Community Education on Sexual and Environmental Health (ECOSS)
CASA's signature service is adolescent peer-to-peer teen counseling. CASA teen counselors work on a daily basis in some 20+ unique, rural villages that have been chosen because of their difficult accessibility and conditions that are below poverty level. The young “promotores” have been carefully trained to interact with village youth in discussions about reproductive health, general health, human rights and local environmental issues that impact the health of their communities.
The underlying philosophy for the CASA adolescent health education and outreach program is that through individual empowerment and education, young people, especially young women, will take pride in their human and their reproductive rights. Through that education, decisions will be made to avoid unwanted and unplanned pregnancies. With this knowledge and newly gained self-esteem, the peer-to-peer counselor will be able to work in the community, providing sexual and health education to other adolescents, in an overall effort to build a sense of community responsibility.
I was ignorant of so many things when I began working at CASA. But in short time, I learned all I know about civil rights and sexual health. It was engaging work, and apart from all of the knowledge I gained, I learned the importance of womanhood - the valor that a woman has - and the first time I went to the countryside it was something altogether different for me, because not only could I share with them the experience I had received at CASA, but I had opened up enough to learn from them as well.
Hayde Alejandra Guerrero Morales
2006 CASA Básicos Promoter
The time I have spent at CASA has helped me make decisions in my personal life as well as in the work; the information has helped me grow a lot as a person. I like working at CASA because I like to interact with the community as well as my team members, and their experiences help me in my own life.
Ana Delia Luna
ECOSS Program Coordinator
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2008 Achievements:
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11,204 homes visits (where CASA’s services were promoted)
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1,463 repeat users of family planning methods
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1,046 new users of family planning methods
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193 classes taught to 10,980 parents
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176 soy cooking sessions
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144 classes taught to 907 children and adolescents
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54 recycling sites set up (paper, plastic and glass)
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22 family gardens planted (squash, cactus, cilantro and onion)
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21 reforestation sites
Básicos Promoters Help Design and Plant Sustainable, Edible Gardens |
