By age 16, 6 out of 10 Indigenous girls are out of school (UNDP)

Girl Rising Guatemala

Girl Rising Guatemala is in its fifth year engaging children and youth across the country in the critical issues of access to education, girls’ rights, and identity. Our programs are evolving as we, together with our allies and partners, learn what works best across the country.

In addition to expanding to new regions and adding new partners every year, we are identifying ways to keep our programs going, amidst the challenges presented by COVID19 and ways to evolve, meet the new needs of the girls and educators. We adapted our materials for online use, created do-at-home activity books and continue to share important information through our RINA radio program, as well as via WhatsApp and in-person programming.

This year we launched a campaign targeting fathers to talk about the importance of girls’ education and highlight stories of fathers supporting their daughters and the diversity of opportunities that women have seeked through their education.

We are in our second year collaborating and learning from the Global Education Fund partners and their peer education programs. Finally, we are continuing to strengthen ongoing relationships with implementing partners and RINA members, via refresher workshops, new topics for the training spaces, and piloting our new storytelling module and a guideline for working with parents using our films.

With all its beauty and diversity, Guatemala is a country where inequality, misogyny and racism present structural barriers for girls, especially indigenous girls, to access education. Gender-based violence in its many expressions, affects girls and adolescents in a unique way, and by working with community-based organizations that are investing time and energy on tackling these issues, we hope to contribute to breaking down these barriers and diminishing violence against girls.