Supporting indigenous mentors to reach more girls

During the past couple of months we have told you, our GlobalGiving friends, about the Abriendo Oportunidades mentors' networks journey for sustainability and autonomy. Na'leb'ak network, located in Alta Verapaz, is taking big steps to achieve this dream. 

These young women have proposed the creation of a center that will allow them to continue, sustain and consolidate the work they do with the girls and adolescents in the municipality. Their objective is to have their own space, were they can develop diverse activities for girls and women in a safe and friendly environment, where they can meet, play and train for their integral development. The Na'leb'ak Center for Adolescent Girls (as we are calling it for now) will build on Na'leb'ak's previous work on family agriculture. The center will also focus on the regeneration of the social, economic and ecological space of the municipality. The mentors' network has proposed that this headquarters also function as a center for regenerative and responsible production focused on chickens and traditional agriculture. 

Na'leb'ak, in partnership with Population Council and Socialab, is taking this vision closer and closer to reality. We hope that in the next month we will be able to share with you some exciting news about the center and the network. We kindly acknowledge this could not be possible without you, our friends. Thank you for keeping in touch and help us make the Na'leb'ak Center a dream come true. Stay tuned for fresh news on the mentors' work or visit our Facebook page for more information. 

Best regards, 

Links:

• Visit our Facebook page!

Over the past fifteen years, Abriendo Oportunidades has been working to build the technical, economical and programmatic capacities of young women working as mentors for the girls and adolescents in rural contexts. These mentors are now organized as networks and are working towards independence from the Population Council, for the autonomy to implement and design girl-centered programs all by themselves. 

In 2018, Population Council and the Abriendo Oportunidades program is equipping the mentors with STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) skills and resources that can be used in safe spaces for girls, as means to broaden their skills set. This project is aimed at creating a mentor led space for empowering girls through collaborative work using DIY technology. These spaces will be called Makerspace and will enable girls to share, create, learn, and play with each other. 

Right now, we are facilitating the mentors with the knowledge to run the makerspaces and the abilities to create digital/web based projects for their communities and life (see the photos below!). We want to invite you, our GlobalGiving friend, to come with us in this process as you are part of the Abriendo family. We couldn't have done this without you. We will make sure to keep you posted on this journey and others through our monthly project reports. 

With grattitude and happiness,