Photo: The 46 young people of the CFF listen to the lecture by Jefferson Pérez

Second CFF promotion graduates

with a special frame

Quito, October 5, 2016

Drafting Fidal

From Friday, September 30 to Sunday, October 2, the last module of the second class of scholarship holders of the Leadership School of the Training Center for the Future (CFF) took place.

On Friday, 46 young people from the CFF, from 15 Ecuadorian provinces, attended together with more than 80 participants from different organizations, the Women, Business and Democracy forum, which was structured with two panels, the first of businesswomen and the second of policies, in the First of them, Claudia Arteaga, Executive Director of FIDAL, acted as moderator, they discussed and shared their personal and professional experiences, prominent businesswomen such as Isabel Peñaherrera from Microsoft, Monica Villagómez from APD, Catalina Albán from IBM and Estefania Dotti from Tesalia CBC. Mónica Villagómez indicated that tears should not be used as a negotiation tool, which started a great applause from the attendees and Estefanía Dotti pointed out that women should always prepare academically to compete in a market led mainly by men. “We must make an effort to study, work and be mothers. It's not easy, but if I did it, we all can ”he declared.

Then Rosalía Arteaga, former President of Ecuador, led a panel that was made up of Nina Pacari, former Foreign Minister of Ecuador, Constitutional Judge currently leading an NGO on biodiversity and ancestral knowledge, Cecilia Chacón Vice Prefect of Tungurahua and María Cecilia Alvarado Vice Prefect of Azuay. On this occasion, they talked about the challenges of women in today's society, their role in politics and the dissemination of culture. Pacari highlighted the fight for the rights of the indigenous peoples of Ecuador. "We have made a lot of progress with great effort, but we still have to, we must not rest in our struggle.

On Friday afternoon, the 46 young people from the CFF paid a visit to Kruger + Labs where they got to know the modern facilities and were in contact with the entrepreneurial projects that are carried out there. The fellows then attended a talk with CEO Ernesto Kruger, who shared his interesting life story. This visit ended with a conference by the United States Ambassador to Ecuador, Todd Chapman, who spoke about the American electoral system, the importance of debates, its history, and also about the digital generation and access to information. At night, already in Armenia, the boys had the opportunity to talk with Harvey Sánchez, Executive Director of the National Evaluation Institute, who referred to the importance of good handling of statistics in education, which means having confirmed data from the current situation to project into the future.

During Saturday the activities continued, beginning with a conference by the renowned cartoonist Xavier Bonilla on his career, he told interesting experiences he has had as a professional in the media. Then Joaquín Leguía, Peruvian, director of the Association for Children and their Environment, ANIA, gave his conference Living with Purpose in which he explained how relevant it is to promote ecological awareness among children and young people and thus improve the quality of life of its environment.

Saturday was also the day on which the projects that the 46 young people of the CFF have been planning as a team in recent months were presented to the qualifying jury, led by Rosalía Arteaga. These were:

"Optimization of Technification and Marketing Processes of the Association of Dairy Producers of the Parish El Playón De San Francisco".

"Guardians of Memory".

"Youth community leadership with the use of technological tools."

"Implementation of Good Manufacturing Practices in restaurants in Puerto El Morro".

"Nutrition education program for the management of boys and girls, under 5 years of age, in the Sanabanan community."

"Sowing Hope".

And, on October 2, Sunday, the graduation ceremony of the second class of scholarship holders of the Leadership School of the Training Center for the Future (CFF), a project promoted by the Fidal Foundation, was held. The young leaders, from 15 provinces of Ecuador, received recognition for their studies and continuous work, from April to October, throughout this time they received information, conferences and classes on ethics, values, social entrepreneurship, democracy, economics, National and international news and communication tools, having as a transversal axis respect for human values, diversity, inclusion and tolerance.

Rosalía Arteaga, addressed the attendees packed into the Paraninfo of the Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar, and in her speech stated “There are those who will tell us that we are optimistic when we aspire to the transformation of Ecuador with the formation of ethical leaders, but it is in which we are committed ”.

Jefferson Pérez, Olympic medalist from Ecuador, was the invited speaker for graduation, his talk combined experiences from his life and an analysis of the situation in the country. He spoke about sacrifice, perseverance, his dreams fulfilled and his future ideals; He delivered a message of commitment, dedication, love and responsibility to the country to the youth and to all those present.

Andrea Mazzini (violinist) and Estafanía Criollo (soprano), scholarship recipients of the 2016 program, demonstrated their great talent with their interpretations. The best graduates were awarded and two of them are the winners of the Taiwan democracy essay contest and received tablets as a stimulus to their work.

FIDAL and the CFF will summon young Ecuadorians between 18 and 35 years of age to apply and become scholarship recipients of the leadership school in 2017. The Foundation trusts and believes in youth and their abilities to achieve a better future. And she is sure that with the support of the Technical University of the North - UTN- Hanns Seidel Foundation, Taiwan Foundation for Democracy, private companies, political sectors, autonomous governments, she will continue with her project graduating Ecuadorians determined to work for the country.