La Asociaci

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La Asociación Mujeres Organizadas
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CUPID Team
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Organizing the Internship

• Reto Juvenil International in San Jose (Monica
  and Fabio)
• Background
• Reto Juvenil Internacional (RJI), is a Costa
  Rican based organization working in collaboration
  with Australia, Canada and Guyana to carry out
  volunteer programs where community development is
  complemented by personal growth, group work and
  community service.
• Reto Juvenil offers support to communities
  through unskilled manual labor for construction
  projects in communities, as well as environmental
  initiatives in national parks and rural
  communities.
• http//www.retojuvenilcr.org/

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Reto Juvenil (contd)

• Support Provided
• Homestays and payment arrangements
• Orientation in San Jose upon arrival
• Introduction to the community
• Any necessary support in event of an emergency
• Follow-up visits during the internship
• Facilitated connections with other international
  NGOs (World Vision) in Upala
• Debriefing at the end of the internship

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Los Jazmines A

• Overview of the community
• Small village of approximately thirty-three
  families in the northern lowland area close to
  the Nicaraguan border.
• Among the poorest regions of Costa Rica.
• The village contains a school serving about 60
  children, a small church, a community center
  built by RJI volunteers in 2005, and several
  pulperias.
• While most of the families in the village have
  electricity and running water, conditions are
  still very basic. Very few families have phones
  in their homes, most do not have cars, and houses
  are mostly built of thin wooden walls, tin roofs,
  cement floors, and open windows.
• Modes of transportation range from cars/trucks to
  motorcycles, bikes, horses, and going on foot
  (most common).

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Los Jazmines A in Photos
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The Association

• Informally, the Association has been together for
  almost two years however, it has been operating
  on a more "official" basis for less than a year.
• There are 16 women in the Association, all except
  one from Los Jazmines A.
• The Association has an Executive Committee or
  Directiva composed of a President, Vice
  President, Secretary, Treasurer, Fiscal (kind of
  a logistical role), and two positions called
  Vocal.

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The Association in Pictures
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Our Work with the Association

• Our goals and objectives for the project changed
  as we gained more experience with the group and
  discussed our findings with World Vision and Reto
  Juvenil.
• In the beginning, we set our goal as helping the
  women complete a strategic plan for a project
  they would like to implement.
• However, as we spent more time with the
  association, we realized they needed much more
  group strengthening and capacity building work to
  solidify the Association, in addition to more
  intensive information gathering on market
  conditions before they moved into selecting a
  project.
• Our goals transformed to building the
  organizational capacities of the Association and
  strengthening group cohesion. We continued to
  help the women work towards a project idea, but
  rendered this as a secondary priority

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How we worked

• A typical weekly regime included the CUPID team
  meeting once for 1-2 hours to assess general
  progress on the project and identify goals for
  the week.
• We would also meet for 1-2 hours prior to each
  scheduled Association meeting to prepare.
• We then met for an hour with the Executive
  Committee to conduct a short training, debrief on
  the Association's progress, and coordinate
  facilitation of the larger Association meeting.
• The Association meeting followed directly after
  the Executive Committee meeting and generally
  lasted for two hours.
• Final report including minutes and materials used
  is available to next interns.

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Results

• The group has a greater sense of cohesion.
• Self-esteem of the members has increased.
• Communication within the group has improved.
• The Association, especially the Executive
  Committee, has increased awareness of how to
  improve management of the group.
• Meetings became better organized
• The group has a sense of purpose and project/s to
  develop (hortaliza and chickens).
• The group has increased experience with planning
  and organization.

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Since then

• They have developed some basic computer skills
  and want to open a computer center.
• The association has chosen a project ideaa
  chicken farmand are attending a week long
  training in San Jose at the National University
  on the topic.

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Possible project areas for the association

• Strategic planning
• Project management
• Team building
• Managing funds
• Fundraising
• Evaluation
• Literacy
• Gender and womens empowerment
• Self-esteem building
• Environmental awareness

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Working with the community

• Teaching English language classes for elementary
  school kids and teenagers.
• Computer training and teens
• Organizing community events for schools kids and
  teenagers
• Finding ways for young women to participate in
  the Association

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