Since Eva Sabariego was a child, she was always very clear that women can fulfill any role they set out to play in society, a fact that she thanks to the education she received from her parents.
By La Patilla – Rosimar Sánchez
Mar 8, 2023
Interested in women’s activism and leadership, Sabariego studied Political Science at the University of Carabobo (UC) and was the leader of a student movement, a position generally held by men, in such a way that she was breaking patterns.
Everything was going well until she wanted to run for the Presidency of the “Federación de Centros de Estudiantes” (Federation of Student Unions of the Universidad de Carabobo (UC) and came face to face with discrimination: her colleagues told her not to participate, because as a woman she would not be prepared to face situations of risk and conflict associated with the position.
After receiving those comments, she became disappointed in student politics. However, Ms. Sabariego did not ignore her vocation and shortly after, in 2017, she created “Empodérame” (Empower me), a non-profit organization that provides tools and training to women, from girls to adults, so that they discover their potential and can become agents of change in the social, political, economic, cultural and scientific fields.
The flagship project was “Empowering female students” aimed at training women between 18 and 25 years of age on issues related to democracy, political leadership and citizen participation.
“When we launched the proposal in Carabobo, there were only 20 spots and we had more than 100 applications for the program. There was a lot of receptivity from young women, and there it began to position itself as the first exclusive training program for young women,” added Sabariego, founder and Executive Director of “Empodérame”.
Another of the organization’s programs is “Desca Venezuela”, which has as main objective the documentation of economic, social, cultural and environmental rights. Sabariego explained that the idea is to strengthen the leadership of women interested in this issues, document violations of the “Desca” and raise their voices.
A self esteem massage
Currently, the program with the greatest reach is “Your love empowers you” where the protagonist is self-love as a tool to prevent gender-based violence. “We believe that if an adolescent knows herself, her value, her abilities and also knows about the world that awaits her, she will not only be able to love herself for what she is, but also be prepared to mitigate any risk situation she may face or be exposed to at some point,” said Sabariego.
The experts inform the participants which are the institutions in charge of dealing with risk situations and also give them tools so that they can effectively develop their life project.
“Through this program we seek to empower adolescents in their life project, so that they know that they have all the tools, skills and abilities to achieve what they propose to do, in addition to connecting them with a network of adolescents in the country so that they can discover in other women their allies,” she highlighted.
She reported that Empodérame’s training programs last two to three months and are carried out in two modalities: online and face-to-face in prioritized communities. In both cases, the training is free, as they have a scholarship system that covers 100% of the costs.
To participate in the online modules, public calls are made in which those interested must fill out an application form, and if their profile fits the training program, they are likely selected.
Precariousness vs. Desires for improvement
Empodérame was born in Carabobo State, but has been expanding to Mérida, Zulia, Anzoátegui, Táchira, Lara, Caracas, Miranda, Bolívar and Aragua. In Nueva Esparta and Falcón they have a lower penetration. Sabariego specified that from 2017 to August 2022 they had managed to impact more than 3,000 girls, adolescents, and adults.
The founder and executive director of Empodérame said that when they do work in communities, schools, churches and community centers, what is plain to see is the deterioration and precariousness in which families live. However, she commented that by going further, the desire to improve and overcome adversity can be felt in the participants.
“One of the biggest challenges we encounter when we go to the communities is the issue of the conditions in which people find themselves.You can feel this in the cities, but when we go to a community that has been without water service for years or that has many deficiencies with electrical service, schools and high schools that are in completely precarious conditions, one feels very moved by the environment in which those girls, boys, and adolescents have to grow up and in which their mothers, fathers, and caregivers have to undertake the process of raising their families,” she said.
At 27 years of age, Sabariego mentioned that one of her greatest gratifications is being able to transform the lives of girls, young people, and women who live in remote communities through quality education.
“There is an emblematic case of a teenager who lives in Carabobo, she has one condition: she is deaf. Apart from that, she is in a wheelchair, and the educational system and installations are not designed for young people like her. And one of our training programs, “Your love empowers you” has sign language translation. In other words, at the same time that a young hearing person sees it, a deaf person can also see it and receive the same content with the same quality that the other participant is receiving.”
The director, with emotion, continued her story: “When we followed up on the case of this teenager, her mother, at the end of the program, could not believe that, for the first time in her entire life, her two daughters had had the opportunity to train under equal conditions (…) When we see that these programs are reaching people like her, we realize that we are responding to needs that the State and society are not responding to,” she said.
She stated that the goal is for Empodérame’s work to continue to consolidate and translate into more women occupying leadership positions in politics, business, and their communities.
Activism from love
She indicated that the next step they would like to take as an organization is to go beyond the country’s borders. “That we can reach as many Venezuelan sisters who are abroad, who under the current context cannot be here, but many of whom have their rights violated in other countries or do not have the same opportunities due to their migrant status,” she pointed out.
Sabariego is convinced that love is a transforming force, and that has been a value that characterizes Empodérame. She considered that the achievements they have had in the five years since its founding are the result of the love with which the human team carries out its work.
“The people who are part of the organization really believe in this and believe that love is the reason that moves it. Love that we feel for ourselves, for the nation, for the people around us and for what we do. There are many ways to do activism, but we at Empodérame choose to do it out of love,” she expressed.
To learn more about Empodérame, you can visit the website www.empoderame.com or on the Instagram account @empoderameve.
…
Read More: La Patilla – Eva Sabariego, director of Empodérame: We are attending to the needs of women that society is ignoring
…