Fight Poverty: Educate Women in Panama

In Calicanto Foundation year 2017 has come strong including a lot of changes. We are in a new office that we had to adapt to fit the needs of the program and the administrative team; also we had the challenge to work with 9 CAPTA groups, 4 in Colon city and 5 in Panama City.

We are also beginning a new project to ensure the sustainability of the foundation and give the women an opportunity to practice in a different working area than Housekeeper.

Since January we have worked with:

24 women in CAPTA 1 Panama

22 women in CAPTA 2 Panama

23 women in CAPTA 3 Panama

26 women in CAPTA 1 Colon

22 women in CAPTA 2 Colon 

Summarizing 117 women trained from January to July 2017.

We work with groups of 20 to 30 women per CAPTA, so our goal is that all the women that enter the course finish the vocational and the fundamental cycle, with a dropout rate of 9% (Colon City) and 2% (Panama city) we know we are achieving our goal. Also we organize an employment fair and we invite different organizations to participate and interview the girls for a job opportunity. 

We want the CAPTA women become economically independent individuals and agents of positive change in their community.  

The statistics speak for themselves: 74% of CAPTA graduates are working, most of them in the restaurant industry.

We work every day to ensure that all our graduates have job opportunities or even become entrepreneurs with a business of their own.

CAPTA is a program that helps women to dream and make that dream a reality. It teaches them to believe in themselves and to respect themselves, to be a role model for their children, family and community.

Testimony of Erika- CAPTA 2 Panama

“Good afternoon companions, donors and Calicanto team. It is my pride to talk to each of you on behalf of all my companions. I would like to tell you how I feel about CAPTA program. It’s not only a training to get a job, it’s a program that transforms lives, it did it with mine, today I am a different person thanks to the decision to take this course.

I would like to thank all those people who have made this possible, I made the decision because, as you can see, I’m an one of the oldest women in the group that’s why it was difficult for me to get a job, but I needed a job. My daughter helped with the family expenses, but she moved and suddenly it was more difficult for me to meet the expenses all by my own. I learned about this program through a niece, a friend of hers saw the ad on social media and I took the opportunity.

It has been the most enriching experience and the most successful decision I have ever made.

Before the course I was an insecure person, I hardly laughed. I am now a completely different person than I was before. Here I learned of fellowship, commitment, solidarity. I learned to value myself, I learned that if I wanted to be respected I must also respect myself. One of the classes that I can mention is Self-esteem; I went from being an insecure woman to standing today in front of you talking about my personal life without pain or fear. From Assertive Communication I learned how to say things without hurting people.

For me, the most difficult part of the program was leaving things aside so I could arrive early and be punctual. It was difficult because in the process there were changes, I told my family that this was a complete change that was happening in my life.

To the future women who will enter CAPTA, I want to tell you that it’s not only a training, it’s something deeper, more special. I feel that things have improved for me.

I am already fulfilling my goals, one of them was to be able to graduate from this program and today I can say with certainty that I’m an empowered woman, empowered was a word that I didn’t even know the meaning before being here.

To all women who need a person by their side to feel safe and protected: I want to tell you that everything that you seek in another person, you can find in yourself. Get up every morning, smile at life even in the midst of problems.

Thanks again to all the people who make this program possible and congratulations girls.”

Since 2005 we have worked with more than 1000 women, and counting. We strongly believe in second opportunities, in empowering women and teaching them to be a positive role model in their families and communities.

If we change a woman, we change a family. If we change a family, we change a community.