Drawing from the UNESCO premise that "peace must be constructed in the minds of men," this project supports the deep vision of education as a key factor in creating a culture of Peace. However, across many societies, there are growing challenges related to youth mental health and coexistence in educational settings. Rising rates of psychological distress, bullying, and discrimination based on prejudices demonstrate a worldwide vulnerability that requires innovative and systemic solutions.
Our project focuses on the 12-18 age group—the key developmental window—to permanently deactivate prejudices. Using the Theatre of Awareness methodology, participants learn to identify the "lies" told by their prejudices and replace them with the "truths" of active empathy and compassionate understanding. This approach dismantles the emotional logic that sustains discriminatory and violent attitudes.
Our objective is to equip participants with socio-emotional skills, enabling them to deactivate prejudices, manage their emotions, develop their active empathy, and manage conflicts positively. This ensures improved intrapersonal and interpersonal relationships, free of violence and hate speech, contributing significantly to their mental health. Ultimately, this innovation aims to promote a Culture of Peace across educational settings.
The program offers a systemic and replicable solution to the rising school violence and hate speech among students aged 12 to 18, by targeting the root of the problem: prejudice. The participants attend an intensive, approximately 20-hour, program delivered by accredited facilitators in the method, who simultaneously receive training and guidance on the implementation, in which students learn to deactivate prejudices by using Theater of Awareness - a proven SEL method internationally recognized (e.g., UNESCO/OCDE) and used in over 190 schools - to make emotions visible, replacing the “lies”, that come from prejudices, with “truths” of active empathy that are respectful of the rights of others and their own.
Students become agents of change, sharing their acquired knowledge with their peers. They do this by creating and staging a Teather of Awareness play based on their own experiences, followed by a reflection forum, moderated by the program participants. This representation acts as a cascade model for disseminating the learning, and sensitizing their peers.
The program’s sustainability is ensured by a systematized manual allowing national and international replicability.
Over the last year, "In Their Shoes: Deactivate your prejudice" was launched as an adaptation, designed by Pax Dettoni (Ashoka Fellow), of her original "In Their Shoes" program. This adaptation was subsequently implemented in schools in collaboration with FAD Juventud and Porticus Foundation.
The pilot program was initially developed in a school in Colombia, and based on its success, it was implemented in four schools in Spain across three different regions. This initial implementation also resulted in the accreditation of four teachers and had an impact on 381 students across all five schools, successfully proving the model’s replicability and scalability.
During the 2025/2026 school year, the program will expand to five schools in Spain, projecting an impact on 500 people. Our goal is to equip approximately 1,500 people over the next two to three years with SEL tools to deactivate prejudices that cause violence, discrimination, and cyberviolence in schools, thereby improving student mental health, with the ultimate goal of promoting a culture of peace.
To adopt the program "In Their Shoes: Deactivate your prejudice" and bring it to your school, the first step is to contact the Theatre of Awareness Association at: info@teatrodeconciencia.org
The program’s implementation requires both the institution's commitment and the participation of a facilitator, ensuring the effectiveness of the SEL method.
A. For Institutions:
1. Institutions or educators can contact the association to propose themselves as a new implementation center.
2. Commit to integrating the intensive program into their class schedules for the 12 to 18 age group.
B. For Teachers and Educators:
The educator needs to complete a training in the Theatre of Awareness method, and on this specific program adaptation, to be implemented later in a class with students among the ages of 12 to 18.
