Providing University Scholarships for talented marginalized youth in Ecuador - Batch 2 SUMMARY 
The project aims to contribute to the successful integration of 16 vulnerable youth, with a focus on young women, into the labour market in Ecuador by giving them the opportunity to access university education and become professionals in the area of Santa Elena or nearby provinces. In particular for youth from ethnic minorities including young women it is very difficult to access and complete tertiary education due to their social, cultural and economic backgrounds. Selected youth will be provided with a scholarships and act as role models for their communities. They will be coached and mentored while studying and will received additional life skills training on topics such as presentation and leadership, financial literacy, gender roles, sexual reproductive health and rights, career guidance. The project is implemented by Plan International Ecuador in collaboration with various respected universities in Ecuador. It started in September 2017 and will run for 5 years. Poverty levels in Ecuador remain high with a percentage of 37,1% and extreme poverty of 14.11%; and raises at alarming levels in remote provinces like Santa Elena, where 61.9% of the population live in poverty  (INEC- Censo 2010), and 29.9% in extreme poverty.
In this province, out of 100 children attending primary school, 50.4% are boys and 49.6% are girls. However, when looking at numbers for secondary education, this gender gap deepens bringing it up to 54% of teenage boys and 46% of teenage girls having enrolled. At university level, despite the fact that there are no official numbers, this tendency worsens due to youth pregnancy and limited family income. 
Additionally, the low quality of secondary education in Santa Elena doesn’t allow students to succeed at the national university entry exam. Therefore, most of the local university students come from other provinces, and the curriculum options offered by these universities do not match local market needs.  
Santa Elena needs to prepare professionals for jobs related to its geographical reality and the local industry. Youngsters with no studies have more difficulties finding decent jobs, giving back to their communities, breaking the cycle of poverty and climbing the socio-economic ladder, and helping to build a healthy and strong country. Most of the economically active population in Santa Elena is underemployed, with rates reaching up to 73.3% for women and 63.6% for men, and unemployment rates of 11% for women and 8.3% for men. Based upon pre set selection criteria appropiate students will be selected by Plan Ecuador. Students will then be supported to take the required entry test to enter university. If they pass they will start with their chosen study, which should qualify as labour market relevant as assessed through a market assessement exercise done by Plan. Students will then be mentored, guided and supported while going through their academic year, both in financial terms as in life skills training. Upon graduation students will be supported to the world of work. Upon signing a employee contract at least 50% of the students will start contributing to the revolving fund as agreed beforehand to ensure new students can enter the program. Universities, employers and alumni will be actively involved in the program to strengthen it and ensure sustainability. Since 2015, Plan Ecuador has been developing scholarship programs aimed to support students to complete high school, but, even though they are intelligent and motivated, they has not been able to access to higher education due to the lack of economic resources. The University Scholarships Project was generated in 2016 by Plan Ecuador and NNO in order to support students from low-income families that are really motivated to access higher education. Subsequently, many other students wanted to join the project, therefore, a new scholarships project was generated based off the first one but improved the processes of selection, monitoring and training. Also partnerships were established with public, social and private organizations. The scholarship holders who participated in the first project became the mentors of the new ones and universities encourage students to join extracurricular activities and provide them with extra tutoring in order for them to acquire all the required knowledge. 10 Mixed-race youngsters from poor households who are living in the Province of Santa Elena (in an area where Plan is working) and are between 17 and 25 years old and are not benefiting from another educational grant. 10 university scholarships awarded. A monthly scholarship continues to be awarded to the 10 students during the 12 months of each year.  Training sessions organized on the subject of entrepreneurships where scholarship holders learned the tools they need to start productive activities with few resources and using the knowledge they have learned so far in university.  
Organizing an expo fair where scholarship holders show their undertakings to the attendees, putting into practice the tools they learned in the communication and marketing workshops.  
Launching the UNIEDUCA Magazine to showcase the work carried out. In order to produce the magazine organizing a writing, photography and design workshop. Meetings with teachers where attendance to classes and academic performance were monitored. Conducting home visits for individual monitoring of scholarship holders  which provide timely counseling advice regarding the study plan they are implementing.
Organizing monthly meetingswith parents, in which topics of self-esteem, self-confidence, projection of future goals, time management, assertiveness and freedom were discussed.  Organizing a workshop entitled “How to be a good speaker” was organized.  Facilitating an interviews workshop and a debate on self-esteem and gender with the purpose of building skills in scholarship holders to enable them use their personal resources to develop successfully during an interview. Partnerships with the Santa Elena University and the Private Technical University of Loja have been established in order for them to provide students from low-income families who are participating in our projects with scholarships. Also an strategy to seek funds through private corporations is being designed.