Category: GOJoven in the News | GOJoven International

GOJoven Guatemala Alumni Fellow Joseline Velásquez Morales Recognized as one of BBC’s Top 100 Women in 2018

At GOJoven International we are thrilled to announce that the GOJoven Guatemala Alumni Association graduated fellow and colleague, Joseline Velásquez Morales, was recently recognized as one of BBC’s Top 100 Women in 2018 for her work with the Association! As BBC notes, the women on this list are inspiring, influential female leaders in their fields. From over 60 different countries around the world, these women represent different sectors of society and the arts and are truly everyday changemakers.

Joseline, a young SRHR activist, was nominated for her work in Guatemalan communities to help educate girls and young women about sex and eradicate forced marriages and teen pregnancies. While studying Journalism and Law at the University of San Carlos in Guatemala, she also serves as GOJoven Guatemala’s Advocacy Coordinator. Through this role, she leads the association’s involvement in sexual and reproductive rights advocacy initiatives both nationally and internationally. Previously, she has worked with the Ministry of Health and Education to implement Integral Education in Sexuality and also has helped to construct historical memory spaces from the perspective of women.

When asked how she feels about receiving this recognition, she says, “It gives energy to my existence. It is important that the work and contribution of young women and feminists be made visible. On the other hand, it is also important to highlight the problem of early and forced child marriages and unions. Especially in Guatemala, many girls and adolescents are forced to assume pregnancies and maternity wards that they did not want nor plan, and that are a result of acts of sexual violence. Now more than ever, we demand integral education in sexuality to address this growing problem.”

GOJoven is proud to support Joseline and other young women leaders like her in their upstanding efforts to advance the sexual and reproductive health and rights for the women and girls of Guatemala! Congratulations, Joseline!

We invite you to read more about this exciting recognition as covered in Guatemalan media:

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The GOJoven Guatemala Association was formed in 2014 by local youth leaders trained under PHI’s GOJoven International program between 2004 and 2012. It is currently run by these same program alumni as well as new generations of young leaders that our alumni are training themselves, through replicating the GOJoven Youth Leadership Development Model with even greater numbers of youth and adolescent leaders in their communities.

GOJoven Honduras and GOBelize receive CAMY Funds

By Dunia Orellana, GOJoven Honduras

December 11, 2014 – Mexico City, Mexico.

More than 50 regional organizations and leaders participated in the 2014 Central America Donors Forum held in Mexico City on December 2^nd and 3^rd, organized by the Seattle International Foundation in collaboration with the Ford Foundation, Hispanics in Philanthropy and USAID.

At the 2014 Donors Forum, GOBelize and GOJoven Honduras were among the five winning proposals selected by the Central America and Mexico Youth Fund (CAMY Fund).

The CAMY Fund supports youth leaders in the region between the ages of 18 and 35 to implement innovative projects with their organizations, designed to demonstrate a tangible impact on issues of gender equality for girls and sexual and reproductive rights for adolescents and youth. The Fund aims to invest more than one million dollars in the region over the next five years.

Gabriela Flores of GOJoven Honduras presented the advocacy project “My Body, My Rights”, pushing for the decriminalization of emergency contraception (EC), as did Elmer Cornejo on behalf of BOBelize with the advocacy project “Responsibility and Prevention through Education”.

The Organization for Youth Empowerment (OYE) based in El Progreso, Honduras, won with the project “Creating Friendly Spaces”, coordinated by Dunia Carolina Perdomo, to promote sexual and reproductive health education (Crea). The other projects selected were from Fundación Alas in Guatemala, represented by Fidelia Chub Choc, and Red Posithiva in Mexico, represented by Antonio Arce.

GOJoven was present starting with the first meeting, in which presenters and participants analyzed the challenges posed by the Alliance for Prosperity in the Northern Triangle Plan (Plan de la Alianza para la Prosperidad del Triángulo Norte), which includes Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador and aims to scale-up economic opportunities in Central America and propose measures to address the migratory crisis. Violence, unequal opportunities and access to health in Honduras were some of the issues addressed in the Forum, which was attended by many national and international organizations that operate in Honduras, including Trocaire, Asociación para una Sociedad más Justa, Creative Associates International, Fondo Centroamericano de Mujeres and the Summit Foundation.

Original article published in Spanish on the GOJoven Honduras blog: http://gojovenhonduras.blogspot.com/2014/12/gojoven-honduras-y-go-belize-reciben.html