Yachay Youth Development Initiative

The Yachay Initiative is an international youth-run organization that has dedicated itself to helping to ameliorate the challenges of poverty around the world. Named after the indigenous Ecuadorian verb "to learn", Yachay works closely with local communities and community-based organizations to run projects that actively link education, environment and development in a way that empowers young people to realize the changes they wish to see in their communities. For Yachay, education is the vehicle for development as local ideas are discussed, developed, and enacted, bringing together the theory of leadership, cooperation and empowerment, into the practice of changing lives.