At DESGUA's School of Community Organizers Mayan youth and adults are able to pursue a quality education and, most importantly, participate in Educator Training in order to transmit this new knowledge in their communities. This leadership education transforms the possibility of opportunity into the present and plural tense.
Economic disempowerment and discrimination cause thousands of Mayan-Guatemalans to immigrate to the US every year. Scarce educational and economic opportunities in rural areas pave a road for out-migration and have a devastating effect on our local development and community cohesion. DESGUA believes the solution is to create sustainable opportunities right here in rural Guatemala. Our solution, developed together with other community members, is the School of Community Organizers.
DESGUA is a group of returned Guatemalan immigrants and children of immigrants working to make local, integral, and sustainable development a reality in our rural Mayan communities. The School of Community Organizers first opened in 2011 with great acclamation. This coming year we are happy to offer Technology & Participation, Social Enterprise Admin & Management, Art & Social Change, and Cultural Empowerment & Mayan Worldview free of charge to Mayan youth and adults from the Western Highlands.
As the alumni become those who educate in their communities, the School of Community Organizers fosters community cohesion and development. This "educational promoters" model, where the students become the teachers, enhances empowerment, which in turn enhances community autonomy.
This project has provided additional documentation in a Microsoft Word file (projdoc.doc).
