Methodology – The ESPERE (the acronym for the Spanish, “Schools of Forgiveness and Reconciliation”) curriculum was developed by Leonel Narvaez in Bogotá, Colombia.

 

ESPERE consists of a series of modules that focus on the need to address the emotional and related issues stemming from violence: the anger and rage felt by victims, perpetrators and even witnesses and the need to develop forgiveness and reconciliation among all groups. Each module has four components: 1) didactic or instructional material, 2) exercises for experiential learning, 3) material that promotes emotional literacy, and 4) a ritual or spiritual component. Without understanding at each of these levels, it becomes impossible to move beyond the violence and chart a new direction.

 

Module 1

Motivation: Explains the dynamics of social and political violence and asks “How do you express violence and what is the effect of violent behavior on your life?”

Module 2

From Darkness to Light: focuses on the effects of aggression on emotions, thoughts and behavior.

Module 3

I Decide to Forgive: Presents the decision to forgive as the best alternative to overcome resentment and hatred provoked by aggression.

Module 4

I See with New Eyes: Promotes in the participants a compassion and empathy with the offender, facilitating the building of a new narrative of the offense to recognize the similarities and differences of each person with the others around them

Module 5

I Understand My Offender: To understand actions of the aggressor as a result of sensitization to the situations in their life.

Module 6

I Break Chains and Cleanse Pain: To establish conditions that will allow the eventual encounter with the offender.

Module 7

I Build Trust (This Begins the Reconciliation Module): To show that there are many versions of the same event depending on the viewpoint one has and introduces the concept of the need for new narratives to overcome the distances generated by the offense.

Module 8

I Promote Justice: To promote the concept of restoration as a basic element that demands justice.

Module 9

I Make a Pact: To recognize that conflict is an opportunity to learn to strengthen interpersonal relationships, to establish and renew pacts, to identify some possible form of pact between oneself and the “other person” and with family as well as with the residents of the neighborhood.

Module 10

I celebrate the Memory and Reparation: To restore memory of the individual and collective events as a way of re-establishing the meaning of identity and promoting restoration for the prevention of new harmful acts.

Module 11 – Closing celebration of what has been learned.

Objectives of the Program:

  1. To help heal the fear felt by an individual within the context of a safe space.
  2. To develop empathy for the ‘other’ which begins to build the foundation for peaceful coexistence.
  3. To provide an opportunity for people to share the painful past with their community so that what has happened is understood by the community.
  4. To teach about reconciliation on different levels of contact:
    • The reconciliation of co-existence, stopping aggression and violence.
    • The reconciliation of social cohesion – minimum social exchange.
    • The reconciliation of communion – developing a working relationship based on working trust.