“CEPAD is the first organization that I have gotten involved with. The staff is very kind, organized, and responsible with the work that they do. They are always available for questions, helping not only with the Youth Leadership Program, but also with farmers and women. They involve the whole family.”

Belkis has felt that participating in CEPAD’s Youth Leadership Program has helped her find ways to get involved with her community. Many children and youth living in rural Nicaragua are vulnerable to domestic violence, dropping out of school, teen pregnancy, mental health struggles, addiction, and more. Having local youth leaders is so important in order to engage these adolescents in healthy activities like sports, games, tutoring, etc. to help them grow in safe spaces.

Belkis, along with the other youth leaders in her community, have attended workshops on domestic violence prevention, addressing mental health, basic counseling techniques, identifying those in crisis, and more. Belkis hopes to continue counseling the local youth and want to teach them new things.

“I would like to learn how to do some handicrafts to be able to teach and engage other youth in my community. I want to continue helping kids through educational conversations that help transform families.”

Thank YOU for empowering Belkis with this new knowledge to create safe spaces for countless children to learn. To provide other youth leaders with these same workshops, you can partner with CEPAD here.