Nuevo Amanecer was founded in 1997 by young families from various regions including Potosí, Cochabamba, and Santa Cruz who moved into the jungle searching for land to cultivate. Currently the population is 43 families and is located in San Andres.
Though the community is relatively young, it is recognized for its organization and recently forced the Municipality of San Andres to change its teachers for not fulfilling their duties.
Nuevo Amanecer has secondary school, but only 2% of their students continue on to superior level studies according to the most recent census. One of the reasons for this low percentage is the lack of technical of the students. Because there is no electricity in the community, the secondary school cannot offer any computer skills training to its students- an indispensable skill for students hoping to study in university or technical institutes.
Therefore, after several meetings with the community and local and regional authorities, Nuevo Amanecer has asked that Alma help establish a computer skills program within their secondary school. The Municipality of San Andres has agreed to provide a solar panel to charge the computers, the community is building a classroom, and Alma is hiring a teacher and providing 7 laptop computers for the 27 secondary school students that will be included in the course.
Working off of the success of 2016, this year (2017) our classes are structured to develop computer skills and reinforce reading comprehension and mathematical reasoning. Students must develop social-productive project. The project promotes critical thinking, creativity, and social/personal/environmental values, to illuminate concepts behind program content. Students also participate in a monthly discussion on human rights, women’s rights, and sexual reproductive health Classes are held Monday to Friday in the afternoons. There are 26 secondary school students enrolled. Their ages range from 12-18 years old.
Alma inputs:
- Teacher (1)
- Technical and academic materials
- Project coordination and training
- Budget: U$10,000
Nuevo Amanecer community inputs:
- Provision of classroom
- Desks, chairs and bookcases
- 9 laptop computers
- Internet antenna
- Accommodation for our teacher
- Student lunches
- Meeting attendance
- Home strategy implementation
- Project coordination
Indicators of Success:
1. Student attendance
2. Academics – computer skills, mathematical reasoning, communications, sexual education
3. Creativity – divergent thinking, originality
4. Critical thinking – analysis, evaluation, justification of opinions
5. Values and resilience
6. Women’s rights
7. Hours invested per child
8. Parental engagement – attendance, contreparte, home strategy, capacity
9. Ancillary benefits
10. Implementation of teaching methods – Alma teachers, State teachers