A new video by Ipas Central America highlights the work of a youth-led collective in Nicaragua to prevent and combat sexual abuse through training workshops with teachers, students, parents and the media.
Ipas began supporting the ambitious group “Youth who believe in other youth” (Jóvenes que creemos en otros jóvenes—or “JxJ Collective” for short) in 2013 as it expanded its work from activism in the streets to prevention and education in the classroom. With Ipas’s partnership and funding, JxJ Collective amplified its ability to help reduce the high rates of sexual violence and abuse in the Chinandega region of Nicaragua.
The film includes interviews with participants in the training process such as public school teacher Lissette Balladares Mayorga, who says she was able to put her training to use right away. “I found a girl that had been a victim of sexual abuse … we went ahead and called the Ministry of Education so that they knew, and the girl received therapy.”
“It has been an experience in which both sides have benefited,” explains JxJ Collective’s Juan Ramón González in the film, referring to the group’s partnership with Ipas Central America. “For us on the local work we do to prevent abuse, and for them on the promotion of sexual and reproductive rights.”
The partnership was sparked when Ipas Central America awarded JxJ Collective the 2013 National Conchita Palacios Award in recognition of its work as a champion for women’s human rights—especially the right to live free of sexual and domestic violence.
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