Empowerment workshops for 30 young girls - Bolivia

The first step of the project “ Diseñando Sueños” ended on a positive note and with a lot of hope in the construction of a better future for the young Bolivian girls from Cochabamba. They have been trained through different workshops in fashion, design, and jewellery. Local expert contributors led these workshops. The sale of the products in France was a real success. Other workshops have also been implemented to improve the young women's skills, such as self-esteem through dance therapy, but also entrepreneurship. We noticed huge improvements in the young women's attitudes towards themselves and the development of their skills.  

The majority of the beneficiaries are now out of their foster homes, which is why our role is now to follow and support them as well as making sure that their personal and professional projects are on the right track. At the same time, we need to continue implementing the first step project’s workshops, and to diversify the fields of workshops. Our objective is that the newcomers can also participate in the projects and be empowered, as their predecessors have been, with more possibilities of specialisation. Once this has been achieved, we will organise the implementation of marmalade fabrication, recycling and ecological agriculture workshops, as well as reinforcing the entrepreneurship and self-esteem workshops.

For the second part of our project, we have established two main goals. The first one is to offer a variety of workshops to the girls focusing on recycling, products making and economical independency in order to generate incomes for both the centres and the girls that are already self-sustaining. The second goal is to implement a follow-up system that will enable the young women to find a job, create their own businesses and a network that will prevent them from falling back in a vicious cycle of violence and mistreatment.

In this rising project, we are searching for a place where they could live and sell their creations. It would be a space where they would be safe to talk, where they would be listened to, as well as being their work and training space.

Our partners are institutions and organizations as well as European and national volunteers who represent a strong network of competencies, knowledge and connections. These actors are specialised in women's rights and green economy, which enables us to be a step ahead of the current economy and to be part of the global understanding of current worldwide challenges. This also helps us achieve our last goal, which is to act in response to the Bolivian market and to make the girls’ professional and personal integration as easy as possible.   

To our dear supporters,

With the new year arriving, we want to take a special moment to review everything we’ve accomplished with this beautiful project thanks to YOUR unconditional support. It is with great pride and emotion that we look back on a year that has been filled with learnings and accomplishments. 

During this 12-month long formation, we evaluated the impact that it had on the girls and everyone involved in the project. It turned out even better than what we had hoped: the girls genuinely got involved and made this project their own.

According to their abilities and personal objectives, not only did they develop new craft skills, but soft skills too. They went from saying no puedo (“I can’t”), to puedo hacerlo y yo lo haré (“I can do it and I will do it”). The impressive outcome of this workshop made them proud and confident about their abilities.  As you can see for yourself on the pictures below, they created beautiful pieces of craft, each reflecting their own personalities.

It was amazing to witness how these young girls are growing to become strong, independent women. We were here to help them develop skills that they already had within them, and prove to themselves that they could achieve great things with determination to succeed.

On their behalf, we thank you dearly for supporting this amazing project which, without any doubt, will have a consistent impact on the rest of their life

Our main goal now is to make sure that everything they have learned with this training will allow them, in their future lives, to have a viable professional project that will ensure their autonomy and financial independence, so they won’t fall back in a vicious cycle of violence and mistreatments.

In order to launch the second part of this project, our national coordinator in Bolivia, Fernando Daza Arce, will be meeting our French team in Strasbourg in February. We will discuss and organize the structure of the project to ensure a personal guidance for the girls when they leave the orphanage. We will also decide on how to consolidate their knowledge and professionalize them even more. Our French team will be also looking at how to continue funding for the girls so they can develop their skills even further.

We still have lots of exciting work ahead of us, and we need you to help us carry out this project ! We have already done so much together, and we are looking forward to sharing more adventures with you.