Ecuador: Leader training for youths

Background

14 million people are living in Ecuador on a square footage of 283’561 km2. Almost half of them are less than 25 years old. 40.8% of the population are living with less than 2 US Dollars per day. The society is shaped by poverty, violence and an increasing crime rate. The political status is inse-cure, even though leftist Rafael Correas has taken over Presidency in Ecuador.

On September 2008 a new Constitution was approved with a two-thirds majority. Some of the 444 new articles of the Constitution originate directly from the Mandato Juvenil, a recommendation for the Constitution, that was developed between 2006 and 2008 by 120 youth groups, lead-managed by the YMCA Ecuador. Finally the rights of youths are deep-seated in the Constitution.

Learn to exercise a right

It is important to continue to work after this success. Youths in Ecuador are still ignored and mar-ginalised by the society. Only rarely they are allowed to codetermine politically. YMCA Ecuador is training youths in national workshops to become socially and politically committed, critical and self-confident youth citicens. Campaigns on current topics are organised on a regular basis. Youths are learning to stand up publicly for their concerns. Furthermore the youths of the Project Horyzon are working on a Blog and are issuing a magazine four times a year. Youths are communicating their interests and needs to a broader public with the help of these media.

To pass on knowledge

The trained youths are reducing the knowledge to practice in their domiciles and pass on their knowledge. Via this multiplier effect approximately 2’400 youths can be reached.

To leverage power

In parallel Horyzon is supporting the optimisation of the organisational structure of the YMCA Ec-uador and its aspiration to more efficient processes. The participation on professional further edu-cation on topics like the evolution of the organisation, project planning and monitoring have a share in helping the employees of YMCA Ecuador to gain new competences and improve their work techniques.