Asociación Civil Sin Fines de Lucro "AbrePuertas"

At AbrePuertas, we believe that the way out of poverty is education, and we work to empower all members of the community to improve their lives through education.

We work in the community of Coya, in the Sacred Valley outside of Cusco, Peru, where the public education falls short and many people don’t make it through high school, and almost none reach college. Despite the difficult life many families lead, they value education for their children and their selves, and we are working with them to expand their opportunities to learn skills to help them economically as well as enrich their lives. Eventually we envision leaving a self-sustainable community education center in Coya, and repeating the cycle in similar communities.

Goals and Objectives

1. Improve literacy in the community. a. Improve the access of the community to books and computers through a free and open library. b. Program enjoyable extracurricular activities targeting literacy for children as well as illiterate adults. 2. Empower adolescents, especially those at risk of juvenile delinquency, and instill in them leadership and public presentation skills, as well as their sense of personal value. a. Provide them with opportunities for involvement in the project and leadership development through an advisory group. b. Create a program in which adolescents can investigate a topic of interest to them and present it to the community in order to prove their public presentation skills and self-esteem. c. Provide program of diverse topics that the adolescents can choose and request. 3. Reach out to the families that do not necessarily value traditional education, presenting the educational tools in an alternative and much more accessible format. a. Offer the programs on a flexible schedule with the input of the community in order to be more accessible to these families. b. Offer programs that are interesting and useful with the input of the community, especially those that teach vocational skills. 4. Create an open and international space to share knowledge and ideas, using a variety of styles of education, which values each individual. a. Seek volunteer teachers from Peru, other countries, and the community itself. b. In this space the teachers and students will be the same people because everyone has the ability to learn and teach. c. Programs will be open to everyone with no exclusions, as well as non-obligatory and free. 5. Give value to the learning and practice of art in all its forms. a. Offer programs not only in basic education, but also topics much more advanced and specific. b. Place a special emphasis on cultural arts