“Cuando la juventud calla, el futuro muere” An interview with Hori Orlando Salanic about the newly inaugurated Centro de Formación para el Cambio
By Chris Alford
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t can be difficult to draw parallels between such diverse protest movements as those that have arisen across the world from Tunisia, Egypt and Syria to Greece and Spain to the United States. However, there are two threads which appear to patch them together. The first is that of youth. Whilst the movements expanded to include a comprehensive cross-section of society, they received a great impetus from a predominantly youthful sector of the population, who continue to play a pivotal role. The second is that of voice. Whether it is the voice to choose who you want to represent you and your country; the voice to have a say over the imposition of brutal economic policies upon your society; or the voice to reject a political system where any vote cast always results in a government that only represents a few narrow, but powerful, interests.
It is these two threads that the recently founded Centro de Formación para el Cambio (CEFOC) aims to weave together. The centre, located in the municipality of Cantel, is an initiative born out of the collaboration of two local NGOs: Kaj Ulew and Red K’at Nabl. It aims to train young people to become active citizens so that they can become agents of change within the different spaces of development in their communities and their country, with the hope of generating a process of developing the leaders of tomorrow. The twin themes of youth and voice are as important in Guatemala as they have proven to be in so many other countries of late. Orlando , one of CEFOC’s founders explains that the dark history of dictatorship and
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oppression in Guatemala has engendered a culture of silence amongst many of the last two generations, and whilst this has begun to change in recent years, it is proving to be a slow and fragile process. Furthermore, frequently official circles of politics and development close their doors to young people and do not give them opportunities to demonstrate their ideas, their proposals and their creativity. With such an incredibly young population (see Figure 1), this immediately presents itself as a huge wasted opportunity for Guatemala’s development.
Young people can discover the skills they need to effectively act.
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CEFOC aims to address these issues by providing a space where young people can congregate, analyse their situation, organise, and develop proposals for the issues they feel most passionately about. To these ends the centre will provide a series of courses on a wide spectrum of issues such as human rights, the environment, politics and culture. Additionally, training will be provided in areas such as advocacy, FIGURE 1 lobbying, negotiation, artistic expression and information technology so that young people can discover and strengthen the skills they need to effectively act and instigate change on issues that matter most to them.
that Guatemala cannot afford to waste: whilst it may be a young country today, tomorrow it will be a country full of new leaders, governors and development workers. If initiatives can successfully take advantage of this rare opportunity then they have the chance to facilitate a process of profound change within their communities, their society and their country.
The founders of this pilot project hope that it can become a model which inspires other municipalities to act upon the enormous prospects with which such a young population provides them. As Orlando explains, this is a window of opportunity
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