Centro Mujeres

The state of Baja California Sur (BCS) has the third highest rate of teenage pregnancy in Mexico, and yet almost no policies or public programs exist to help adolescents make a healthy transition to adulthood, free from unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections. Centro Mujeres was founded in 1991 to address this issue, through counseling, health education, clinical services, research, and advocacy, with a focus on women and youth. Centro Mujeres’s youth leadership program, which EMpower has supported since 2005, has worked directly with 8,500 young people across all counties of BCS, supporting them to become peer educators, build partnerships with local governance structures and public institutions, and influence public debate on health, rights, and citizenship.

EMpower’s fifth grant to Centro Mujeres supports the establishment of a statewide, youth-led Alliance for Youth Rights, in partnership with local universities.