Poderosas Colombia

In the world, 95% of teenage mothers are from developing countries. That is a poverty trap. In Latin America, 18% of pregnant women are under 19 years-old, the second highest teenage pregnancy rate in the world. Today, 26% of latin american women have no power over their sexual and reproductive and health care decisions. 

I witnessed this reality as a teacher in a rural school in Colombia: 

1. My female students would frequently miss school because they were on their period. That’s because half of girls in Colombia have no access to selfcare menstruation products and 1 out of 3 girls miss school nationwide.

2. In my school building, 15-20 students were pregnant each year. That’s roughly 15% of the entire female student population. Nationally, 1 out of 5 pregnancies is a teenager -because of the pandemic in a year there was a 19,4% increase of child pregnancies-. In rural areas, the numbers are doubled

3. Every other week students would come to me to tell me about a sexual abuse case. Nationally, 83% of the victims are girls and teenagers, and 77% of all kinds of violence victims are women. 

These tragic numbers are interrelated and multicausal, yet they are mainly the result of a lack of sexual education. Even if there are strong sexual, reproductive, and menstrual health services and accessibility, effective justice system, and criminal accountability, these statistics would not change significantly unless there is an innovative comprehensive education with a gender perspective to dismantle the invisible barriers of popular beliefs, taboo, religious preconceptions, stereotypes and culturally embedded discrimination. The former is the only way to reverse the deepening poverty traps, and social and gender inequities.  

In fact, Colombia and Latin America have had great legislative and political advances due to strong social activism on gender equality and women’s rights but these have not transcended impact. Even though Sex Education is mandatory by law since 1993 in Colombia, only 17% of public schools do it. Schools lack the capacity to address it, there is no professional development on SedEd nor on ss&rr rights for the teacher body and strong political and cultural resistance. Traditional education is ineffective: it has to be taught differently.

Poderosas is a multidisciplinary comprehensive learning experience methodology on sexual education it gives low-income youth power of decision over their body, their sexuality, and life. It also develops leadership skills that build local capacity for them to replicate their acquired knowledge and skills to others in their own and other communities. We do this in three steps: 1. Mentor Training Circles (MTC): where we teach Comprehensive Sexual Education (CSE), Sexual and Reproductive Rights fundamentals, also leadership and pedagogic skills that is a Poderosas Methodological Transfer in 12 sessions (30 hours). These MTC are for teachers, leaders and professionals and to alumni participants.  

2. Learning Circles in communities (Comprehensive Sexual Education Circles CSEC): a safe space for young women's circles and young men's circles to talk about historically taboo and stigmatized topics. These Circles are based on a 40hrs curriculum. Our curriculum is based on 4 units 

1. Me: Self-recognition, anatomy, menstruation,  emotions, identity dimensions, self-body relationship. 

2. Me with others: Sex, erotism, consent, constraceptives, STD, healthy interpersonal relationships, desired parenthood. 

3. The world and me: Diversity, gender, violence, stereotypes, family relationships, discrimination, equity.

4. Leadership: Exercising leadership, activism, social causes.

These units are covered in 14 sessions (36-40 hours) involving dancing, painting, horizontal discussion, reading, writing, dramatization and mindfulness.

3. Leaders that stand out during the process have the opportunity to continue their education by participating in MTC to further develop their leadership skills. 

Building local capacity guarantees the program can reach more people and is an employable opportunity for our own participants. Once our alumni are trained we hire them as Mentors and we pay them to lead CSEC  in their own and other communities.  

We target young women and young men in low-income populations where there are the highest rates of teenage pregnancies and gender-based violence (gbv). We also target teachers, social workers, leaders to be trained in sexual and reproductive rights education with a gender perspective. These are usually rural communities affected by armed conflict, or home to large migrant populations. Strengthening their power of decision counterbalances the violent gender norms they live in and the absence of health and educational institutions, allowing them to advocate for their own rights and for others. Our methodology aims to strengthen their participation in and outside of Poderosas spaces through their sharpened oratory, argumentative capacity and literacy skills, critical thinking, and questioning of gender norms. Every girl or teenager that turns 20 without a pregnancy or being a mother increases by three times her chances of graduating and entering the labor market, improving her future and her family’s. 

PODEROSAS started when I was a Teach for Colombia fellow teaching in a low-income community. I recognized my female students frequently missed due to menstruation, there was expected and accepted child and teen pregnancies (between 15 to 20 cases per year) and normalized sexual and gender-based violence; no one talked about this. So, as a personal initiative, I invited my students to an extracurricular space to talk about sexuality, rights, violence and revealed a deep ignorance permeated by taboo and myths. The curriculum and methodology were far from the traditional classroom education, and co-designed with my students, responding to their needs, interests, and inquiries. Within a year what started with 5 grew to 40+ participants, and the school`s pregnancy rate dropped from 18 to 4.  Their overall participation and presence was significantly reinforced as well as their academic performance. 

These transforming results moved by word of mouth all over the country and I began to receive requests to replicate Poderosas in other communities by teachers, most from Teach for Colombia, leaders and other organizations revealing the high need and demand for this type of spaces, but also the results and influence that our program has had on the communities and participants, generating a cascade effect.

We are well-positioned to deliver this solution because we did not come to this idea on our own, it was demanded by the communities we lived in. Me and my team know these communities we've lived and worked in them and with them, not as tourists, not as sporadic visits, we taught for, at least,  2 years in them. We know the cultural nuances and we have built strong relationships and networks.

First, we need to develop and strengthen our fundraising strategy and business model to be self-sustainable which would allow us to pay our team and grow as an organization. Currently, only 2 of our 20-people team have a salary and it is very low, which has increased our team’s turnover. Second, we need to sharpen our organizational capacity so that we can consciously scale nationally and throughout LATAM as community partners throughout the region would like to implement Poderosas (there is high demand). We also want to partner with more organizations and funders across the world that are working on similar topics and leverage their experiences. Finally, it is crucial to amplify our visibility through more storytelling and marketing to display the urgency of our work.

Our solution is innovative in four key ways.

First, our extracurricular SedEd program was co-designed with students—it was not imposed but rather designed bottom-up with them. The curriculum is also designed to adapt to contextual differences as we do not implement the exact same curriculum in each community we reach, but rather assess the needs, strengths, and weaknesses of that community. Poderosas is also unique due to our  robust matching with a network of local alumni and team members throughout Colombia. 

Second, the scalability of our solution also comes from the participants themselves. Our founder Mariana started the first circles in Baru, where Baruleras Poderosas was established. Those very graduates of young women proposed to replicate the circles with more girls and young women in the community of Orika, in Isla del Rosario, and then in the community of Santana, the village north of the town of Baru. The circles spread naturally as graduates come to believe that more women should "be powerful" like them. Mariana trained a group of 6 Baruleras Poderosas in leadership skills and worked with them in the process of convening, managing, and leading sexual and reproductive rights education circles in other communities. This was the foundation for the Mentor Training Circles (MTC)

Third, Poderosas is unique in that experiences ares a key part of our curriculum—we not only educate on sexual and reproductive rights but also encourage reflection, the development of leadership skills and self-understanding. Follow-up trainings as mentors to learn to replicate our CSEC also allow for additional skill-building and leadership experience. Building local capacity guarantees the program can reach more people and be locally relevant. Once our alumni are trained we hire them and we pay them to lead CSEC in their own and other communities. 

Finally, the Learning Circles methodology is one-of-a-kind for LATAM. Poderosas creates a safe space to talk about historically taboo and stigmatized topics, dismantling barriers and fears students may have to advocate for their rights. We build local capacity and encouraging peer-to-peer teaching and mentorship. Our Learning Circle methodology ultimately enhances self-efficacy and leadership by centering the design on the youth themselves and their needs.

• Raise $100,000 to guarantee the human resources for the organization's capacity to consciously and responsibly scale up by developing local leadership to replicate our education program in the communities we've already worked in. 

• To strengthen our capacity to scale using technological resources for our pedagogical tools for our participants and the mentors' training, broadening our scope and impact at least 5,000 young women and men in the next 12 months, and in the next five years exponentially increase our reach by our alumni’s replicability of the program. 

• Win at least one recognition (challenge, award, or prize) giving us international visibility so that we reach out and partner with bigger organizations that pursue gender equality and rights advocacy, particularly in LATAM, and leverage their experience.

Our education program has 7 main objectives that dictate our indicators: 1. Promote self-care, exploration, and comprehension of one’s body (increase use of alternative self-care menstrual products, positive perception of one’s body, comprehension of menstrual cycle, decrease school absences because of menstrual poverty). 2. Challenge gender norms (increase recognition of gender norms, identification of gender bias, and actions to prevent them) 

3. Promote gbv identification and accurate action response (increase the characterization of different types of violent manifestations, decrease violent manifestations on boys, increase the recognition of action institutional and non-institutional action routes). 4. Educate on sexual and reproductive rights exercise and advocacy (increase use of contraceptives, understanding of different barriers and how to overcome them to access sexual and reproductive health services, decrease child and teenage pregnancy). 5. Build local support networks (increase sorority and mutual support, and positive perception of peers). 6. Build awareness of practices and expressions of masculinity (increase acceptance and positive perception on different manifestations of masculinity). 7. Potentialize local leadership skills (increase participation rates in political in and out-of-school spaces, in community assemblies, campaigns and as CSEC replicators)

How do we measure these objectives? We have beginning and end of program surveys in line with our learning objectives. We also survey the alumni one month, three months,and one final six months after graduation. We do not have the resources for more detailed measurement, which is why sharpening our organizational capacity is a key goal related to our need for funding. 

Finally, it is important to note that our objectives are aligned with three UN SDGs (and the selected specific targets that align with our objectives):

3. Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages (specifically target 3.7 ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health-care services, including for family planning, information and education, and the integration of reproductive health into national strategies and programmes) 

4.  Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all, and (specifically targets 4.3 ensure equal access for all women and men to affordable and quality technical, vocational and tertiary education, including university 4.4 substantially increase the number of youth and adults who have relevant skills, including technical and vocational skills, for employment, decent jobs and entrepreneurship 4.5 eliminate gender disparities in education and ensure equal access to all levels of education and vocational training for the vulnerable, including persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples and children in vulnerable situations, 4.7 ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including, among others, through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable development, 4.c substantially increase the supply of qualified teachers, including through international cooperation for teacher training in developing countries, especially least developed countries and small island developing States) 

5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. (5.1 End all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere, 5.2 Eliminate all forms of violence against all women and girls in the public and private spheres, including trafficking and sexual and other types of exploitation, 5.3 Eliminate all harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation, 5.5 Ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making in political, economic and public life, 5.6 Ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights as agreed in accordance with the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development and the Beijing Platform for Action and the outcome documents of their review conferences - indicators are 5.6.1 Proportion of women aged 15-49 years who make their own informed decisions regarding sexual relations, contraceptive use and reproductive health care 5.6.2 Number of countries with laws and regulations that guarantee women aged 15-49 years access to sexual and reproductive health care, information and education)

If we educate young women and men on sexual and reproductive rights, using an innovative experiential methodology, and if we develop leadership skills, then youth can strengthen their power of decision over their bodies, sexuality, and life. And then, these students will become agents of change as learning circle replicators and advocates in their own communities, breaking the poverty cycle

It does not take much technology to educate youth on comprehending their rights, their power, and their possibility to unlearn gender norms—discussions and relationships are enough toimpact students’ decision making, life projects, family and communities. Change only requires a gender-focused curriculum and an innovative experiential methodology to talk about what no one else dares to. We leverage oral traditions, dancing, mindfulness, collective reading, drawing, painting, and rituality that build a sense of community, belonging, and intimacy that allows participants to share their fears, questions, doubts, and experiences and to connect with others. 

It is simple, yet it's disruptive and challenges the status quo. We also engage mothers, teachers and directives strategically focused on long-term systemic intervention. 

For almost all of the communities we work in Colombia, digital infrastructure and access to internet connections are limited. We have used LMS for virtual learning as part of our Train Mentors program (Google Classroom and Zoom), however, and are building partnerships with tech initiatives such as sexperto.co (a sexual and reproductive health search engine)

Our team is 95% women, from wide-ranging socioeconomic backgrounds. Poderosas also works with and for migrants from Venezuela, with underrepresented groups such as Afro-Colombians, indigenous communities, LGTBQ+, people with disabilities, and communities with different education and work experiences. We believe in involving and hiring our own participants as part of our staff and amplifying their voices not only as ‘beneficiaries” of our program but as designers and thought partners.  DEI is the backbone of our venture — everything we do is to make the world a more equitable and fair place for girls in Colombia. 

Our users are low-income youth and our customers are third party funders that invest in social impact whose KPI are aligned with ours (organizations, NGS, B-corps, national and international cooperation, governts, donors, philanthropists, grants, public and private entities).

Some of our custumers reach out to us, but we also reach out to them, apply to grants, present proposals, reach out to potential funders, and seek partnerships and alliances to meet the demand to replicate our program.

As of competitors there are other organizations for SRR advocacy, mainly as health service but not direct competitors as SexEd programs. Our comprehensive approach and methodology is disruptive and innovative; it builds local capacity for it to become a self-sustained movement replicated by alumni. We have successfully implemented our program and the users' demand and call back has forced us to grow. The demand is so big, that there is no real competition: we are all potential partners.

We have both paying and non-paying costumers: paying costumers are orgs, entities or donors interested in gender equity / ss&rr rights advocacy impact. None are constant and usually only fund specific projects excluding overhead. Non-paying costumers are partners (public schools, orgs or local govmts) that support us in other ways.

The past 1,5 years we have raised:

• SIFF Grant ($20,000), Rotary Grant ($5,000), Population Fund of the United Nations (UNFPA): Project education intervention ($4,000), Save The Children:  Project education intervention ($3,000) 

• Fundraising Event: USD$7,000

• Scattered individual donations USD$3,000

• Merch Sales: USD$4,000

Our revenues have increased x10 in less than a year andthere is a huge opportunity to keep this going by partnering with bigger organizations, private and public companies, and local governments. We can alsosell our program to private educational institutions that have already reached out to us even though they are not our target population (additionalsource of revenue). In the future, product brands or jewelry, food, cosmetics, contraceptives, pharmaceutics, and health care companies are also potential clients and partners due to their focus on female health.

We are confident that our service has an unending demand , there is political relevance and our results have become our best marketing.