Educate and Empower Girls in Mexico

Dear supporters,

The second year of our program is over and we have some amazing results to share with you. As you all know, we are working with indigenous girls in Hidalgo to reduce the risk factors that prevent them from staying in school, such as teenage pregnancies, violence and lack of gender equality. In the two years, we have been able to reach 17 communities, 1,373 boys and girls, 55 teachers and 708 parents. We are extremely proud to report that the program has been very well received in those communities and, because they’ve asked us to continue working with them and others in the area, we are already preparing the third year of programming!

We’ve seen some incredible changes in the participants, such as increased confidence and the motivation to continue studying. Students have also increased life skills such as communication, teamwork and empathy and they have repeatedly expressed that Yo quiero Yo puedo has helped them to value and respect themselves. They are now more eager to participate in class, play with their peers and help at home. We’ve especially seen these changes in the girls who participated for two years in the program, compared to those who participated only one year. Below you can see some of the most outstanding results, which compare girls’ assessments at the end of each year:

Attitudes towards gender equality: girls who participated during one year scored 72/100 vs. girls who participated during two years scored 83/100

Knowledge about violence prevention: girls who participated during one year scored 34/100 vs. girls who participated during two years scored 64/100

Knowledge about pregnancy and STD prevention: girls who participated during one year scored 31/100 vs. girls who participated during two years scored 69/100 

And what the students have shared with us goes even further: both boys and girls talked to us about wanting to continue studying to become professionals. Denisse, one of the participants, expressed: “This program taught me that boys and girls can learn and play together and that if I want to play with cars, that doesn’t make me less of a girl. When I finish school, I want to study something related to math or science.”

Parents are also changing as a result. Lino, told us that “I would love for my daughter to continue studying. She will be the one to decide what, but I am going to support her no matter what she decides, because women are worth the same as men and it is important that we teach them that.”

Based on these results, we are confident that the impact of a third year will be even greater and the dropout rate in the region can be brought even lower. The entire community is transforming as a result of the Yo quiero Yo puedo program.

Thank you so much for helping us make this possible! Feel free to share this with your friends so more of us can help empower indigenous girls!