La Fabrica - Innova TechLab

Youth and their communities in some of the most violent barrios in El Salvador are stigmatized by gang violence and have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19 and the existing economic crisis.  We will turn Catholic nun-led spaces, such as community centers, into Fabricas, providing safety but also an incubator to prototype new products using 3D printers, mentorship from Berkeley grads and local business leaders, all within the loving hands of the Catholic nuns.   

We will activate the local economy by training Catholic nuns and the youth they serve in 3D printmaking to create products that can compete in the local and global market, creating jobs and invigorating a damaged economy.  With Catholic nuns in every corner of the world and having a seal of guarantee to those living at the margins, co-creating products using new technology will connect vulnerable communities with the private sector with products to scale. 

Young Salvadorans cannot access jobs simply because their national IDs reflect they are from violent barrios, further stigmatizing them into unemployment.  They are chalked up as gang members and their communities' local economies continue to suffer with no end in sight. According to the Multipurpose Household Survey (2019), there are 344,507 young Salvadorans between the ages of 15 and 24 that neither study nor work, forming a group commonly known as NEET (not in education, employment, or training.  This represents 26.3% of the population in that age range, with female youth being twice as high than male youth (at 31 and 16 per cent, respectively).

These realities stem from root causes of poverty and social exclusion in the communities, that have been exacerbated by the pandemic. By providing the youth, and specifically girls, a safe space to learn and gain technical and soft skills, along with mentorship and connections to jobs in the private sector, Salvadoran youth can contribute to their communities by developing products that creates jobs and revitalizes the local economy. 

Our idea is to create a Fabrica, or “factory”, and entrepreneurial program that offers training and empowers youth using CNC/3D printing, connecting youth to employment.  Using Catholic nun-led spaces, often deemed the only safe place in the community for kids to be kids, we will set up a fabrica where youth receive hands-on training using the CNC/3D printing machine to create products that can be commercialized with stakeholders, using local construction materials.  Youth will be able to practice their English/Spanish and we will specifically target females to receive training and mentorship. 

Using an international exchange platform to co-create cutting edge designs scalable for the global market, we are activating award-winning American designer and Berkeley professor Ronald Rael, design students from Berkeley, and a local Salvadoran design university.  American and Salvadoran business leaders Larry Klebanoff and Rodrigo Bolanos will collaborate in order to build a business model and advise on how scaling the products to the global market.  We will be reactivating the existing nun-led youth spaces located in the at-risk communities of Apopa and La Chacra in San Salvador.  These spaces were co-designed prior to the pandemic and built as maker spaces, but since shuttered because of COVID-19. 

\The project targets youth and students who use the nun-led youth centers in the communities of Popotlan, Apopa, and La Chacra, San Salvador.

El Salvador is plagued with endemic gang violence, extreme poverty, and the exploitation of families trying to create a meaningful life.  The youth in these communities are experiencing social exclusion at different levels that go beyond the lack of economic resources. Youth and children who grow up in these communities often have lost hope for their futures, increasing their vulnerability to becoming a victim of crime or becoming a perpetrator themselves.

There are over 1,000 Catholic nuns in El Salvador, all living and working in these violent neighborhoods. For many in El Salvador, Catholic nuns represent a counter narrative to the violence and fear communities experience daily. Instead, they’re one of the most beloved and trusted people in their lives.

The nuns have been working on prevention activities with these youth since they were young children, and because of this many have broken the cycle of violence by choosing a path that gives hope. Now, the nuns need support in offering a stable life and bright future to these vulnerable youth as they become adults.  

The nuns have been in the community for more than three decades and have worked together with Alight for past three years. All our programming has been co-designed by the nuns and youth themselves using a human-centered design process, allowing the youth to take ownership of the outcomes.  The nuns create a seal of guarantee in creating a significant and lasting impact in the communities because they are always there and ARE their community.  Nun-led spaces, such as the community centers they run, are places of sanctuary for the youth, sometimes the only place youth can go to feel safe and simply be a kid. In 2019, we applied a similar human-centered design approach with the nuns and youth to co-create a multifunctional youth hub that acts as a vibrant makers space where youth can access computers for schoolwork, receive training on new skills, receive peer support and collaborate on new community initiatives. Since these spaces were co-designed by the nuns, youth, and community members, there is an ownership to maintain the hubs and implement new programming that builds self-reliance in the community.

Providing youth with training on cutting-edge technology and mentorship all under the watch of the nuns allows youth to thrive as competitive candidates for jobs in new technological sectors and have a stable livelihood.

The Fabrica project works to decrease the NEET rate among youth, specifically girls, in El Salvador. The human-centered design approach makes it desirable with a strong likelihood to succeed. The nuns and centers ensure sustainability.

Led by the nuns and Ronald Rael, we are able to offer technical training to youth in a safe space that allows them to socialize and be empowered, unleashing their skills to develop products using CNC/3D printing machines.  The 3D printing and design skills will prepare youth for the work of the future and products created will lead to economic invigoration in struggling communities. 

We’re prototyping using the nun-led youth spaces as a model for technical job readiness training in innovation, technology and design. At the same time, we are testing using our existing linkages to design students and business leaders in both El Salvador and the US to collaborate in designing products and bringing them to scale on a local and global market level. This concept was brought to life when we co-designed and repurposed the youth centers to be used as a multipurpose youth hub and provide a safe space to access school online during COVID-19 last year.

There is a need to connect vulnerable youth to employment and invigorate a struggling economy.  And, there is a desire to learn 3D printer technologies and design products that can be marketed locally and globally.  With Fabrica, we are building off our concept with specialized training, equipment, and an international exchange platform. 

Most people don’t think of nuns when they hear innovation.  But we believe that the nuns are catalytic in transforming youth into agents of innovation and design for El Salvador’s technological industry.  Using the nun-led youth centers and having the nuns oversee the training, youth will gain not just the technical skills needed but will continue building their interpersonal skills nurtured by the nuns.  By working with designer Ronald Rael and design students from both the U.S. and El Salvador, we are unleashing the potential for a community known for its violence to become a hub for cutting-edge 3D printmaking businesses.  Youth in Apopa and El Salvador will be known for their contributions in the 3D printmaking industry rather than as gang members.  And families in these communities will have a stable income, participating in one of the most innovative industries in El Salvador. 

Our core technology will be the 3D clay printer https://3dpotter.com/ and a CNC machine https://www.bantamtools.com/machines/desktop-cnc-milling-machine that will serve as a way to understand the design principles using designing and programming software, but also have the essentials of the machine. All trainees will have participated and completed a "Business Essential Course" that will help them to identify and analyze the market, and use that knowledge to start creating products that can be competitive at the commercial sphere. 

The technology is already been used in design projects that Ronald Rael has participated in. The 3D ceramic printer (https://3dpotter.com/) and the CNC desktop machine (https://www.bantamtools.com/machines/desktop-cnc-milling-machine) are currently part of his ongoing teaching projects.  Examples of his projects can be found here: https://www.dezeen.com/2019/10 and https://www.instagram.com/rrael/

We will take in mind as part of the training any industrial safety protocols needed, this includes electric installations and protective gear for the participants. It will be mandatory to safeguard the integrity of any person that will use the machines and/or equipment.

We regular monitor the security situation and risks in the community and will set up security protocols to ensure the safekeeping of the technology and materials.

Through the Youth Centers of Apopa and La Chacra, currently, the reach of the projects and humanitarian assistance goes around 1,900 people yearly. If we add their families, we're serving more than 6,460 in both communities. 

This solution will directly and meaningfully affect around 300 young people from the ages of 15-21 years old, yearly. The training would be implemented twice a year with 150 participants in each cohort (75 participants per community each cohort).