
What are you leading?
At this moment, my role is Head of Master FPlaB. This is an extracurricular program for students of Basic Vocational Training of the Community of Madrid, a course for students who are expelled from standard secondary education, normally due to their socioeconomic and family vulnerability. The project is carried out by 4 alumni of "Empieza por Educar" and two participants of the 2016-2018 cohort. Every Monday afternoon we meet with the 16 participants in ImpactHub, a co-working space in the center of Madrid focused on social projects. The participants develop projects in groups of 4, focused on having a positive social impact on their environments, becoming agents of change in their communities. To achieve their objectives, each team has a mentor who guides them in their project every Monday. Each participant has a mentor who helps them make decisions for their personal and professional development. In addition, the participants have three learning trips, where they visit different cities in order to achieve different goals: know each other and themselves, meet other social projects and the people who is leading them, and reflect about their personal development through this year.
How did your experiences as a fellow inspire or prepare you for what you’re doing now?
The two-year training program has allowed me to know the socio-cultural reality of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. Although I knew about the existence of inequality in Spanish society, knowing those who suffer from it and how it deprives them of access to the same opportunities and under the same conditions as other young people of the same age, it has made me aware of the injustice that they live and make the decision to dedicate my time and effort to reduce the educational gap. Also, during my first year I was involved on the coordination and hosting of InspirExE 2016, a high-profile educational conference. Thanks to that opportunity I coordinated workshops and more than 300 participants and it made me realise how much I like to be project manager.