Creating Opportunities for Indigenous Youth

WellKind provides scholarships to young people from Tzununá, Lake Atitlán, and its adjacent communities to either a vocational training school or high school. Our beneficiaries get to learn trade skills like carpentry, embroidery, weaving, and culinary arts. Our local team also gives workshops and assistance to graduates of the program helping them with professional development and how to market their new skills to find work in the Lake Atitlan area.

The Need

Only 61% of Guatemalans in the Western Highlands reach high school (USAID, n.d.). Across the municipality of Santa Cruz La Laguna, this rate has consistently been lower for women than for men (Méndez et al., 2008). Young non-indigenous men in urban areas of Guatemala have literacy rates of 97 percent, while the rate for young indigenous women in rural localities like Tzununá is only 68 percent (MRGI, 2019).

When young indigenous women and men are given opportunities to stay in school and learn sought-after trades, they go a long way in fixing Guatemala's social inequalities.

We have already given scholarships to over 160 people and continue to offer youth opportunities to further their learning.

WellKind also works with a local community center to offer art classes for young people in Tzununa to learn painting, dancing, music, and freedom of expression.

The Mission

Our mission is to provide young people with a path to become professionals that are committed to staying in the country and helping lift up their community. Too many young people are leaving to the U.S.A. from this region, and by providing opportunities, we hope to slow down migration and create a better future for youth in Guatemala.

Program Details:

Scholarships to over 8 different vocational programs
Support to find opportunities and work after graduation
Training for scholarship recipients and support to develop professionally beyond their vocational program, for example, helping them network and market themselves.
Assist families with paperwork and inscription process
Scholarships for kids to go to high school
Assistance for elementary school students with school supplies

Meet the Recipients

Isabel Simaj

“In the culinary school of CECAP I learned to be a professional cook and now have work because of it. I am very grateful to have been given this scholarship to learn about the culinary arts. I would definitely recommend this program to other young people in Tzununa and the lake. As soon as I graduated from the program I found work as a chef in a hotel and can now support my family”.

Marcela Perez Sipac

“The embroidery course that WellKind gave me a scholarship to was amazing. I know that coming out of this course I will be able to make high-quality products and earn good money. I have already
Made several products that sold immediately and helped me support my family. The greatest part of the program is that I don't need to spend any money. All the threads and materials are free as well as the classes”.

Gabriel Sipac

“The instructors that I had at CECAP were fantastic and taught me everything I know today about the culinary arts. I especially liked the pastry classes and learning about international cuisine from different countries. This opportunity changed my life because I now have a steady job to support my family. I am grateful for the scholarship I was given to attend the vocational school in Santa Cruz L.L. The skills I learned there will be with me for life and can help me find work wherever I go”.

References

Méndez, L., Jolón, H.Y., Marroquín, A.C., & Reyes, E.A. (2008). Diagnóstico socioeconómico, potencialidades productivas y propuestas de inversión: Municipio de Santa Cruz La Laguna, Departamento de Sololá. Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala. Read more

National Minority Rights Group (MRGI). (2019, January). World directory of minorities and indigenous peoples: Guatemala. Minority Rights Group. Read more

United States Agency for International Development (USAID). (n.d.). Guatemala: Education. USAID. Read more

Community-Led Decision-Making

For all of our programs around Lake Atitlán, Guatemala, we work together with our network of local indigenous women leaders. Provided with stipends and free professional and leadership trainings, they reach out to their community, set strategies for the various projects, and increase participation and beneficiary involvement.

Reforestation Program leadership responsibilities include:

Reporting on tree health and survival rates.
Helping to distribute trees to families and farmers.
Assisting in the transportation of trees from nursery to community center.
Helping to coordinate tree planting workshops

Artisan Program Leadership Responsibilities include:

Distributing threads to artisans
Taking finished products to the client
Organizing and distributing the work evenly among members of the cooperative

Community Vision

That local women are empowered to be change makers and lead the way to a brighter future. In a society that is very male dominated we are helping to create the space for women to take charge. Each of our programs has its group of women leaders that help guide us to better our programming. It has been incredibly powerful to wait tech young women that started out very shy open up and feel empowered through this program.

OUR IMPACT:

We built a greenhouse that is run by 8 local women who sell seedlings, seeds, and other garden inputs to their community as part of the leadership empowerment.
A total of 18 women leaders have received stipends for their work with WellKind in the communities of the Tzununá Valley.
We now have women leaders in 4 communities involved in 3 different programs.
WellKind hosts monthly talks for all the women leaders involved in the program to talk about infant nutrition, domestic violence, and family planning.