The Power of Music Education: Unlocking the Talent of Latin American and Caribbean Youth

Abstract

The IDB supports youth empowerment through music education in Latin America and the Caribbean. This note draws on conversations with beneficiaries, project team leaders, and partner organizations about music as an engine of social inclusion and economic development. It highlights successful initiatives, including a program focused on music entrepreneurship among young people in Colombia, an all-female orchestra and a choir for women's rights in Guatemala, young luthiers crafting stringed instruments in Peru, and a program preventing violence through music education for children and their families in Nicaragua.