Description of teaching materials

Two dossiers

Dossier 1 provides a geographical and administrative introduction to the area of Bolivia in which the programme has taken place, going on to describe its strengths and weaknesses in environmental, social and economic terms, and providing information on the inequality between women and men.

Dossier 2 describes the work both in Bolivia and in the Basque Country, providing information on the activities undertaken and the achievements made.

Two videos

Following the same approach as the two dossiers, Video 1 shows the living and environmental conditions in the rural communities in Valles Cruceños, and Video 2 describes the work performed to improve these conditions, both in Bolivia and in the Basque Country.

Both these videos include the testimonies of local people in Valles Cruceños, as well as those of the technical and management team at the Instituto de Capacitación del Oriente-ICO.

Photos and maps

Maps of the working area have been included, as well as a number of photos of the different activities undertaken both in Bolivia and in the Basque Country.

Use of materials

As stated in the presentation, Zabalketa has worked on this project at educational centres in the Basque Country, using two different models: the “Case Method” and the challenge-based peer learning method called “ETHAZI”.

The decision to use one or other method has been made by each one of the educational centres involved.

The “Case Method” basically involves identifying an actual problem, need, or vulnerability, and finding the corresponding solution, working in small groups of 4-5 students.

Each group’s proposals are presented and discussed in the classroom, and then shared with our local partner; in this case, with the Instituto de Capacitación del Oriente-ICO in Bolivia.

The next stage involves identifying the main steps for applying this method and using the educational materials (dossiers and videos):

The first step will be to watch Video 1, which is followed by the distribution of a copy of Dossier 1 to each student, and the formation of groups of 4-5 people.

There are two options when identifying the problem to be resolved: either all the groups work on the same problem, or each group freely decides upon the issue they would like to address.

The first activity will require each student to read Dossier 1 for themselves, with the aim being to identify the causes that explain and inform the problem they have decided to resolve.

Following this reading, each group creates a “Problem Tree”, which involves arranging and classifying the causes identified, as well as an “Objectives Tree”, whereby the working strategies can be identified for impacting on and/or resolving the issue.

Both the “Problem Tree” and the “Objectives Tree” are two tools that NGOs commonly use for designing and drafting projects.

With this information, each group then proceeds to design their solution in the form of a project, completing a series of sections. The following is a proposal for these sections and the project’s structure: Context, Explanation, Specific Objective, Results, Indicators, Activities, Direct Target Population, Budget, Timeline, and Assessment. These are the sections that generally appear in projects undertaken by NGOs, although they may receive different names in projects organised by other kinds of institutions.

The lecturer at each educational centre decides upon the sections to be completed, as well as their level of detail and development, based on the students’ expertise and the time available.

The final work session involves presenting and discussing each group’s proposals, and at the same time Zabalketa explains the actions it has undertaken, distributing Dossier 2 and showing Video 2.

Skype videoconferencing sessions can be used to relay the solutions to our local partner and the target population in Bolivia, and if the opportunity arises, any trips the stakeholders may make to the Basque Country can be used to arrange visits to the educational centres involved.

ETHAZI method

Since academic year 2013/2014, the Basque Government’s Department for Occupational Training has been deploying challenge-based peer learning and the ETHAZI method at both state-run and direct grant occupational training centres (Formación Profesional - FP).

This latter method likewise considers a problematic situation that in turn poses a challenge, and an 11-step process is put in place to obtain a result.

In view of this, those occupational training centres that used the case method to work on Zabalketa’s cooperation projects, and which are now using the ETHAZI method, are pursuing their cooperation projects according to the challenge-based method.