Youth and Community Development: El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras

The program is implemented by Glasswing International in partnership with USAID and corporate partners. During the October-December 2016 quarter, the Generation Now Festival was a major event, bringing together thousands of youth from four countries, including Nicaragua, to participate in educational and fun activities. The festival consisted of a Regional Youth Forum, General Fair, and Music concert, with U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador Jean Manes and Minister of Foreign Relations Hugo Martínez delivering welcoming remarks. The event aimed to spread a message of hope and inspire youth to make a positive impact in their communities. The festival's slogan, "Yo Me Atrevo," meaning "I dare to...," encouraged participants to make a personal commitment to contribute to positive change in the region. In addition to the festival, each country team continued with regular activities, including developing life skills, debate competitions, and community engagement initiatives. In El Salvador, the debate competition was held in Tegucigalpa and San Salvador, with students from 13 schools participating in the final round. The competition focused on migration, a relevant topic in the region, and was supported by the International Organization on Migration. The event was attended by over 400 students, with 40 corporate, individual, and community volunteers participating as judges. The Expo Discovery: Exploring our World full of Mysteries was held in El Salvador, with 19 schools participating and 550 students between 1st and 6th grade attending. The event aimed to develop, present, and explain different experiments related to what has been learned during the year in Discovery I and Discovery II clubs. The II Robotics Competition was also held, with 98 students from 11 schools competing to demonstrate their capacity for logical reasoning, task performance, and resolution of problems through the construction and programming of robots. The theme of the competition was waste classification, which is aligned with the theme of the world robotics competition. Summer school was held in Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador, with 570 students from seven schools, 256 beneficiaries from four schools, and 307 students from five schools attending. The event aimed to extend the clubs' time after the end of the school year and provide opportunities for students to use their free time during the months of December to January. Communitary Café sessions continued in each country, discussing different issues to re-establish and strengthen the social fabric. The sessions were planned and coordinated by teachers, with a total of 413 participants attending. The topics discussed included prevention of violence, teenage pregnancies, social networks, responsible parenting, self-esteem, and community relations. A soccer tournament was held in El Salvador, with the final matches taking place on October 1 and 8. The tournament aimed to promote community engagement and social interaction among youth.