Guantanamo.- Experiences and ideas demonstrating the potential of the Federation of Cuban Women (FMC) to support and strengthen social assistance and prevention work were presented today at a plenary session of its National Committee.
The meeting took place at the Panamerican Village Hotel in the capital and was chaired by Teresa Amarelle Boué, a member of the Political Bureau and FMC general secretary, and Marydé Fernández López, head of the Office for Relations with the Union of Young Communists and mass organizations of the Party’s Central Committee.
Speakers described how local initiatives are implementing changes to strengthen social work through a proactive, preventive approach, with greater priority given to these efforts at the municipal level.
Particular attention was devoted to sexual and reproductive health, teenage pregnancy, youth employment, support for homes serving children without parental care and for minors abandoned by their guardians, and efforts to combat drugs.
Amarelle Boué, other National Committee members, and invited participants agreed on the importance of engaging and involving families, the role of Women’s and Family Guidance Centers in the current challenging circumstances, and the work of social workers and activists.
Particularly moving were the reflections of students from Manuel Permuy lower secondary school in the Antonio Guiteras district on the risks of pregnancy at such a young age, as well as those of young people who study and work thanks to FMC activism in Panamerican Village.
Despite progress in some territories and communities, much remains to be done nationwide to report cases of violence against children and to identify children who are not attending school, as well as pregnant adolescents who need greater care.
