Productive trip to Mexico!

Posted 13 January 2017 in EMpower News, Grantee Partner News   |   Share

In December, Executive Vice President, Cynthia Steele, and Assistant Program Officer, Caitlin Mitchell, traveled to Mexico to facilitate a Learning Exchange among five Mexican grantee partner organizations, conduct site visits and meet with local organizations. This was a productive visit full of learnings and key information to help refine EMpower’s Mexico country strategy.

The goal of the Learning Exchange was to provide grantee partners with a space to discuss common challenges in youth programming and share strategies for helping youth overcome them. To facilitate the conversation, Cynthia and Caitlin used the Girl Path, an EMpower-developed tool that helps users identify barriers adolescent girls (and boys) face that prevent them from fully participating in programs, and to brainstorm ways to remove or address those barriers. Participants also discussed providing psychosocial support to youth, fundraising, new masculinities training for staff and young men, and how to better support youth in becoming agents of change despite difficult contexts.

Thank you to our grantee partner participants for a productive learning experience! Check out the Facebook album for more info on the Learning Exchange and photos from the field here!

Photo: A group of youth leaders from grantee partner SiKanda stand in front of a mural they designed and painted. At the top it reads “if we don’t change the world, it is the world that will change us,” depicting a boy and girl choosing to play sports rather than use drugs.