The VIII Mesoamerican Territorial Congress continued this Wednesday, December 9th with the execution of the panel “Contribution and Challenges from Mesoamerican Youth” by the Mesoamerican Leadership School (EML). In the event, the School walked through the initiative’s journey was done and an analyzed the importance of youth participation in territorial issues, in order to keep consolidating the EML as a platform that empowers young people to participate in the global agenda with their own voice on territorial issues.
“It is important to train leaders to empower youth, who know different types of skills; from technology to politics”
Iniquilipi Chiari-Gunayala
Results
Since its foundation in 2017, the School has managed to establish itself as a leadership-building institution for young people to face challenges in the protection of natural resources and territorial management. To date, it gathers more than 120 young people from different community forestry organizations in Petén (Guatemala), 80 young Miskitos; it has trained 400 young leaders in grassroots processes and has organized three international meetings.
Its understanding of realities and the participatory processes have allowed the School to recognize the possibilities of interconnecting non-timber and timber activities with the rest of productive activities, glimpse the potential innovations to improve jobs and incomes, and the possibility of gradually closing the ecosystem flows with greater efficiency, order, and harmony.
A 4-level Digital Platform is in the pre-production stage. This tool will be composed of the School’s website, a learning and information module that will allow young people to continue their training remotely, a monitoring module with real-time the geolocated results of the School’s work, and finally, an app for access to all this information from mobile devices.
“We have learned to shed the fear of public speaking and it has helped us to develop ourselves better. We, young people, have to take care of our forests, take more care of the resources we have, just as the ancestors did.”
Yojana Ramirez. OMYC Uaxactún
As a conclusion of its journey analysis, the School highlighted the importance of continuing to forge a support coalition to meet the challenges ahead, to continue the training process of young people, to strengthen local institutional capabilities, to improve the advocacy processes of the youth voice, to develop complementary alliances and to boost innovation and change.
Current context: hurricanes and COVID-19
The pandemic and hurricanes Eta and Iota have impacted the socio-cultural and economic dynamics of the region; Indigenous and local communities have been the most vulnerable. These phenomena posits challenges in which youth can have great impact. In response to this, the School has carried out real-time monitoring ofthe hurricanes’ impacts, and has maintained a continuous teaching process with trainer workshops of coaches in the communities; it also strengthened its team, which is leading a workshop on digital tools management and is in the construction of the Digital Platform.
New image
The EML launched its new image, with a logo that reflects its growth and background. The logo reflects the concept of the Universe in nature, ancestral knowledge, interaction with forests, knowledge exchange and dialogue.
About the School
The Mesoamerican Leadership School is one of the Mesoamerican Alliance of Peoples and Forests’ tools to strengthen leadership and skills development in community-based and Indigenous organizations. It is an innovative model for its pedagogical philosophy and transformative education approach adapted to the communities.
The School’s methodology is based on research and examination. It is based on the experiences, knowledge, beliefs, and personal experiences from which young people usually analyze socio-political contexts, facts, and practices in which they unfold.
