Wawas En Acción: Project Timeline

Go into full detail of how our very first online fundraiser for community projects came to be!

Project phases

Phase I. Application and project proposal.

Once the proposal went through the evaluation, the project was selected and our team on Smiling Hearts worked hard to raise the money for the project.

Phase II. Receipt of budget and request for authorizations.

Once the money for the project was raised, on May 25, 2023, "Smiling Hearts" transfered the amount of Bs.7,600 (seven thousand six hundred bolivianos) to the PsicoArt Therapy Studio team, to start the activities in the city of La Paz – Bolivia. On June 5, 2023, the formal letter was sent to the "Simón Rodriguez" Educational Unit to be able to work with the population of children of this institution, which on the same day they granted the authorization to carry out the project. A request was received by the principal of the institution to cover all the parallels of the unit and not only 50 children of the establishment that had been planned and budgeted, being the total population with which we worked more than 85 children.

Phase III. Purchase of materials and execution of activities.

Accepting the request of the institution, between June 6 and 9 the team proceeded with the purchase of all the material for the activities of singing, art, yoga and futsal. With this, on June 13 we began the activities in the Educational Unit of the parallels: green, orange, purple and cyan, each one held between 20 to 25 children.

1. Process of activities: A schedule of activities has been generated, which benefited more than 80 children from the area of Villa Fátima in La Paz - Bolivia. The people in charge had the detail of preparing each session with material and content that respond to the objectives of each session and the activities were interrelated, making all the children can experience their artistic-musical and sports-meditative side.

Phase IV: Closure of activities.

Finally, on June 30, the closing activity of the project was carried out, which matched with the beginning of the winter holidays for the children. A circuit of activities and the donation of 3 futsal balls was made for the benefit of the Educational Unit "Simón Rodríguez". On the same date the payment was made to the teachers of the different activities (singing, Yoga, Art Therapy and futsal) and daily expenses of the work weeks.

Phase V. Data collection - Feedback and results.

Interviews were conducted with the different actors who were part of the project, images and works were selected to demonstrate the interventions and their impact. With this, dissemination videos and detailed reports of the dates of activities and investments of the budget granted were made.

The results from the musical activity were appreciated, especially in the form of having musical instruments, the children were able to experiment with them and it was of great incidence, they were surprised and happy to see this, in addition, it was a way to stimulate them in another way, since, at this age, singing is a great way to improve memory and learning, in addition to knowing and controlling the sound of your voice. Also, from art, a free methodology was implemented that invited the creativity of the children and to evoke their emotions and feelings that are worked very well in art therapy through artistic resources. As for physical-mental activities, the main slogan was "learning by playing and having fun" where work with the body was fundamental to observe the demand for work in gross and fine motor skills, also, there was a lack of introduction to sport for children to explore the one they like the most and would like to practice. In this way, physical activity has served not only as physical exercise, but also as an approach to begin to discover their tastes playing different sports (basketball, volleyball, athletics, swimming), although the access they have is limited, by using the internet or other means available, they can be taught in the variety of sports they can know and practice.

We recommend that this kind of activities addressed to children are continuous, specially at this age, they need constant stimulation to really see a long-term impact on their education, formation, and evolution. If not encouraged all the work done can be easily forgotten and that’s not the result we want from this kind of social intervention, we believe a constant support for the children will have a great impact on their future.