Much has been raised that the right of people to participate actively in the solutions to problems that affect them, must also be addressed from childhood and youth. That's why we gathered the experience of Education 2020 and its Intercultural Laboratory of Citizen Incidence, which trains young people from the Antofagasta region in project formulation and communication.

They are between 13 and 19 years old and have worked on various projects, which aim to improve the territory where they live. We asked them what it is like to be a young leader and they answered us:

“For a while now we have been working hard on the formation of young leaders, helping them to come together, to generate a meeting space, where they can move forward in the development of their skills and leadership skills, but also where they can have the experience concrete to make a project to intervene, ”he says Alejandra Arratia, Executive Director of Education 2020.

And he emphasizes the importance of these initiatives to give them the opportunity to generate the changes they want: “We believe that young people have the potential to change society. They have an armed speech, very clear their priorities, where they want to go, their goals. It is very powerful to see this experience of young people forming to create the society they want to build, ”he concludes.

Learn about the projects that young people carried out in Antofagasta:

• Sensitizing Education: Talks and conversations about communication between students and teachers.
• Matched: Documentary about the gap between public education and private education.
• Link diversity: Intercultural festival in the Ruins of Huanchaca with conversations, competitions and dances.
• I choose who I want to be: Sex education and gender perspective.
• Secondary Student Congress: With themes on Human Rights, safe classroom, non-sexist education and mental health.
• Mental Castle: Improve the stigma that the mental health of the educator and the student have, through talks and an informative point.

A process that allowed young people to understand and act on local issues and that demonstrates that when communities open up so that everyone can contribute with solutions, age does not matter but the intention to change. A valuable intervention, especially in these days where the need for expression and social transformation are latent.