Young people raising their voices in light and shadow

In the Franz Tamayo district of the municipality of El Alto, Bolivia, about two hours from downtown La Paz, a group of 30 young people have transformed the lack of knowledge about their sexual and reproductive rights into a powerful tool for visual change. Through the mini-project “My Rights in Action,” implemented by the Youth Club of the Andean Rural Health Council (CSRA) with the support of the de Waal Foundation (FdW) Bolivia, these participants have increased their knowledge of these rights and encouraged their active participation in promoting them. This effort not only seeks to educate, but also to empower youth to make informed decisions and defend their wellbeing in a context where information is key to the full exercise of their rights.

This participatory, community-based and innovative mini-project began in April 2025, with the presence of several young people from the area, who identified the lack of knowledge about their rights in general, with emphasis on their sexual and reproductive rights, as the main problems to improve, to achieve a full exercise of these, thus promoting their welfare and informed decision making. The young people joined together and to encourage participation in this mini project and invite other young people “Wayna Consejo” was born, driven by the great participation and encouragement of other groups in the area to join.

Gelen Calcina Quispe, vice-president of the youth club of this initiative, reflects on the work done during this time and is satisfied with what has been achieved a few weeks before the end of the execution phase.

“We feel very happy about what we have learned, showing a different perspective, about our rights and with our photos we have shown a different reality,” says Gelen Quispe.

Name of the work: Evidencia Silenciosa
What we want to transmit: My body remembers; it was a witness, it has suffered and the scars remain, even if there is a file and a sentence. Comprehensive care for victims of violence is a right.
Authors: Lizbeth Condori Quispe (20), Araceli Gelen Calsina Quispe (19), Galilea Calcina Quispe (13)
Date of the photo: May 10, 2025
Zone: Bautista Saavedra Urbanization, District 14, El Alto, Bolivia.
Group: Wayna Consejo

Sonia Quispe, another of the young members of the group, believes that the objectives have been met, raising awareness among a large number of people through key messages and information shared through the various activities planned.

To learn more about this work, Lisset Camacho, Project Coordinator and Project Monitor, Sara Blanco from FdW in Bolivia tell us about the creation of this mini-project, the activities co-designed by the participants, the goals achieved and the deep involvement of the youth in the implementation of My Rights in Action.

Sara Blanco with young people at the coworking
Project Facilitator – de Waal Foundation Bolivia

What is a mini project?

Lisset Camacho: The mini-projects are a strategy that we started to implement in Bolivia to achieve a much more active participation of the population. In this project specifically, we have been able to actively collect the needs that adolescents have regarding their sexual and reproductive health. Although we have statistics on the situation, we also rely on research carried out by other institutions to identify the problems affecting adolescent health.

For the elaboration of the mini-projects, we started with a self-diagnosis; where the adolescents, through the use of different methodologies, told us about their sexual and reproductive health problems. After brainstorming, we identified several problems, but for the process we chose to work with the one that was most mentioned and on that basis, the young people themselves proposed different activities that can help solve it or reduce the impact it generates. And they themselves are also in charge of mobilizing the economic resources and carrying out all the administrative management of the activities. We, as a Foundation, subsidize them an amount of money and they are the ones who distribute this amount, prioritizing the needs, according to the general objective of the mini-project.

It is a participatory process, which emphasizes the empowerment of adolescents, since they are the real protagonists from the beginning. They carry out the diagnostic phase, the elaboration of the project, the execution, monitoring, the fulfillment of the activities and the closing, which is a way of guaranteeing the sustainability of the actions.

What has been the goal of the My Rights in Action mini-project?

Sara Blanco: the main objective is that young people know what their rights are, with an emphasis on sexual and reproductive health rights, especially in health care in El Alto, but with the intention of extending it to the whole country.
This objective was decided after many young people pointed out during the self-diagnosis workshop that they did not know what their rights are. For example, they did not know that they have the right to be attended in health centers in a space specifically for adolescents. And they did not know this because no one had informed them about it. Therefore, our mini-project has worked to show people that young people have rights and that we must empower ourselves and demand that they be fulfilled.
We have thought of activities that we could do to make young people aware of their rights, for example, on May 17, 2025 we participated in a fair organized by the Mayor’s Office of El Alto, where we set up a stand that was visited by two thousand people. There, young people talked about their rights, through a game created by us.

Eight informative videos have also been recorded for TikTok, which are currently being edited. We have a march pending, which is scheduled for August 23, 2025, in which we expect the participation of young people from other projects and the general public. We will carry posters in which we will communicate our rights to the population.
An activity that has been implemented as this mini-project has been executed is a series of photographs taken by the young people and in which they participate, which are also being exhibited at the Casa de la Cultura.

How did this initiative develop?

Sara: the photographs became the main activity of this mini project and it came about because we have seen that young people express themselves in different ways and a very strong form of expression is art and in this case the photographs attract a lot of attention.
Paola Bernal Rodas, photographer-communicator did a workshop on artistic composition, we told her about this mini project and we told her that we needed to take pictures and she decided to help us voluntarily. First, we did a workshop in which we compiled all the rights of young people, as stated in the State Constitution and the Youth Law. Then we formed groups, which have chosen three rights each, with which they have worked in a workshop of photographic composition and in another of critical thinking evaluation, in which we resignified the rights, reflecting to make a composition of images with the objects that each young person had brought, such as fabrics, flowers, plants, etc. to photograph, and then they also began to capture their faces, their hands.

Now, we have turned this initiative into an exhibition called “Young people raising their voices with light and shadow”.

The young people have imagined their photographs, captured them and then selected the ones they liked the most, presented them to the authorities and organized the exhibition, which has been visited by many people. They know that, in a traveling exhibition in La Paz, 2,000 people, including children, adolescents and young people, have seen the photographs.

We feel very happy about what we have learned, showing a different perspective, about our rights and with our photos we have shown a different reality. Gelen Calcina Quispe

With the project nearing completion, what is your assessment of its execution? Have the goals been achieved?

Sara: We have done very well. I am very proud of the goals we have achieved. We participated in the municipal fair, with the support of Fundaci[on Internet Boliva. We have surpassed by far the target audience we had projected.

Lisset: It has exceeded our expectations, since the ideas and activities have come from the young people themselves. They have presented us with new ideas that have gone beyond fairs or workshops. They have shown us how we can take advantage and use art to raise awareness and reach the greatest number of people, also involving fathers and mothers.

We are very happy because we are having an impact on the adolescent population, especially on the promoters who are being trained and who have been transformed in a very positive way since the project began. Their level of involvement, commitment and empowerment is very high.

It should also be noted that other organizations, individuals and institutions have joined this process, which is very positive because the links are expanding and this increases the possibilities of opening a second phase of the project and thus reaching a greater number of young people.

As this mini-project My Rights in Action comes to an end, it reaffirms the enormous potential of young people as agents of change in their communities in Latin America. The leadership, creativity and organizational skills demonstrated by the participants have not only made visible the importance of knowing and exercising sexual and reproductive rights, but have also inspired other young people, institutions and families to join the process.

The photographs, more than symbols or activities, have become living testimonies of a youth determined to transform their reality, opening paths for new initiatives and consolidating a network of actors committed to the welfare and empowerment of adolescents, promoting a culture of prevention. This project is only the beginning of a journey where the voice and the eyes of young people will continue to illuminate the path towards a more informed, inclusive and just society that aspires to reach Bolivia, Latin America and the world.