Enabling young people in La Paz to help themselves

During the last few years, Bolivia has experienced heavy political and social turbulences. Social differences are more and more dissatisfying the society. Unfortunately, this often leads to violence. The problems of the Bolivian society differ from the German ones. Whilst Gemany is suffering from the concequences of an inverted age pyramid, Bolivia has
to cope with the problems of a growing young country. 58,6 % of the population is younger than 24 year. The typical teenager’s life is characterized by despair and lack of prospects.
Our projects aim to help adolescents to find a democratic way into society and to identify future perspectives for them. Therefore we focus the work in our youth centres on two key areas:
- school and general education (12 – 16 years)
- professional education (16 – 25 years)
Within the youth centres the young people organize themselves in a democratic way. The board, which is elected democratically, is responsible for the centre’s organisation. The board is composed of the elected teenagers, the representatives of the neigbourhood and our youth leader Cecilia Capra.
(translated by betterplace)