This project prevents child marriage and builds brighter futures for young girls in Guatemala by training 300 Mayan girls aged 10 to 17 to advocate for themselves through our Girls' Empowerment, Rights, and Leadership course. The girls build their knowledge, skills, and self-esteem in 25 workshops while a supportive community environment is formed around them as we work with 672 parents, teachers, healthcare workers, and community leaders to delay early marriages and promote gender equality.
In Guatemala, 1 in 3 girls are married by age 18, and in rural communities, Mayan girls are disproportionately impacted by this harmful practice. Child marriage limits opportunities for girls to lead healthy, productive lives and increases their risk of domestic violence and poor health. This project will help 300 Maya Kaqchikel girls understand their rights, prevent child marriage, and access a range of socioeconomic opportunities in rural Guatemala.
We provide human rights and capacity-building training to Mayan girls between ages 10 and 17, provide legal aid to girls and their families, and work with parents, teachers, and community leaders to change norms about child marriage, implement community-based prevention plans, and work with the police and legal institutions to protect girls. All of our training is delivered in Kaqchikel, the local Mayan language.
This project will equip 300 girls and 672 community members with the knowledge and skills to prevent child marriage which will improve the overall health and socioeconomic standing of girls in 24 communities, as well as engage over 3,000 community members a year in preventing child marriages and promoting gender equality.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
