Involúcrate

Emerson identified the issue of youth disenfranchisement with the political system. To tackle this, he founded Involúcrate, a youth-led organisation to foster citizen participation amongst their peers.

The organisation fosters youth participation in politics through three main avenues. The first are education workshops run in schools and universities. They host them in different towns around Guatemala about citizen participation, the importance of voting, the electoral process and a simulation of voting activity. They have reached 700 young people from over five towns. 

Additionally, they ran forums during the election campaign called #TuVotoCuenta to provide direct contact between prospective candidates and young voters, educating and informing them about the political system and situation. These events attracted 900 participants all together, as well as 2,900 virtual attendees who joined via social media live streams.

The most recent project the organisation has launched is an internship in the Guatemalan congress. The first iteration was launched in January 2020, and 13 interns have been selected for the placement. This was made possible, in part, by Emerson being awarded with the Resolution Project’s prize and funding at the One Young World Summit in London.