Better education Guatemala

Guatemala has long been in a deep crisis. Education faces major challenges. Schools have limited resources and receive little attention and money from the government. Because of financial difficulties, education is not a priority for many parents. Children have to help earn money and leave school early. This choice reduces their chances in the labour market. This applies once more to children and young people with disabilities; they are often discriminated against and neglected.

Therefore, a three-year education programme in seven schools in the Western Highlands has joined hands to improve the opportunities of 500 children and facilitate about 25 young people with disabilities. In the third year of the project also a group of 25 indigenous women was supported.

Educational programme for children and youth

What happened concretely on the education front:

• An educational programme for seven schools teaching children how to manage money wisely and why education and your natural environment are important.
• Access to education for young people with disabilities through a project at two deaf schools and the possibility to participate in job placement programmes, amongst others for bakery skills.
• Set up ecological school gardens together with three other schools. In the gardens, children with and without disabilities learned horticultural skills in preparation for a future profession.

Headmasters and teachers are actively involved in project decision-making and implementation. Efforts were also made to increase parental involvement.

Women’s programme

To support women who cannot participate in society and live in great poverty, there was also a programme for them. Here, they themselves indicated what they wanted help with: reforestation of their environment. After all, wood is indispensable for cooking and heating the house. The women received support in consulting with community leaders and buying and planting trees around their village.

Sustainable community development

The project improved opportunities for children, youth and women, communities were re-united. The schools continue the education programme independently.

Implementation was in the hands of the StartUp4kids Foundation and Asociación Yabal Guatemala with support from the Wilde Ganzen Foundation. StartUp4kids is committed to opportunity development of disadvantaged children worldwide, with a focus on social and financial skills. Yabal Guatemala is a Fair Trade organisation that supports indigenous women’s weaving cooperatives in Guatemala and enables them to sell their handwoven products locally and internationally.