Costa Rica
Strengthening youth leadership to promote sustainable community development
Together with its local partner ACEM, Unity Foundation is seizing this challenge, so that youth aged from 13 to 25 are empowered to participate actively in the transformation of their society. The Programme for Social Action (PSA) caters to about 370 students of the local population of the Talamanca region and aims to train about 20 tutors.
Apart from the steady headway the project is making in its agricultural aspect, namely with its Highly Efficient and Diversified Plots (HED plots), the project has another interesting feature, namely to invest in renewable energies. This line of action consists in encouraging the installation of solar systems for the lighting of the Talamanca region.
Over 770 people in 30 different communities already benefit from solar systems to light their houses. The participants and tutors introduced this aspect of the project to the PSA programme in the different sectors of Talamanca, and the human resources necessary for this have been and will continue to be trained to ensure the correct installation and maintenance of the solar systems. These lighting systems should facilitate study in meeting places, diminish the risk of pollution and fire hazard, and initiate the local population into the basic concepts of this technology.
Some facts about the country
Even though Costa Rica invests the equivalent of 6% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in education, and its illiteracy rate is relatively low, there still remains a lot to be done. The education system in Costa Rica is faced with significant constraints, such as poor geographical coverage, a low rate of success in secondary schools, and a high dropout rate. Besides, the pedagogy does not match the needs, as the emphasis is placed on memorisation and mechanical processes, and the correlation between theory and practice is weak. Moreover, there is a lack of teacher training and insufficient infrastructure, especially in rural and indigenous communities, which is creating a gap between urban and rural education.
Updates & stories from the field
LINES OF ACTION
P.S.A.
LOCATION
The Talamanca region
PARTNER
Association for Scientific and Moral Education (ACEM)
DURATION
2009-2014
TOTAL BUDGET
€382.573
