On Friday, June 27th, facilitators and participants of the "We Learn. Families in Network" (AFEX) program met again. Casa Asia at the Ignasi Iglesias Library in Barcelona to commemorate the program's 10 years of success together.
After a few introductory games, we all reviewed the project's evolution year by year, recalling anecdotes and significant moments.
AFEX began as a pilot program at the Milà i Fontanals Health Center in Ciutat Vella in 2015, with support from Barcelona City Council. Winning the Francesc Candel Award allowed the program to expand to a school in the Fondo de Santa Coloma neighborhood and another in San Roque, Badalona, also consolidating its presence in Ciutat Vella and the Besòs neighborhoods.
With the support of the Sants Secretariat, AFEX reached three more centers in Barcelona. Starting in 2019, with the collaboration of FAPAES and the Generalitat de Catalunya (Catalan Government), the program expanded to more than 30 educational centers across Catalonia.
The incorporation of the UAB Faculty of Education and its participation in the CULT research project represented a qualitative improvement. Its contribution enriched both the training of facilitators and the creation of new teaching materials, and facilitated collaborative work between university students and program facilitators.
In recent years, lack of funding has led to AFEX's decline, and this year's program has only been offered in six schools.
AFEX is a successful program that promotes the integration of migrant families of students, primarily from Asian cultural backgrounds, into educational centers in Barcelona and the metropolitan area. At the same time, it contributes to preventing early school dropouts among the program's adolescent volunteers, who take on a new role by teaching adults from their families or neighborhoods using their native languages. This makes AFEX an inclusive, multilingual, multilevel, intercultural, and intergenerational learning space.
The reunion was a space for exchange: we learned how the program began and evolved, heard what it has meant to its participants, and gathered testimonies from facilitators, interns, adult students, and young volunteers.
The day concluded with a shared wish for the program's continuation, a snack, and the exchange of small gifts.
