Empowering the young by art in El Alto, Bolivia

Description What is done in the programme or project and why, what results are pursued, who benefits from the activities and who are involved in the implementation.

The project aims at increasing the wellbeing of the young indigenous people who have moved from rural areas to the city of El Alto, and raising issues of rural-urban migration to improve cultural equality and equity. The purpose is to prevent conflicts caused by inequality and rural-urban migration. The project empowers the young through community art workshops. The participants learn about their rights, consider their cultural identity and status in society, create social networks, and produce art to express themselves and communicate with general public. In this second phase of the project the activities in Compa's cultural centers and schools continue. In addition, the second phase builds sustainability for the project activities by providing capacity building for the project staff and Compa's youth network, by sharing experiences and good practices on participatory methods for art education, and by providing methodological training for teachers. Through the trained teachers, these methods that aim at empowering children and youth and developing their expression are taken into use in schools so the impact of the project will grow beyond Compa's immediate sphere of influence.