Access to High School in Honduran Coffee Mountains

2024 started with a bang as we welcomed 35 scholars at our annual scholarship award ceremony in January. Our students this year range from 11 to 24 years of age, and from 7th grade to well into their university studies. Among them are 18 returning scholars, 17 new scholars, and 57% are girls and young women. Our scholarship programme works to support high-potential youth from low-income backgrounds in rural Honduras to pursue secondary and post-secondary education, supporting these young people in becoming leaders in their communities.

In January we also welcomed on board our first in-country director, Natalia Anariba, who has taken on the leadership of educate. in Honduras, working 5 days a week at our Youth Center in Trinidad.A Trinidad native, Natalia has been a part of work in NGOs since the age of 14, when she was given a scholarship by a (no-longer-existent) nonprofit. Thanks to this support, she was able to complete her high school education, and she went on to work for the organization while she studied Business Administration at university. Over recent years she has worked as a Field Officer and Programme Coordinator at other local and regional nonprofits, and for the last two years she has led the social development department at the local municipality. Welcoming Natalia to the team has been a huge step in making educate. ever more locally led, and in strengthening the quality of our work.

We also have 6 local youth leaders on our team this year running our STEM, art, sports and communications programmes: Javier (university scholar) running our Saturday youth STEM programme, Shelsy (high school scholar) running our primary years STEM programme, Nallely (university scholar) and Henrry (high school scholar) running our UniDeportes sports programme, Wilson (university scholar) running our communications programme, and Orlin (local artist) running our art programme. Each of these programmes takes place on a weekly basis at the Youth Center, and our scholars pick one (or more) to participate in, as well as being open to local youth. So far, we have over 80 regular weekly participants. While each programme has its own technical focus, all programmes are based on core development principles, aimed at building a sense of community and belonging amongst youth participants, strengthening soft skills, and providing spaces for young people to act as community leaders.

In addition to all of our weekly programmes, every month we also run a workshop focused on a different topic. These workshops provide safe spaces for young people to discuss issues and themes that are often left out of formal education and that help them gain a stronger sense of identity and self-confidence, as well as strengthening knowledge in youth rights and building leadership skills.

Finally, on March 23rd, we celebrated our 7th birthday! Over the past 7 years our work has directly reached over 3,000 individuals. We have supported 42 students with a total of 81 years of high school and university scholarships, including over 60% girls and young women. We have started 8 school-based community libraries reaching 2,500+ children and youth across Honduras. We have started the first Youth Center and Public Library in Trinidad, Santa Bárbara in collaboration with the local municipality and have grown a local team of 8 people and a volunteer team of 15+ around the world. We are so proud of the organization educate. has become, and the community-driven development that our model is fostering. And we have ambitious plans for the future!

As always, thank you to everyone who has been and continues to be a part of our work – we couldn’t do this without your support.

Best wishes,

Antonia McGrath

Links:

• Our 7 year anniversary video