About CEPIA Costa Rica

CEPIA is a Costarican nationally accredited non-profit organization that since 2005 promotes culture, educational and labor opportunities, mental and physical health, participation, and social cohesion of children, teenagers and their families living in vulnerable conditions to improve their quality of life in Guanacaste, Costa Rica.

History of CEPIA

In 2004, after graduating from the University of Ghent (Belgium) and starting work at a family tourism business in Guanacaste, Laetitia Deweer began volunteering at the PANI (National Child Welfare Institute) shelter in Santa Cruz. There, she discovered a complete neglect of the healing needs of boys and girls, where children with severe trauma received no psychotherapeutic care.

In response, Laetitia offered educational workshops and transformed a storage room in the shelter into a consulting office to provide psychotherapeutic support to the boys and girls. At the same time, while living in the town of Huacas, she began connecting with local communities by listening to the stories and voices of the boys and girls, as well as the needs of their mothers and fathers.

At that moment, the desire was born to prevent violence against boys and girls, address the healing needs of victims, and create greater opportunities for recreation, education, and participation for low-income individuals.

With her best friend from Belgium, Lotje De Ridder, she began planning and fundraising. Laetitia Deweer served as Executive Director for 12 years, then as Vice President for 4 years, and today serves as Director of Development and Strategy.

About our founders

Laetitia studied Educational Sciences with an emphasis in Family Education at the University of Ghent in Belgium and Clinical Psychology at Universidad Latina in Costa Rica. She also works as an EMDR psychotherapist and transformational breathwork facilitator. Laetitia speaks Spanish, English, French, and Dutch. She is a member of the Central America Leadership Initiative (CALI Foundation) of the Aspen Institute (USA).

Our founding members (2005) are: Laetitia Deweer, Lotje de Ridder, Caroline Lemaire, Van Salcedo, Gerardo Brenes Alfaro, Isabelle Vandevelde, Juliana Zuñiga Spano, Victor Ruiz Genoves.

Board of directors

Martin Salerno

President
Roberto José Céspedes

Roberto Cespedes

Vice-President

Maureen Navarro

Secretary
Natalia Gallego

Natalia Gallego

Treasurer
Sebastian Ugalde

Sebastian Ugalde

Vocal
Jorge Alers

Jorge Alers

Fiscal
María José Fernández

Maria Jose Fernandez

Vocal

Javier Castañeda

Vocal

Denisse Palacios

Vocal

Staff

Maria Jose Cappa

Executive Director

Laetitia Deweer

Director of Development & Strategy

Courtney Borquet

Girasol Group

Graciela Gómez Guevara

Assistant, Intervention Center

Francis Valverde

Afterschool Coordinator

Grettel Chacon

Administrative Coordinator

Karen Cerdas

Social worker

Eleana Cristina Alcocer Ramirez

Psychologist

Karla Marin

Adm. Coord. CIDAI / Youth Group

Karen Monge

Psychologist

Maria Auxiliadora Gonzalez

Psychologist

Raymundo Perez

Facilitator Boys’ Circles

Darwin Silva

Administrative Assistant
Ana María Jimenez

Ana María Jimenez

Psychologist

Lucia Castro

Development and Strategy Advisor
Yira Rodriguez - Coordinadora Programa Formaciones y Empleabilidad

Yira Rodriguez

Coordinator Training & Employability

Sary Barrantes

Círculos de niñas
Gina Malavassi

Gina Malavassi

Communication

Katherine Madrigal

Legal Guidance Coordination

Dimitris Kyriakoulis

English Teacher

Mariana Trejos

Vida Mujer Project

Rodolfo Monge

Accounting

Luis Villegas

Driver

Juan Labra

Transportation

Felipe Villafuerte

Driver

Paul Lopez

Music Teacher
Jaime Mora - Music Teacher

Jaime Mora

Music Teacher

Elena Oquedo

Teacher CIDAI

Francini Gutierrez

CIDAI Teaching Assistant

Guadalupe Romero

CIDAI Teaching Assistant
Karina Rosales - docente pre-escolar

Karina Rosales

Pre-school Teacher

Kimberly Bonilla

Teacher CIDAI

Jaqueline Bustos

Teacher CIDAI

Leonardo Almanza

Swimming Coach
Lucas Garces

Lucas Antonio

Atelier Teacher
Katherine Obando - Tutorías extraescolares

Katherine Obando

After-School Program
Melany Valenzuela - After-School Program

Melany Valenzuela

After-School Program

Andrea Gomez

CIDAI Cook
Erica López - Cocina

Erica López

Cook

Yulieth Rodriguez

CIDAI Assistant
Magaly García - Miscelaneous

Magaly García

Janitor

Volunteers

CEPIA seeks long-term (min 12 weeks) volunteers with commitment, high ethical standards, and strong social engagement. There are lots of different projects going on at the same time at CEPIA. After your interview (selection process), you will receive a document about the projects and tasks for volunteers by email. At first, you will integrate in many different activities and programs for one week. We are looking for flexibility and curiosity from our volunteers. Go with the flow, connect with everyone, and participate fully in each moment!

There are different options for you to be a part of:

  • You can join an existing class, help the teacher or a volunteer leading the class, and maybe take over the class if the teacher or the volunteer leaves.
  • You can ask what activity you could realize according to your talents or interests: for example, an English class, yoga, arts & crafts, computer classes, environmental education, or sports,
  • You can make your very own project. Just make a proposal, we will help you.

The advantage of the third option is that you can do what you like. You can structure your project the way you like it. Brainstorm ideas before you come to CEPIA and communicate what you would like to do. In that way, you won’t lose time and you will be able to connect your passion with volunteering. The golden rule here is that everything is possible; you just have to come up with ideas. On Mondays our executive director meets with all the full-time volunteers. We strongly advice you that you get to a good level of conversational Spanish before coming to CEPIA. It is hugely helpful and necessary to communicate with staff and children. Most teachers and children do not speak English.

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 asociación

phone: +506 2653 8365
mobile: +506 8986 9470
email: info@cepiacostarica.org

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Photos courtesy of Carla Rowlings.
Design and digital production: digital TICO.

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