Project: Protecting Our Planet’ – Environmental Health & Art Education for Children
Partners: Fundacion de Apoyo al Arte Creador Infantil (FUNARTE) www.funarte.org.ni
CFCA works in collaboration with FUNARTE in Esteli, Nicaragua, to organize human rights and mural art education workshops for street children, young adults with disabilities, young offenders, and the poorest neighborhoods in the city. As a result of FUNARTE’s amazing programming, Esteli is known as the “City of Murals” – with over 200 community murals promoting health, education, gender equality, and human rights.
Project Description: This project will engage children and youth, along with their families and community neighborhoods, in weekly social education workshops on environmental responsibility, waste disposal and sanitation practices, and reforestation. Workshops will encourage children to build self-esteem and express themselves through the medium of art activities, including drawing and painting, and to problem solve and work collaboratively in painting community murals on theme of environmental protection. Workshops will be held in 6 of the poorest, most isolated and marginalized neighborhoods of Esteli, Nicaragua.
Regional Challenges: Rapid economic development in Esteli, the second largest city in Nicaragua, in sectors of industry and cash-crop agriculture, is having severe consequences on the health and environment of people living in the region. Without an effective waste disposal system in place, people dump their garbage in nearby ditches, which becomes a breeding ground for water contamination, malaria, dengue fever, and rat infestations – particularly during the rainy season. Combined with extreme poverty and malnourishment, these environmental factors make many of the poorest neighborhoods in Esteli, particularly children, susceptible to serious illnesses.
Impact: Working in 6 of the most isolated neighborhoods of Esteli, the project will directly involve over 100 children and youth, 25 parents, 15 community leaders, and 10 teachers and community educators. The project will provide funding for neighborhoods to build effective garbage dumps, to educate one another on environmental responsibility, and to empower children and youth to participate in environmental stewardship. Rates of disease and sickness will be reduced by encouraging neighborhoods to address and take part in solving environmental health issues.
Our Partners: La Fundacion de Apoyo al Arte Creador Infantil (FUNARTE) has been promoting human rights, youth and community engagement, and gender equality through their amazing work for over twenty years. FUNARTE strives to educate youth and their communities on human rights, and to empower them through the process of painting collaborative community murals. FUNARTE’s programming has been implemented in communities throughout Nicaragua, and as well in many other Latin American countries.