Fostering Youth Leadership in Brazil

Fostering Youth Leadership in Brazil

Global Communities is implementing the Sowing Futures in partnership with the John Deere Foundation to build the capacity of communities and local institutions to prioritize needs and mobilize resources that improve socio-economic conditions, particularly for at-risk youth in Horizontina, Brazil. To encourage the participation of youth in the community, Global Communities partnered with two primary schools in Horizontina to develop a youth leadership initiative. Working together, they developed a youth community leadership course where seventh graders from both schools were taught how create their own “community organizations” to assess school priorities, design their own school development projects and partner with community volunteers and local businesses to implement their projects and transform their school environment. As part of the process, students drafted their bylaws, elected students to hold positions in their organizations and took 100% ownership in planning their projects and managing cash and non-cash resources.