A few years ago, Clara Luna started a program that deals with two local social issues: In the community, 50% - 60% of pregnancies are from teenage mothers, because a high percentage of minors begin sexual relationships early and do not receive timely sex education. Lack of access for girls, boys and young people to an education process based on development education that informs, forms, raises awareness, and encourages and commits individuals to address short- and long-term development problems.
In Ecuador, the issue of inequality is being addressed but it is a long road. Towns like Puerto Lopez do not have access to quality and truthful information, which allows women to develop skills in contexts of education in rights and non-discrimination. For more than a decade Ecuador has remained the second country in the region (after Venezuela) with the highest rate of teenage pregnancies.
Libraries are educational, meeting and recreational spaces, allowing people to obtain and exchange information, contact other people, and, above all, learn. Libraries are called on to address gender diversity, and to give women and girls visibility to achieve equality and equity of opportunity. Clara Luna has designed a local volunteer program to promote implementation and sustainability of this community library project.
Our young people (girls and boys) have benefited from our programs over the past 7 years, they have been trained and empowered with the information and resources needed to become agents of change in their community. They are a committed group who are actively participating in achieving justice and equity through books and libraries; they are the protagonists of this work, giving voice to the right to read, proposing local initiatives and giving sustainability to projects.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
