With your support ALG can offer high quality training in two-day camps to supervisors of NGO's and community leaders who work in remote communities. The goal of these trainings is to teach leaders how to create spaces for collective healing that can empower, equip, and inspire participants to restore democracy in their nation through the methodologies of Restorative Justice and Social Technologies which work to facilitate collective dialogues oriented to promote action toward the common good.
In the fifteen years since the end of a 30-year internal armed conflict, 12 elected officials and military leaders (many ex-presidents) have been brought to court on corruption or crimes against humanity. The current rate of impunity hangs at 72% and homicide rates only increase. Add crippling national poverty, nadir literacy rates, a paucity of safe healthcare options, and what you get is a shredded social fabric. Many live day by day considering only their immediate needs, nothing more.
"The greater our tendency toward individualism, the weaker our communal fabric; the weaker our communal fabric, the more vulnerable we are to despotic power." - Parker Palmer. Taller Viajero is a program of ALG that empowers rural communities to join the restoration of their nation's communal fabric in settings that foster collective safety and well-being. We teach proven methods of hosting conversation that bring participants together to break individualism and inspire change.
The situation in Guatemala is grim, but we believe it is possible to make changes today so each day this nation is closer to a true democracy. Where today's Guatemala sees social atomization, we bring unity. Where there is divisive tension, we bring creative energy. Where there is despair and resignation, we bring hope and inspiration. At ALG we see no limit to what is possible when a community is equipped to host difficult conversations and envision a country of active and altruistic citizens.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
