Educate and Empower Girls in Mexico

Dear GlobalGivers,

We are about to start the 3rd year of implementation in Acaxochitlán, Hidalgo, continuing to reach 5th and 6th grade girls and their peers and teachers. As you well know, we build what are called life skills- things like critical thinking, decision making, handling and expressing emotions, creative thinking, self-knowledge, empathy, assertive communication. We do this hand in hand with building gender equity and preventing teen pregnancy and violence, which in Mexico too often girls to dropping out of secondary school. 

Teacher rotation is an ongoing challenge for the program, as the Mexican education system rotates teachers to new districts every year. While this means that trained teachers organically bring the program from Acaxochitlán to other parts of the country, it also means that to deepen our impact in Acaxochitlán, each year we have to re-run our 40-hour training workshop with the new teachers.  We also have a brief refresher workshop for those teachers who have stayed. The workshops use a participatory and experiential methodology, based in our well-known Framework for Facilitating Empowerment (FrEE). Once completed, these teachers will replicate the workshops with their students, integrating it into at least 2 hours a week in their classrooms. 

We move into year 3, inspired by the testimonies that we heard at the end of last year!

"The workshops are very human, they are completely focused on the development of the child and her specific nature. Additionally, it is comprehensive, complete and purposeful. When we use the Yo quiero Yo puedo approach, students´ whole panorama changes of what is coming in their near future ... they now have the tools. And it gives you as a teacher the tools to empower the students so they can develop and apply their skills.” 6th grade teacher.

"You know, in 4^thgrade we did not have this workshop and all the time they pushed me around, they called me things, and I always kept quiet and did not tell the teacher. But this last year, in 5 grade, the teacher is giving us the workshop and I have learned many things. That is why every time they bully me, I can handle the situation and talk to someone". 5th grade girl

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!