Youth Empowerment Program

Fabretto’s Youth Empowerment program seeks to prepare Central American youth to thrive through courses that combine academic and technical skills, personal development, and community service. We do this through:

• Technology Integration: We share our field-tested approach to leveraging digital resources to strengthen learning, particularly in STEM fields, with organizations serving rural low- to no-connectivity communities. We train teachers and staff, equip schools, and develop and share digital content.
• Youth Training (CapTec Model): We train rural youth in agricultural skills through our CapTec Training Program while contributing to personal and community development. We train local facilitators, share curricula and materials, and provide technical assistance throughout course implementation.
• Youth Entrepreneurship: Fabretto trains youth in the principles of entrepreneurship and guides them from ideas through launching their own businesses in their communities. We also organize the Fabretto “Entrepreneurship Challenge” and fairs to support youth entrepreneurs.
• Teacher Training: We provide training to build the capacity of teachers in Central American communities, using proven methodologies that center learning by doing, relevance to the student’s context, service, and personal transformation.
• Fabretto Educa: Fabretto offers blended learning courses to Central American youth through our online training platform, Fabretto Educa, in topics such as entrepreneurship and job readiness.
• Rural Secondary Education: We work alongside local partners to advocate for and strengthen high quality, alternative secondary education models that expand access in rural communities of Central America, with a particular focus on the Sistema de Aprendizaje Tutorial (SAT) model.

Highlighted Projects

Strengthening the Sistema de Aprendizaje Tutorial Program

• Partners: BAYAN
• Country: Honduras
• Location: 10 Departments of Honduras
• Reach: 6,300 youth

Fabretto is collaborating with BAYAN to strengthen the innovative rural secondary education program, SAT, and a complementary gender equality program, called HEY!. This project has received financial support from donors that include the Inter-American Foundation, International Community Foundation, Journey Charitable Foundation, International Foundation, and Mortenson Family Foundation.

COMPONENT 1: STEM LEARNING, TECHNOLOGY INTEGRATION & ENTREPRENEURSHIP SKILLS – RESULTS TO DATE:

• 38 schools equipped with digital learning kits
• More than 150 teachers trained in digital learning using the offline-first platform, Kolibri
• 56 mobile laboratory kits distributed for science learning
• 96 youth trained in a b-learning entrepreneurship course
• 17 active youth-led businesses

COMPONENT 2: GENDER EQUALITY PROGRAM – RESULTS TO DATE:

• 78 teachers and volunteers trained in the HEY! Methodology
• Expansion of HEY! to three new departments of Honduras
• Exploration of scaling up the project across Honduras and Central America with other partners

COMPONENT 3: INSTITUTIONAL STRENGTHENING – RESULTS TO DATE:

• Custom database co-designed with BAYAN
• 50 team members trained in M&E
• 1 regional event, “Encuentro SAT 2024”, organized with participation from public, private and NGO sectors

CapTec: Agricultural Training for Rural Central American Youth

• Partners: ACOES, Educate2Envision (E2E)
• Country: Honduras
• Location: Departments of Francisco Morazán, La Paz, Comayagua, and El Paraiso
• Reach: 300 youth

CapTec is Fabretto’s learning-by-doing approach to technical training for rural youth. Through hands-on activities led by a trained facilitator and grounded in the rural environment, CapTec builds technical skills while also strengthening foundational literacy and mathematics skills, as well as social emotional development and orientation to service. Fabretto prioritizes promoting the participation of girls and young women in CapTec, in communities where typically girls do not enroll in agricultural education programs. Currently, Fabretto offers this program to youth who are enrolled in the Honduran radio education program through our partners ACOES and E2E. Donors include: Pulte Family Foundation, International Community Foundation, Mortenson Family Foundation, and Patricia Price Peterson Foundation.

RESULTS TO DATE:

• In 2023, 185 youth enrolled in farm management courses.
• In 2024, 270 youth enrolled in farm management, coffee production, and animal husbandry courses.
• 95% retention rate in 2023, a significant achievement in a context in which typically at least 30% of youth do not complete the alternative secondary education course each year.
• 11 active productive initiatives in rural Honduran communities, run by CapTec students.

Donate today to support this transformational youth development program.