Irving Briceño Pérez is a graduate of the Mass Communications School of the Universidad Católica Andrés Bello (UCAB). He was a student between 2010-2015 and graduated in January 2016. He is the Co-founder and the Knowledge Director of 1001 Ideas para mi país, whose mission is to create youth ecosystems for innovative societies.
Irving met the UCAB when he was studying at the Felipe Fermín Paul School in Antímano, where many of the university’s students carried out volunteer and social work activities. Thereupon, he participated in different academic reinforcement programs. He also participated in the UCABMUN Program of the Fundación Embajadores Comunitarios (FEC).
During my last year of high school, I was selected to be part of the UCABMUN Program of the Fundación Embajadores Comunitarios (FEC), which allowed me to be closer to the university, because I used to go to the UCAB every weekend to get the necessary training to compete in the interscholastic Models of the United Nations (MUN).
This strengthened my link with the UCAB, because I wanted to belong to it some way. And it also helped me to obtain the necessary information in order to apply for the Andrés Bello Foundation Scholarship.
Briceño Pérez had a 100% scholarship, called Andrés Bello Foundation, which he maintained with an average of 17 points out of 20.
The scholarship only required an average of 12 points, because those who receive this support come from repressed or popular sectors, where the basic education they receive is not of high quality and when facing the academic level of the university there is a wide enough gap between the acquired knowledge and the required one.
If I did not have the scholarship, I don’t think that my family would have had the economic possibility to pay for my university career.
During his time as a student at the UCAB, Irving was recognized as a kind young man who was motivated to succeed. He was the founder, along with other 9 young people, of the volunteer program of Mass Communications, VolcosUCAB, which started in 2012 and was formally accepted by the School in 2013.
VolcosUCAB emerges because we realized that our School had no formal volunteering ascribed to it, and Mass Communications students who wanted to volunteer had to go to other schools or entities to do so.
In our beginnings, we adhered to the formal activities of volunteering of the university, such as the Christmas activities dedicated to the nearby communities.
Our intention was to share with others what we learned in class.
It fills us with pride to see that this activity has laid roots in new generations of Volcos.
Irving was also part of the Social Communication Student Center (CECOSO), he was a Community Action Coordinator of the Student Center, Student Representative (2013-2014) and School Counselor (2014-2015). In addition, during his senior year he was an academic tutor of the subject Journalism, particularly from Professor Alejandra Hernández.
When finishing his degree in 2015, while waiting for the deliver of his diploma, Irving was assistant professor of the Documentary subject, alongside Professor Aurimar Alonso.
Once graduated, he began teaching at the UCAB in these subjects.
An example to follow for young Venezuelans
Irving strongly believes in supporting young people to make Venezuela a better country, and because of that he created the 1001 Ideas para mi país, alongside Carlos Eduardo Vargas, student graduated from the Law School, and Rolando Antiveros, graduate of Economics from the Universidad Santa María.
This idea was born while attending to the Diplomat of Governance in Political Management and Public Management that was carried out by the Center for Political Studies of the UCAB in partnership with the George Washington University, CAF and the Development Bank of Latin America.
At the end of the diplomat, the program requires the creation of a public policy of local incidence. However, we went much further; we had arguments to do it. Just in that moment, the UCAB published the Youth Survey 2013 (ENJUVE), and its descriptors turned out to be a very important source for the project we were developing, which would finally materialize in 1001 Ideas.
The first one was that, 8 out of 10 young people, that is, 80% of young Venezuelans between 15 and 21 years old, have little or no interest in the public, social and political development of the country; and the other descriptor said that 2 out of 10 young people have associative behavior, that is, they participate in some way in a political, religious, sports society, etc.
These descriptors alarmed us, and we discovered through focus groups and interviews that young people perceive the public and the social as something boring and not very attractive.
Finally, we created this proposal, which during 2015 was still gestating and in February 4th 2016 the non-profit organization 1001 Ideas para mi país was formally founded, date in which we signed the constitutive act.
1001 Ideas for my country is a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), which seeks to create youth ecosystems for innovative societies; these are spaces where young people can meet, learn and solve social problems, adding the differentiated benefit of creativity and innovation. Currently, the organization is carrying out the necessary procedures to become a social enterprise.
The organization has three juvenile ecosystems, also understood as stages: connection, experimentation and invention.
- Connection: these are activities of youth interest related to social content, such as technology, humor, sports, etc. Among the activities carried out in this first stage, are: Mi Pequeña Idea, ImproSocial, Contexto, Embajadores de Ideas, Festival Caracas Joven “Una ciudad para ti”.
- Experimentation: it is divided into 2 types of activities: continuous training and open training, the latter lasts one day and it’s free. The activities developed in this youth ecosystem are: Charlas SED “Ideas que hacen crecer al país”, Charlas MicroSED, TecnoTaller, Emprendimiento para el Futuro “Volar empieza hoy”, Campeonato de Ideas, Campamento IDEAS “Formando Innovadores Sociales”, INVENTO “Diplomado en Innovación Institucional”, Campaña de Grupos Vulnerables, Campaña de Transparencia y Corrupción en personas jóvenes, y Tablero “Venciendo desafíos sociales”.
Up to now there are 3,500 young people trained in the experimental programs.
- Invention of Participation: in this last ecosystem there are 4 components:
- Fempoder: program, training, gender equality, technological tools and social ventures.
- Impact Idearium: social business models, impact investments, social finance, Venezuela.
- TAMOS: sustainable tourism, collaborative economy, social business model.
- Agrotecil: access to water, education, social business model.
So far, we’ve impacted the lives of more than 15,000 young people.
We are currently in four States: Capital District, Lara, Anzoátegui and Carabobo. In this operating cycle we want to expand to four more States and at least one country in Latin America.
We have raised our horizon 22.22.22, this means that we want to create 22 youth ecosystems for innovative societies, in 22 countries of the Americas by the year 2022.
A world full of opportunities
So far, Irving continues to live in Antímano, but he believes in the opportunities and the inherent capacity of people to provide them.
It is in times of crisis when there are more opportunities, because the crises exacerbate your chances of reinventing yourself, of resisting and insisting, of believing in you despite the difficulties, because I believe that this talent is in you, whether it’s visible or dormant, and you have to support it.
My experience as a young student has not changed my material reality, the truth is that today the stairs of the slum I live in greet me every day and that most of my dreams have not yet become real. It is true. As it is also true that I am a complete dissatisfied, that every day I wake up with the clear determination to change those circumstances with which I am not satisfied, that every day I dream and work to build a better Venezuela and that I know my life purpose it’s the service. Those circumstances and the Universidad Católica Andrés Bello forged my convictions, for which I thank those opportunities that the UCAB creates through their scholarship programs.
And I’m just an example, sure that there are many people better than me, and by supporting them we are investing in a better future.
