|
PEPE
In 1986, a few development-oriented NGOs based in the
Philippines formed Popular Education for People's Empowerment,
Inc., or PEPE. It is a non-profit, non-governmental organization
that promotes popular education geared towards people empowerment.
PEPE reaches out to a variety of individuals, namely the urban
poor, peasants, fisherfolk, professionals, women, indigenous
peoples, and more. As community educators, it aims to enhance the
capacities of these sectors in terms of knowledge, skills, and
attitudes.
What is popular education? According to PEPE, Popular Education
means "liberative education. It is relevant. It is needed. It is an
education that exposes and then breaks the cultural and structural
bonds hindering people's enlightenment and empowerment. Pop-Ed is
education for social change. It challenges the traditional way of
teaching people, an education that makes
them passive learners; one that silences them and makes them
conform. It challenges attitudes and social structures that oppress
people. Popular Education takes a political stand on the side of
marginalized people everywhere. It aims to empower the poor and
those who have been kept out of decision-making structures. It does
this by helping them become aware of their own oppression. Pop-Ed
also conscientizes people. It is about collective learning towards
action for change." OR "Pop-Ed critiques conventional modes of
thinking, opens itself to critique, restores people's dignity and
humanity, poses questions about our very existence, is a venue for
intersubjectivity, recognizes the importance of the
non-rational, involves both the intellectual and the emotional, is
creative and reflective, and is averse to any totaling
framework."
PEPE envisions a society that promotes and guarantees access to
education that is:
- holistic, authentic and interactive, a society that is built
upon the critical thinking and leadership of its own members, one
that espouses gender equality among all its members
- a democratic society -- with participatory governance and
decision-making systems in place, one that is built upon solid
communities of people
- an empowered mass that enjoys equitable access to the country's
resources
- a society that promotes the realization of full human
potentials and respects, completely and without discrimination, all
human life
- one that actively pursues ecological, cultural and economic
sustainability
PEPE's mission is to provide a catalyst for building a distinct
Popular Education Movement as an integral part of the overall
movement towards People's Empowerment, Sustainable Development, and
Genuine Democracy.
Contact Information:
Popular Education for People's Empowerment, Inc.
(PEPE)
http://www.pepe.org
Email:
|