“Creating opportunities for young people”
Our purpose is to sustainably improve the quality of life & future opportunities of underprivileged Bolivian men, women, adolescents & children & the communities in which they live, placing emphasis on children & youth.
We aim to do this by:
- Providing support to implement social development projects.
- Mobilizing resources, bringing people & organizations together to help.
- Promoting the exchange of knowledge, cultural & natural heritage between our countries: Bolivia & the USA.
With our partner FUNDESOC in Bolivia, other friends, volunteers and partners in the USA, we jointly provide support in the following priority areas:
- Children & Youth
- Environment & Development
Our key strategies:
Building knowledge & skills: we focus our efforts on helping strengthen the knowledge, skills & self-esteem of men, women, adolescents & children to lead their own sustainable development process, in harmony with the environment. We believe in hands-on methods or “learning by doing”.
Participation & partnership: we promote the active participation of community members in our projects to ensure local ownership. We join forces with other organizations to achieve greater impact & sustainability.
A 360’ focus: we apply a holistic, systemic view of livelihoods & development, considering the social, environmental, economic, institutional, technical & technological aspects of life, to ensure truly sustainable development.
Our programs:
CHILDREN & YOUTH PROGRAM
Bolivia & particularly Santa Cruz, has a large, young population where children & adolescents are the most vulnerable to violence, gangs, drugs and other social risks, with limited social & economic opportunities. If we improve their personal & technical skills, help them make better life decisions and help create opportunities, we can give young people the tools they need to develop their full potential.
We work to improve access of underprivileged children & youth to better education, social & economic opportunities & increase their resilience to social risks by strengthening their social & technical skills. We provide vocational orientation & study grants for adolescents so they can develop technical career skills to achieve economic independence. In parallel we provide personal skills training to raise self-esteem, communication & emotional intelligence.
ENVIRONMENT & DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM
Due to the prevalence & high impact of forest & grassland fires in the last few years, many rural communities have suffered the loss of crops, water systems & even houses, not to mention biodiversity & protected areas of high biological value. The greatest impact has been in the departments of Santa Cruz & Beni. These areas are also affected periodically by droughts, flooding & climate change.
We support projects that help raise awareness, develop local capacity for better environmental management & prevention, & improve livelihood resilience, by providing training & supporting sustainable natural resource management initiatives, training & equipment for community, local & volunteer firefighters, and environmental education for all ages, but especially with school children.