Through the empowerment of women and adolescents we want them to be part of the decision making both at home and within the community. In the indigenous communities issues as sexual and reproductive health and educational quality are not often prioritazed by the elders, especially in COVID time. With workpshops and participation to intersectoral meetings (local authorities) we are looking for major role of the women and teenagers in their own communities.
In communities like Chenalho or San Juan Cancunc, women rarely take part in decision-making. Girls can hardly finish high school, only 43% do. They get married and become pregnant at an early age, preventing their full development. For many the only horizon is to be a mother of a large family and a craftswoman (wool). Tzotzil and tzeltal women do not have the necessary information to decide about their body, much less being able to define a life project different from that of their mothers.
IDEAS has been working with these communities for years. Our team members come from these villages and with them we have been able to establish a relationship of trust with the indigenous communities. In addition to the workshops by age groups that allow addressing issues from sexual health to child labor, we also have access to inter-institutional boards with local authorities. That allow us to select the women and teenargers that defend the interest of this group in the community.
The project will educate 1200 children to improve their SEL (socio-emotional learning), continue studying and strengthen their resilience. In the long run we will accompany girls until they complete high school. Girls will learn to communicate their needs, detect gender violence and seek help very early. Girls will also improve their artistic skills and create radiophonic spot in native languages, with scientific information about COVID 19 in order to improve preventive care.
This project has provided additional documentation in a DOCX file (projdoc.docx).
