Education Guatemala Project #12282

Educate 300 Guatemalan Children

by The GOD'S CHILD Project

Project Report | Nov 15, 2024
Technical Courses

By Salem Ojer | Education Coordinator

If you follow our other GlobalGiving pages you may have already heard of the success of our technical courses. This year we have had 125 people take and complete our Technical courses for electricity, baking, therapeutic massage, and customer service. On the 19th of November we will have our graduation ceremony for those successful students to celebrate their hard work and success.

Not only did we run our Technical courses to give our students qualifications in different areas, we also started an Artisanal Jewellery Course in collaboration with the Mesa De Competitividad. Over the span of five weeks, the women learned the fundamentals of jewellery making, gradually advancing to more sophisticated techniques and designs.

Through this jewellery project, we witnessed an incredible transformation. The women not only gained skills and knowledge but also built a supportive community that celebrated their triumphs. Together, they are crafting a future filled with hope, empowerment, and the beauty of artisanal craftsmanship. Here is a quote from one of the ladies about her experience:

This was a really nice experience for me, to learn all of this. I'll tell you that, when I first came, I felt very happy because I had never learnt how to do anything. As they said before, you shouldn’t do the same thing in the house all your life. Your life shouldn't be doing housework and fetching the children from school. This was a door opening for me, to create a business.
When I first came I couldn't do any of the things that they taught me here. I got it all wrong like 5 times. I couldn't do it. But I didn't give up and I said to myself that I would try again. And I tried again so many times. Now I admire myself and all the things I have achieved and all the things I have over there (where her jewellery was). I did it with the help of my family and of ANA who taught me and with the help of my husband and my children who motivate me to be successful.
I know this will take me far. I know it is a big door that has been opened for me, and I hope for all the women who are here today that they don't give up and that they fight for their dreams, because you shouldn't stagnate as a housewife, waiting for your husband to give you some money or asking him to be able to buy what you want. This was something big for me. With this (money I earn) I will be able to buy my own things. Now I won't have to ask my husband to buy things. Now I am able to go and buy things and, thank God, since I started with this, you aren't asking me, but, I am earning quite a lot. Since I learnt how to do this I kept going and a borrowed money to start a business because I was starting from nothing.
Now I have made all this product I told myself I wouldn't stay with it all in the house and so now I go in the streets and ask people if they want to buy and here I am. I make time for my family and I make time to sell. And I admire myself and all the ladies here for all the things we have made.
Thank you.

The Artisanal Jewellery course was such a success that we decided to run it again and are already two weeks in. This time, women from the original course have volunteered their time and expertise to teach a new group of future entrepreneurs. It was so nice for us that the women wanted to give back after receiving the educational support from us, and were happy to share the things they had learnt.

We have high hopes for next year and hope to be able to continue to offer education to our children, youths and women so that they have the potential to improve their lives and learn valuable skills.

The GOD’S CHILD Project and ITEMP have been working for 30 years to break the chains of poverty and slavery through education, housing and healthcare as well as direct intervention. Please click the link below to donate to support us in our ongoing mission.

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Jul 19, 2024
Technical Careers Courses

By Salem Ojer | Education Coordinator

Our Education Programme is an important Programme in ANA and is a fundamental part of how we work to break the bitter chains of poverty in Guatemala. Education is something that permeates our different Programmes and allows us to support many families through multi-faceted approaches.

This year we have extended our Education Programme to not only supporting our children through the Reinforcement classes but also supporting their parents through some new adult learning opportunities in technical careers. We have been working with INTECAP, the Technical Institute of Training and Productivity, and Mesa De Competitividad de Sacatepéquez, an organization committed to the economic and social development of our region, to provide free courses for some of the women of our Empowerment Programme. These courses provide technical skills that can be used to improve a CV or to help our beneficiaries create their own businesses or work opportunities.

One of our courses that we are offering is the Therapeutic Massage course. There are currently 23 women from vulnerable contexts enrolled in the course, which has been designed with the aim of providing participants with practical and theoretical skills in therapeutic massage, increasing their employment opportunities locally. This course has the following course content:

Human anatomy and physiology.
Basic and advanced therapeutic massage techniques.
Professional ethics and customer service.

The course is being funded by the Mesa de Competitividad de Sacatepéquez who are providing scholarships for the participants. Their support has been instrumental in the implementation and success of this educational component of the partnership.

It is expected that, at the end of the training process, the participants will obtain a certificate attesting to their competence in therapeutic massage. This will increase their chances of finding employment in spas, rehabilitation clinics, and other health facilities. They will also gain the skills needed to start their own therapeutic massage business if they wish.

This course, along with our other courses, including electricity, baking, customer service in hotels and business management, represents a valuable opportunity for women from vulnerable contexts, helping them to improve their living conditions and open new doors towards economic independence and personal well-being.

The GOD’S CHILD Project has been working for over 30 years to break the chains of poverty through education, housing, nutrition and healthcare. Please click the link below to donate to support us in our ongoing mission.

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Mar 22, 2024
The Education Programme in 2024

By Salem Ojer | Education Coordinator

Historically, ANA has had a broad and comprehensive approach to providing education through its various programmes. After the pandemic, during which schools in Guatemala had been closed for 2 years by the Government, the Education programme began a different focus to previous years. This year we have three different approaches to education that we are looking to provide for our beneficiaries.

The first of these approaches is our Reinforcement programme which consists of reinforcing academic areas where children have fallen behind and helping children to complete their schoolwork and homework. We started this initiative to improve learning in ANA students, reduce dropout levels and help children achieve better grades. We also aim to encourage children to have a positive relationship with schools and schooling.

The latest results of the diagnostic tests carried out by the Ministry of Education (Mineduc) show that 6 out of 10 students do not have the minimum skills or are below what is expected, according to the National Basic Curriculum. Levelling this knowledge was part of the strategies that the ministry implemented, but the effort will have to continue for a couple of more years, as the teachers have pointed out. The Pisa 2022 tests, whose results were presented in 2023, place Guatemala in 77th place out of 81 countries where the level of performance of 15-year-old students in Mathematics and Reading was evaluated.

Due to the results of the education statistics of 2021, 2022 and 2023, we decided that the focus of our Reinforcement programme in 2024 would be:
Mathematics
Reading & Writing
Training with a Social Purpose
Sports & Arts Activities

Another important component of the Education programme is technical careers. Work has been done on the collection of data from future participants of the courses and technical careers in which they would like to participate. Our aim is for the 700+ members of our Empowerment programme take advantage of workshops, courses and technical classes to improve their CVs or to start their own businesses or work. We also want to encourage young people who have missed out on educational opportunities in the past to return to education and improve their future opportunities and learn technical skills.

Finally we have been working on our new Learning Center. This is a virtual component, where the Education team has worked on recording videos and finding interactive games that facilitate student learning. It is expected to be launched in the first half of 2024 and will be available for all children in Guatemala to use and benefit.

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