Community Education and Literacy Program

All programs incorporate local responsibility and ownership as well as continuous learning.  In preparation for assuming greater responsibilities, young women participate in intensive annual training schools with follow-up weekly meetings. These schools provide women with an opportunity to explore their indigenous culture and heritage, to discover and practice new interpersonal and technical skills, and to live and learn cooperatively.  A 2005 door-to-door village census done by Atzin and 75 local youth showed that 40% of children aged 6-15 years were not in school, largely because of poverty, not having all the requirements to enter primary school, or early grade failure and dropout.  Opening in November 2006, 100 out-of-school children aged five to twelve years now attend an open-air school called Tihueliske for basic literacy and personal development, taught by twenty three young village women who, as educators, use a small group, individualized approach to learning. The educators undergo weekly training to improve their teaching capacities.