Youth Empowerment Through Arts & Culture
Jump to: Center for Popular Education and Expressive Arts
BackgroundYouth in El Salvador face many challenges. Lack of access to quality education is a critical one, and lack of access to job opportunities comes in close behind. Many of the brightest young people leave the country to increase opportunities for personal development, yet fewer than ten percent will successfully complete high school after settling in their destination country. Those who stay in El Salvador have little economic opportunities, and often join gangs and become involved in drug trafficking or other criminal activities as a matter of economic survival. For the future of El Salvador, youth need sustainable alternatives that encourage their positive participation in their country’s future. Read more about the challenges facing youth.
Since 2002, EcoViva has supported youth programs through the Mangrove Association that use education and the arts to engage and empower local youth. These programs promote opportunities for personal growth, education, leadership and service that facilitate the active involvement of young people in their communities.
Youth-Led Literacy CampaignOur partner organization in El Salvador is building a strong, multigenerational movement for change, and youth are placed at the forefront of this community change. One of the greatest local needs is access to basic education. The education of many men and women in El Salvador has been interrupted by the civil war and poverty. In the department of Usulutan alone, approximately 27% of the population, or 59,000 people, do not know how to read and write, a major barrier to their engagement as informed citizens.
In late 2010, the Salvadoran Ministry of Education announced a nationwide literacy campaign to address this problem. In recognition of the highly successful youth programs we support, the Ministry chose our local partner organization, the Mangrove Association, to lead the nation’s flagship program. The Mangrove Association organized the official national launch ceremony for the program, attended by the Vice President of El Salvador and 400 youth from our partner communities.
Sixty youth leaders, supported by EcoViva and trained by our local partners, are coordinating this program in 15 municipalities of the department of Usulutan. Each coordinator is training a group of 30 to 50 literacy promoters who, in turn, run small literacy circles in the evenings of 5 to 7 adult students each three to five days per week for six months at a time.
The program aims to engage high school students who live in remote rural communities to share their reading and writing skills with their parents, grandparents and neighbors. The students go door to door in their neighborhoods to identify families that need access to literacy skills, and invite them to participate in literacy circles. The curriculum, called “Yes, I Can” uses proven literacy methods used successfully in Nicaragua and elsewhere which also promote meaningful dialogue about family and community issues. In the first year alone, at least 8,415 adults will learn basic reading and writing skills while engaging with young people in discussions about important issues such as gender roles, poverty and environmental conservation. The youth literacy promoters receive leadership and teaching skills while meeting all of the required volunteer hours for their high school education.
The Ministry of Education provides only curriculum materials and funding for one program coordinator. EcoViva is currently supporting youth training costs and transportation to remote areas. We seek to partner with other organizations to ensure the successful of this very ambitious program.
Between April 1st-30th, help EcoViva raise $4,000 to support the youth-led literacy campaign through the GlobalGiving Foundation April Open Challenge!
Center for Popular Education and Expressive ArtsOr
From 2008 onward, the program broadened to integrate the arts into community development overall. Program participants are chosen by the local village committees based on their leadership potential and commitment to community service. Those who join the program are encouraged to continue their education, and high school scholarships are offered for the youth from the neediest families. These youth undergo intensive training in community organizing as well as art and theater. The most committed youth also participate in apprenticeships within the Mangrove Association’s other programs, such as sustainable agriculture and environmental conservation. Lower Lempa Regional Youth Association
Rays of Light Visual Arts ProjectT
The Rays of Light Visual Arts School, founded by renowned artist José Alberto García, teaches children and youth aged six to 25 to draw and paint. Working in various media, including watercolors, acrylics, pastels and coffee grounds, the youth learn to portray their local environment with realism and beauty. They then use these images to educate the public about environmental and social issues through murals and graphic campaigns. Several participants have garnered international recognition for their talents.
In 2009, two talented young women artists, long-time participants in the Rays of Light Project, were chosen as the new teachers and leaders of the program. Working together with the CEPAE youth, they have been integrating new themes and techniques into the program, including puppetry, jewelry-making and handicrafts. Since early 2010 the art classes have been temporarily suspended. The youth program is currently undergoing a restructuring that will ultimately integrate a strong visual arts component into the CEPAE leadership training curriculum. Mangrove Radio
In early 2010, Mangrove Radio began a innovative collaboration in which they are broadcasting a new program about environmental issues in the Bay of Jiquilisco on not just their own frequency but also on two additional community radio stations on the other side of the Bay.
Young Leaders’ Education ProgramBeginning in 2009, FSSCA launched a scholarship program for promising young leaders in the Lower Lempa region of El Salvador. Our goal is to stem the tide of migration by providing both access to education and viable job opportunities within community development projects. Youth in college receive partial scholarships for the entire duration of their university degree in return for their commitment to work part-time for our local partner organization, the Mangrove Association, in the program that most closely matches their career interests. We envision these youth as the next generation of leaders who will be the agronomists, engineers and accountants choosing to stay in the Lower Lempa area of El Salvador and make it a model for sustainable development in the 21st century.
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PHOTO CREDITS: SPENCER STONER, JILLIAN BAKER EcoViva - formerly the FSSCA - supports environmental sustainability, social justice and peace for communities in Central America.
See the difference EcoViva is making. Watch our videos.
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iginally launched five years ago as a youth theater troupe, the Center for Popular Education and Expressive Arts (CEPAE) was started with the help from artists from the international volunteer program ArtCorps. Local youth created informative and emotional plays that portrayed difficult social and political themes including agricultural reform, migration, gangs and environmental awareness. Performed in many local venues as part of community gatherings throughout the region, these arts performances continue to serve as an important component of the overall community organizing and consciousness-raising work of our local partners.
In 2009 the youth leaders from the 
his project began in 2002 after one of our founders, a visionary Salvadoran priest named Chencho Alas, worked with local community members to help negotiate a local gang truce in the 
Mangrove Radio was started in 2001 as a first response system for disasters in the 
