Securing a better future for young people in rural Bolivia

Luc Mattheij has been a Development Worker with International Service since 2006. He has been working at the Municipality of Arampampa, in the region of Potosi - one of Bolivia's poorest areas.

Within 6 months of starting his placement, he was put in charge of setting up a community training centre with the Asanquiri community. 

In this article, Luc tells us about the progress they have made in securing a better future for young people and their families.  

Luc's story:

"From the beginning, the CECTFIA Training Centre was designed to offer technical education to children in Arampampa – a region where 80% of children and young people are unable to complete elementary school. Of the 36 communities in the Municipality, only 26 have a school. Due to the mountainous landscape and lack of roads, children face long walks to get to schools in other communities. This often results in them abandoning school and working the land as agricultural farmers.


A view of Arampampa
© Luc Mattheij

Some families make a huge effort to keep their children in school, sometimes sending them to high school in the town of Capinota or even the city of Cochabamba. However, the young people usually end up working under exploitative conditions just to survive, and pay for their stay in the city. Many find studying and working too hard, and most simply abandon their studies.

One of our main aims at CECTFIA is to offer training to young people in their community by strengthening local culture and farming knowledge. This is to improve agricultural production and opportunities so that the young people will want to stay in their communities rather than migrate to cities where there are few work options. The training also strengthens values such as leadership, local administration, and responsible development that respects the environment.

Another challenge we’re trying to address is malnutrition. There are two levels of malnutrition: an insufficient amount of food, and a lack of nutritious food. People’s diets are based on traditional crops such as potato, wheat, and corn. These foods don’t have enough of the proteins, calories, vitamins, minerals or fats that the body needs. In Arampampa, around 45% of children under the age of 4 are affected by malnutrition.  

Inside the CECTFIA greenhouse
© Luc Mattheij

We started with nothing - not even electricity

At the end of 2007, our first group of 10 students graduated from the training programme - the first technical students in the whole of the region. At the end of 2008, our first female student was amongst the group that graduated. This has been the main achievement in my professional life so far. The challenge was huge – we started with nothing, not even electricity.

Since 2008, the training Centre’s activities have increased significantly; we now educate 20 to 25 students every year. We work directly with 21 community schools to improve children’s nutrition. We constructed greenhouses, crop fields, small animal farms, and planted fruit trees at the schools. About 800 children have benefited so far. 

Students at the CECTFIA Centre
© Luc Mattheij

In addition, we are working with local associations in order to increase families’ incomes. Currently the produce of Arampampa is mainly for self sufficiency, but we are exploring the production of crops for sale in the area. We are also working with a local women’s group to address discrimination towards women.

Valuing local knowledge and culture is central to the CECTFIA Centre. The indigenous people have a great culture and still practice their local beliefs. It is so great to see how people live in harmony with nature, being part of Mother Earth. To respect Mother Earth is to respect life.

The interests of the community are more important than the interests of the individual

I also find it very interesting to see that the interests of the community or family are more important than the interests of the individual. This made me re-think the Western lifestyle where individual rights are the most important. I hope that the young people and children will re-evaluate their culture, and will prefer to live among nature than migrate to the cities with all of their problems and fears.


Students weigh their produce
© Luc Mattheij

CECTFIA and I are now really part of Arampampa. It has become my second home. People always say me in their local Quechua language: “Imainayan qashkanki” - which means “How are you? Are you fine?”

One of my main objectives now, is to transfer my knowledge and know-how about running the CECTFIA Training Centre to the local people so that the Centre will continue functioning when my placement has finished.

I sincerely hope that in 5 or 10 years’ time, Arampampa’s youngsters are professionals, working in the Municipality and with their communities, committing themselves to improving poverty and the conditions for children."

Read about Daría Ramos Cordova -
the CECTFIA Centre's first female graduate

See our photo gallery of Luc's project on Flickr