Our Work in Cañar
Summer 2013 will be the second year back to Canar, after an extremely successull pilot project in 2012. This project will be based in the beautiful highland provinces of Cañar and Azuay. The staff headquarter city is the medieval fortified city of Cuenca.
AMIGOS partners with the Cañar Program Unit of Plan International to address a wide range of themes related to community health in all of its forms. Working with networks of formal and informal youth groups, AMIGOS Volunteers will address themes relating to environmental protection, the rights of children, youth participation, and health education.
I. Community Service: Volunteers will collaborate with community members in the implementation of small-scale community initiatives (e.g. building a community library, repainting a school, or organizing a cultural festival). In 2012 one of these projects was a therapy center for disabled children. Volunteers will also facilitate a variety of games and lessons for children and organize community fairs focused on community health topics.
II. Intercultural Exchange: Volunteers will have the opportunity to be immersed in Andean culture by living with a host family. It is particularly important that Volunteers placed in this region are committed to integrating fully into day to day life, and proactively seeking to take part in daily chores. Volunteers will learn about the local culture, while provide a learning opportunity for their hosts to experience living and working alongside someone from outside their community.
III. Youth Engagement. Volunteers will take the lead in co-planning and co-facilitating extracurricular activities and workshops with local youth. They will also participate along with local youth in several project-wide conferences and events.
IV. Global Discovery: This year the Cañar project will be one of three programs to offer the Global Discovery track, which is available for College particiaptants. Global Discovery Volunteers will work with their supervisor to identify common interests and develop a curriculum unique to their group. Potential partners are the University of Cuenca, Grupo Social FEPP, and Plan International as Volunteers engage further with partner agencies and take an academic look at development and development theory as they are experiencing it in their communities.
About our Partners
Plan works in over 1,000 communities, promoting rights and a decent life for children and their families.
Plan's main target groups are children and teenagers who live in situations of inequality and vulnerability, and whose rights are infringed, as well as workers with disabilities and other groups in need of special protection.
FURTHER ACTIONS
Involving youth from across the Americas
Read about our Partner Agencies
