La Charla

To address these complex problems, we created a sexual and reproductive health curriculum in 2015 through a partnership with Glasswing International. La Charla's founder, Simone Ippoliti, worked with a community health nurse to teach adolescents about sexual and reproductive health, gender equality, and empowerment. As Simone neared the end of the three month pilot program, she trained the oldest students to lead the group discussions so that “la charla” (a term used locally to describe informal educational talks) could continue.

La Charla aims to decrease teen pregnancy and increase empowerment through increasing access to higher education.

La Charla trains students in their final 2 years of high school to become "La Charla leaders", a title that involves leading the group discussions on a weekly basis with teens in Troilo, Nicaragua. During their junior year, they work as apprentices to learn the leadership skills necessary to facilitate these charlas. During their senior year, La Charla leaders commit to researching the weekly themes, establishing lesson plans and working as a group for one year to facilitate the charlas under the guidance of the community health nurse. In exchange for this commitment, La Charla students are awarded a 5 year university scholarship covering 100% of their school-related expenses. La Charla alumni are expected to provide continual support to their peers on an as-needed basis and all La Charla leaders provide community service in Troilo as community heath workers or through working in the community garden. La Charla leaders are expected to maintain a passing grade in university.

La Charla contracts with the community health nurse to ensure that the students have a liason to the US-based team and have access to all available resources to effectively lead the "charlas". La Charla's president travels to Nicaragua on a yearly basis to meet with each student and their parents to discuss the terms of the scholarship and assess each student's progress. La Charla students also have monthly check-ins with the community health nurse to receive their monthly scholarship installments and provide an update on their progress in school.

Prior to La Charla's establishment, no student at the local high school in Troilo had ever attended university. Since it's inception, 20 students are on track to graduate from university. Additionally, La Charla has witnessed a decline in the rate of teen pregnancy in Troilo since 2015, We are hoping to expand La Charla's operations to additional communities in the surrounding area.