Youth Centre for 100+ Young Leaders in Honduras

Dear Friends of educate.,

It has been another busy few months here in Trinidad, Honduras at educate.’s Youth Center! We are continuing to build structure into our programmes, provide a wide array of meaningful educational opportunities and strengthen youth leadership in all areas of our work. These last few months have included a new series of workshops on personal development, two new computer classes led by our very own scholars, the start of our art programme, several exciting environmental projects, and our participation in Honduras’ National Youth Week conference!

Personal development workshops

In an effort to support our scholars in their holistic development as learners, leaders and individuals, we support all of our students through a process of personal development and training. These last few months have included workshops on self-esteem, family, and healthy relationships. We often use focus group circles as a tool for group discussions about these themes, passing an object around the circle to give each person a chance to express their opinions and share their perspectives and experiences. These sessions are always highly engaged, as there are few spaces available for young people to share experiences and discuss these topics in their day to day lives.

Youth-led computer classes

Our computer classes continue to take place at the educate. Youth Center, led by our scholars Javier and Shelsy every Thursday and Friday afternoon. Our Level 1 courses focus on getting familiar with using a computer and working with Microsoft Office programmes, but students also play educational games and learn basic coding on the international education platform Code.org. For most of our students, these classes are the first time they are using a computer! Our first group of Level 1 students have already graduated, and two new classes are currently in progress.

Javier says, “I really enjoy teaching! It has been a great opportunity to put into practice what I have been learning through my university studies, and to give back to my community. I would have loved to have access to these kind of opportunities at that age, and it’s great that we can provide these courses so that this generation can grow up with this knowledge.”

Protecting the Environment

One of our core impact areas with our scholars has been focused on environmental protection and conservation. In these last few months, our scholars have participated in workshop on climate change and the environment, learning about the global and local effects of our changing climate and what young people as individuals can do to mitigate the effects of climate change in their communities. They also took part in the creation of a local tree nursery in Trinidad, where they spent the day shoveling and filling poly bags to help set the stage for a new local reforestation project.

Art classes

We recently launched a pilot art programme which has been taking place on Sundays, eld by local artist Orlin Canales who previously worked with educate. scholars on the Youth Center murals. In the course, students have been learning about light, shading, texture, proportion and more, and are on their way to developing their final paintings which will be shown in a local exhibition.

Participating in Honduras’ National Youth Week Conference

Finally, we were excited to participate for the first time in Honduras’ National Youth Week conference in the capital city, Tegucigalpa, with CONJUVEH, the national Youth Council. educate.’s Project Coordinator Walter and university scholar Fanny Nallely had the opportunity to travel to the capital to participate and share experiences with 75 other youth organizations from across the country.

The phrase “young people are not the future, we are the present,” was repeated throughout the conference. For youth-led and youth-focused organizations, the value of these spaces of knowledge exchange and collective learning and engagement is so important so that we can strive for change that is led by young people themselves about the issues that directly affect them.

As our work continues to grow, we remain deeply grateful for the support of each and every individual who makes this impact possible. Thank you!

Best wishes,

Antonia McGrath