The Mama Rise Project: Elevating Mothers’ Voices
The Mama Rise project, funded by Erasmus+ KA2, brings together partners from Latvia, Poland, and Spain to co-design a curriculum that prioritizes the voices and lived experiences of mothers. By actively involving them in the development process, we empower them as leaders and change agents within their communities, giving them ownership of their learning journey.
The Power of Co-Design: Prioritizing Mothers’ Perspectives
Through co-design sessions, we integrate direct feedback from mothers and experts to tailor the program to their specific needs, challenges, and aspirations. Local experts help contextualize the curriculum, making it relevant to each community’s challenges and opportunities. By implementing the project across three countries, we are creating a knowledge base that allows other organizations to replicate and adapt the initiative to their own contexts. This collaborative approach not only strengthens the curriculum but also builds a support network for mothers as they develop their own community initiatives.
Insights from Mothers and Experts
Our co-design sessions explored key aspects of personal development, self-care, and sustainability. Some key insights include:
- Stress management and self-care: Many mothers struggle with stress management and emphasize the importance of sleep, exercise, and nutrition. However, they find it difficult to access spaces where they can connect with other mothers with similar experiences. For one mother, self-care includes taking naps and ensuring she spends quality time with her children.
- Creating welcoming communication spaces: Participants highlighted the need for relaxed gatherings structured around shared meals or coffee. They also stressed the importance of recognizing caregiving work as valuable and ensuring a sense of continuity in participation.
- Balancing personal and professional identity: Some mothers feel pressured to choose between their careers and personal lives.
- Emotional intelligence and parenting: The need to communicate emotions to children and dismantle the idea of “superhero mothers” was emphasized, promoting human vulnerability instead.
- Overcoming barriers to outdoor activities: The lack of green spaces in urban environments makes outdoor play difficult. Participants suggested integrating project activities into public spaces to foster community interaction.
- Encouraging sustainability: Mothers discussed ways to promote outdoor play, increase community gardens, and support accessible sustainability initiatives. Recycling habits, intergenerational environmental education, and cultural inclusivity in sustainability efforts were also highlighted.
- Connecting with nature: Gardening, barefoot walking, and sun exposure were mentioned as essential for well-being. Encouraging second-hand consumption and toy exchange was also proposed as a way to support sustainability.
Building Lasting Impact
The co-design sessions not only informed the curriculum (which will be ready soon!) but also modeled the collaboration and support networks we aim to foster. Additionally, an online toolkit is being developed to serve as a resource for future iterations of the project and similar initiatives, extending its impact and accessibility.
While balancing time investment and ensuring ongoing engagement remains a challenge, we believe that starting small and nurturing the community will enable lasting change. The Mama Rise project is more than an educational initiative—it is a movement toward empowerment, sustainability, and solidarity among mothers across different countries and contexts.