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The Iguales Foundation has visited the Antofagasta Region twice over the last four months. Through these activities, the non-profit organization has trained more than 620 people, including teachers, students, Mejor Niñez employees and civic organizations. All these efforts have been within the framework of the Desafío Educacional 2023 Project, financed by SQM Chile.

The first visit, led by the foundation’s Director of Community Outreach, Bernardo Cortés, took place last July. At that time, the foundation held a workshop with the Antofagasta office of the National Service for Women and Gender Equity (Sernameg) and the Prodemu Foundation; a training session for employees of the Antofagasta Industrial School; and a talk on gender and diversity at Universidad de Antofagasta. In Tocopilla, multiple activities were also carried out: a meeting with the directors of Pablo Neruda School, a training session at Diego Portales High School and a talk with teachers at Domingo Latrille High School.

The second series of events took place last week, where representatives of the Iguales Foundation conducted a training session for employees of the Tierra Esperanza Foundation on “LGBTI+ children and adolescents” in order to optimize their intervention processes with children and adolescents in the Mejor Niñez network. They also led a training day with social science students from Universidad de Antofagasta. Later, they visited Caleta Coloso, located in the south of the region, to meet with workers from the Villa San Pedro Coloso Education Plan and conduct a day of training and awareness-raising to incorporate techniques to recognize diversities in the different territories. They also had a fruitful meeting with Mejor Niñez partner organizations and Sernameg. Finally, on the last day of the trip, they gave a series of four talks to high school students at the Antofagasta Industrial School.

About the activites, Director of Community Outreach Bernardo Cortés pointed out that “our main mission is to mainstream a multifaceted gender perspective that recognizes human diversity as a value for community development. To this end, cross-sector work with various institutions and organizations and the creation of training spaces are essential to professionalize the services provided and, consequently, to build safer spaces for all people without distinction.”

Manuel Ossandón, SQM’s Head of Community Affairs, said, “For SQM, supporting the Iguales Foundation means being part of the vision that we must have, where diversity is understood as a value, where people can have equal access or have dignity and rights. Helping to build this path in the areas where we operate is part of our robust sustainability plan.”

Finally, the head of the social work program at Universidad de Antofagasta, Marcelo Carrera, expressed his gratitude for the learning opportunity generated at the university, pointing out that these are “very necessary spaces, especially to train future professionals in the region.”