how do we lead change?
our impact
IF at-risk youth are provided with resources, skills, and opportunities to develop experience leading local projects THEN a greater number of young people will invest in building a better future for themselves, improving community resilience and decreasing youth migration. BECAUSE our experience shows that providing an ecosystem of services and peers that support their growth and development increases their will to remain and leverage their communities.
We believe in long-term impact to build an empowered generation of future leaders that are creating more resilient and sustainable communities in Central America.
Since 2009, we have engaged more than 7,000 young leaders, facilitated over 730 programs and supported hundreds of community action plans that address the most pressing global challenges.
how we do it
We provide professional and personal development that stimulates an active civil society driving towards the achievement of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals - the universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet by 2030.
We are one of the leading organizations worldwide that work to combat complex social, environmental, and economic challenges at local, regional, national, and international levels. This was demonstrated by our UNESCO-Japan Prize for Education for Sustainable Development in 2015.
how do we empower our youth leaders?
training & capacity building
We take a holistic approach to developing youth leaders. Through the development of both hard skills: financial education, digital literacy, and soft skills: leadership skills, creativity, agency, attitudes and qualities, we are creating fully rounded, global citizens.
resource centers
Our physical spaces provide a safe place with a substantial ecosystem of support and services to youth leaders to achieve their vision for good living in their communities.
coaching & mentoring
We train and support mentors from within the communities we work and who are underrepresented in our society.
local, regional &
global networking
We promote and encourage organic networks of young leaders creating change that turn into social movements connected by transformative action. We support a stronger system focused on youth-led community development.
youth-led development
projects support
We continually support our community leaders through specific workshops to deepen the results of their action plans. We harness the best ideas and award youth groups small grants to maximize the impact of their action plans.
our initiatives
leadership training
We provide young people from marginalized communities with transformative leadership training, giving them the tools, skills, and support to become influential and impactful leaders of sustainable community development.
A program series of three key modules that includes:
The Actívate
Community Congress
A 3-day community congress, bringing together youth from across our communities to ideate and empower. We foster a culture of environmental awareness and sustainability through collaboration and shared leadership to help young people develop a community vision and critical thinking about pressing social-environmental issues.
Youth Sustainability
Summit
A 5-day camp that draws young changemakers from Guatemala and El Salvador together with peers, mentors, partner community organizations, and trainers for a hands-on, hearts-on networking and skills-building event.
Catalyzers
A 7-day intensive, residential program to train young leaders to be highly effective facilitators of community change processes by providing them with the tools for transformation.
These events take the youth on a deep journey of a personal and leadership development, they are our flagship events.
We support diverse, context-appropiate spaces and projects designed by and for-youth to provide services, resources and opportunities for positive youth engagement around the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
Fellows formulate and implement quarterly projects tailored to the specific needs of their communities. We offer them essential resources, a small stipend, and mentoring to acquire new organizational skills for effective project and resource management. For many, this is their first professional experience.
fellowships
eco social enterprises
We leverage our knowledge networks and infrastructure to partner with the local community and incubate and grow promising locally-led eco-social enterprises. We are currently supporting two eco-social enterprises:
Casa Maya is a property management company that offers hight-quality sustainable and authentic homestay experiences with indigenous families in hard-to-reach destinations. Through Casa Maya we provide long-term livelihoods and social benefits to young Guatemalan indigenous women and their families from economically marginalized, rural communities across Guatemala.
Ulew Fuego is a SERES-owned multipurpose center and agricultural business that focuses on regenerative and sustainable agriculture to develop skills for both youth leaders and farmers. It serves as a connecting hub for members of local communities who lost their livelihoods during the 2018 Volcan Fuego eruption.
Our center serves as a location for workshops, leadership retreats, biodiversity summits, educational tours and sustainability building.
