Week for Youth Rights in Argentina and Bolivia

In the framework of the Ibero-American Week celebrations, the Cooperation Fund for Technical Assistance Missions of the OAS Inter-American Program on Education for Democratic Values and Practices provided support to the work of the Week for Youth Rights in Argentina and Bolivia. The participating institutions in the cooperation mission were the SocialFoundation Uramanta and Youth Group Csi-miento of Bolivia, the SES Foundation, the Civil Popular Alternative Association, the Youth Group Murga Sol de America and the Roldan Youth Council of Argentina. The technical assistance activities took place in Argentina from April 14 to 18, 2012 and in Bolivia from April 26 to May 2, 2012.

The Bidirectional Cooperation Mission’s objective was to strengthen the work processes of the Week for Youth Rights in Argentina and Bolivia in the framework of the Ibero-American Week by recovering the practices of both and installing a working methodology that promotes political and social participation of young people living in poverty. 

“We have to let others know what it is like to be young” - young participant

The work began in Argentina with the specific aim of raising awareness of youth promoter groups to make a commitment to actively participate in a space that promotes a democratic culture, freedom of expression and cultural diversity. Several activities took place in Buenos Aires to exchange experiences with the various groups and organizations involved in the Week, and to learn about their local work, and its objectives and contributions to the Network for Youth Rights. Visits were also made to the cities of Rosario and Roldan, providing the possibility to learn about the work of Popular Alternative and Roldan Youth Council with the Youth Group Murga Sol de America. These activities contributed to adopting the perspective of the Week’s regional cooperation, understanding this week as a space of training, empowerment and advocacy among youth groups from different countries. 

Video: Youth Rights Week 2011 in Chapadmalal, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The mission has been extended to the city of Cochabamba, Bolivia, where both delegations strove to transform the Week in Bolivia into a social setting of advocacy, knowing about, and valuing the construction of local social ties achieved through the Bolivian experience. The objectives of the activities in this country were tied to strengthening the work of the Csi-miento Uramanta Social Foundation using the lessons learned and knowledge of the Argentinean team to improve the planning and implementation process of the Week for Youth Rights. It was also an opportunity to learn about the reality and cultural aspects of Bolivia’s youth. The Csi-miento youth group managed to implement the Week for Youth Rights taking into account the working guidelines outlined in the framework of the technical assistance given the established central themes: youth identity, gender and sexuality and public policies for youth.

Video: Csi-miento Group, Cochabamba, Bolivia

This experience of exchange and technical assistance serves as a model for strengthening regional and local work for each of the week initiatives, by installing a new cooperation model based on knowledge and learning. 

“At first we cared about being many; our goal was that: to be more. Now we want to be more active, more organized, and do things the right way. – Young from Csi-miento

Seeing the success of the activities, several institutions and companies were interested in carrying out this type of technical assistance and support the Week for Youth Rights in the coming years.