular Jesuit was to channel the legitimate demands and yearnings of the poor. Not a single one of these schools would have been possible without the determination of the beneficiaries to carry out the project.

All those parents and all those children were the real managers of one of the most important educational works in Latin America and which today extends around the world.

It is said that Abraham and his wife had been building the walls of their home for eight long years, and the day they were told about  a school and education for the children, they handed over those walls and that roof with no greater ceremony than their own happiness. There was no inauguration ceremony, no red ribbon with its little bow to be cut, no commemorative plaque.

The Kings’ gesture was only the beginning, as other families would join the epic journey that made Fe y Alegría possible. A forceful response to a society and a state that had forgotten them. A commitment to freedom through education. Vélaz, who had been linked to the Catholic University, created together with a group of university students, the first contingent of people willing to dream together with the people. This is the other half of a success story. Nothing is really possible and lasting if the greatest number of actors have not been involved in a profound transformation of the reality.

The first years of Fe y Alegría would have the virtue of calling together all those who let themselves be touched by the tasks of Christian service. An authentic sign of the realisation of the Kingdom of God now and in our midst.

All great works are born from processes which have touched the innermost fibres of the human being. José María Vélaz is no exception. Chilean by birth and from a Spanish family; when he was a child he had to leave with his mother for the peninsula, where his education was linked to the schools of the Society of Jesus.

In his youth, after some years at university, he opted to become a member of this religious congregation and from then on, like the founder of the order (Saint Ignatius of Loyola), he would become a pilgrim and a builder of hope. In 1946, José was assigned to Venezuela when he was 36 years old and he had already been a Jesuit for 18 years.

The reality experienced in Latin America would soon mark a new itinerary in his mission. Get in touch with poverty and the scandalous conditions of marginalisation and exclusion of most of the country’s population would challenge him in a definitive way. While working at the Colegio San José in Mérida, he began his first experiments, which would eventually lead to the creation of a network of schools on the outskirts of the cities and in rural areas. It was in 1960 when this network was named “Fe y Alegría”. Vélaz easily fits the profile of a man of the cloth and saviour of the underprivileged. However, the work of this Jesuit was to channel the legitimate demands and yearnings of the poor. Not a single one of these schools would have been possible without the determination of the beneficiaries to carry out the project.

All those parents and all those children were the real managers of one of the most important educational works in Latin America and which today extends around the world.

In 1962, as it was suggested by Fr. José María Vélaz, with the support of the Provincial of Loyola, the Secretariat of Fe y Alegría was set up in Pamplona. However, it was not until 1985 that Fe y Alegría Spain was registered as an NGO. Today, Entreculturas Fe y Alegría España, together with Alboan, the Jesuit NGO in Euskadi and Navarra, has deployed a common strategic framework focused on five fair causes:

1. The guarantee of the universal right to quality education.

2. The defence of the dignified life of migrants and refugees.

3. The promotion of socio-environmental justice.

4. Strengthening participation and global citizenship.

5. The promotion of gender equity.

Entreculturas defends these five fair causes through cooperation projects, mainly with the Fe y Alegría network to which it belongs and the Jesuit Refugee Service, and also through awareness-raising and political advocacy actions, volunteer programmes, communication campaigns and educational programmes, weaving networks for change with other partner organisations, companies, educational centres and multiple strategic allies.

Considering the social changes due to the high immigration and with the dream to offer to migrants the possibility to continue their studies, the sisters Pilar and Narcisa Soria with Fathers Valentin Mendendendez S.J. and Gerardo Arango S.J. and with the blessing of father Kolvenbach S.J. Superior of the Society of Jesus, they activate the socio-educational organisation that made possible to inaugurate, on September 16th 2001 in Rome, the first school thanks to an agreement with IRFEYAL – Ecuador, one of the popular schools of the network of FE Y ALEGRIA, that guarantees through the Ecuadorian Ministry of Education the recognition in Italy of the title awarded. Thanks to the Andres Bello Agreement, this programme allows people who have studied in Ecuador and also in Bolivia, Chile, Cuba, Spain, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic and Venezuela to continue their studies.

This first result represented, as Father José María Vélaz, S.J.(†) had said, “the spark that caught fire” because a new one was opened in Milan and a year later in Genoa.

A team of highly qualified teachers was created, with an admirable capacity for dedication. They come from Italy, Latin America and Spain. Some subjects are taught in Italian and others in Spanish. Lay and consecrated people and various religious congregations collaborate in this dream.

From the beginning, the Rome branch has been in charge of an educational project in the Rebibbia prison. At the beginning it was a secondary school for Latin American prisoners and over the years it has evolved into Spanish courses.

Fe y Alegría has become a structured network, made up of three social cooperatives, Fe y Alegría Genoa, Fe y Alegría Milan and Fe y Alegría Rome. New projects have been born that have strengthened the Primary and Secondary school for young people and adults: Education for global citizenship, Spanish in prison, Italian courses, English, ECDL (European Computer Driving License), hair stylist, tailoring; orientation and training for work.

Fe y Alegria Italia is constantly evolving in response to the current need to build an inclusive multicultural society through education.

Confirming our option to strengthen a way of organising and managing the MISSION in NETWORKS, we noted the importance of generating a way of proceeding or perhaps it is a federative culture that corresponds to this option and makes it more dynamic internally.

During this period, we have realised that the organisational structures in NETWORKS must be accompanied by a federative culture that, corresponding to them, transforms and enriches us personally and collectively.

Our NETWORK option, with a GLOBAL perspective and strengthening LINKS is not only a way of management but rather, it is, above all, a way of being as an organisation.

The PPF is primarily deployed through the 12 joint initiatives between countries that are articulated in networks. These are at the federation’s action heart.

Initiatives: We identify three types of initiatives: initiatives of identity, permanent reflection to strengthen and concretise the identity and mission; initiatives of global service, through which a service is provided that benefits all countries and networks; initiatives of local action, coordinated work in networks between several countries.

The initiatives are:

Pedagogical Education, Educational Quality, Evaluation and Impact Measurement, Integral Ecology and Pan-Amazonia, Education for Work, Youth, Citizenship, Gender, Inclusive Education, Migration, Identity and Spirituality, Early Childhood Care.

It presents the framework and emphases that will guide the Movement’s actions: identity, inspiring challenges, mission, vision and priorities, as well as the priority axes that are made operational through lines of action and components…

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This Plan is aimed to improve the functioning of the Federation, its organisation and its processes. Measures are proposed to promote greater coordination and synergy between programmes, in order to encourage participative management and to strengthen internal and external communication.

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It proposes eleven permanent programmes that give a greater international dimension by being based in different countries, in order to respond to the growth of the Federation and the new demands of the context.

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It explains the strategic planning scheme adopted and its rationale, the background and justification of the plan, the mission and vision, the strategic and operational objectives, action lines and projects, target population and arrangements for the administration of the plan.

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