If
you’ve worked or are social with people who work at NGOs you’ve heard the
age-old adage “overworked and under-paid.” That’s precisely how an NGO should
be running because at the end of the day as much of the money flowing in, in
our case largely from individual donors’ pockets is earmarked to go directly
towards the organizations mission.
Many people in the field take on impossible loads of work and
responsibility that would be handsomely rewarded were the projects producing a monetary profit instead of social good. However, the opportunity to
know that one’s work is viewed both qualitatively and quantitatively as
improving societal outcomes or contributing to development is a very positive
externality, attracting people to the heavy workloads and sacrifices of small
non-profits.
OYE is no exception. Like any great NGO, OYE funnels your generous
donations as directly into its programs to empower at-risk Honduran youth as
possible. In 2013 OYE operated with only three full-time staff members and one
part-time accountant. In 2014 the team has changed just slightly, bring our
account Carlos Galeas on board full-time (congrats Carlos!). With such a trim
streamlined team how does OYE run a scholarship program, personal and
professional capacity building classes, an art program, a sports program, a
magazine program, a graphic design program, and a radio program?
The answer is very creatively.
As OYE approaches the midway point of January 2014 it is midway through
an iterative training process for new youth leaders. These leaders, or project
coordinators, are the key to OYE’s ability to achieve so much with such a
limited professional staff. So let’s take a look at how this works:
OYE has adopted a philosophy that permits our actions to be both a means to an end and an end in themselves. That is to say that OYE’s mission is to create socially conscious youth leaders that serve as agent of positive change in their communities, but to achieve that we must rely on OYE’s own socially conscious youth leaders, our youth coordinators. Patrick Ahern, a long time OYE volunteer, has affably dubbed these youth coordinators “Superbecados.”
Superbecados are the youth that demonstrate strong leadership qualities and a commitment to see OYE’s youth projects grow. We have been blessed with incredible Superbecados over the years like Yarli Yanez, Gerald Velasquez, and Fabiola Oro who have taken the Radio, Art, and Magazine projects to new astounding new heights.
In 2014 we are proud to introduce a new group of Superbecados. These are youth that have excelled as leaders and members of their respective projects. With no further ado OYE is proud to present OYE’s keys to success in 2014-its civic engagement project coordinators or Superbecados:
- Sports – Erick Estrada and Heili Aguilar
- Revista Jovenes (magazine) – Fabiola Oro
- Design (Adobe) – Oscar Osorio
- Radio Ritmo Online – Heydi Reyes
- Arte la Calle – Jefry Yoel, Yosseth Pacheco, and Claudia Pavon
Dunia, our Program Coordinator, has dedicated the month of January to developing the skills these youth will need to succeed as Superbecados. She has developed a comprehensive training program including modules of leadership, conflict resolution, assigning roles, developing profiles, OYE’s internal politics, and the development and administration of projects.
Stay tuned to see these Superbecados guide their projects into new uncharted waters expanding OYE’s impact and empowering other at-risk Honduran youth.
