Empower a Girl in Guatemala: Education after COVID

With your contribution to FUNDAP, you are cooperating in the education of young girls in the department of Retalhuleu; a fundamental reason for young girls to continue their education and not to turn into dropouts is the support that their parents give them, since, despite the circumstances they feel the support and continue in the pursuit of their dreams. 

That is why, during this month the project’s efforts have focused on training parents on the importance of trust at home to generate motivation and continuity of their daughters in the education system.

The project contributes to strengthen not only the learning process of the girls who receive scholarships during the school year, but also to the parents who are given training workshops with the goal of contributing from home to: verifying school homework, motivate their daughters to continue with their studies and above all make sure they realize the importance of education to break the cycle of poverty. 

Like the case of Ingrid that since her admission to the scholarship project in 2015 her shyness was visible and that prevented her from describing her longing and joy of studying, however, with the accompaniment activities she began to discover her potential: speak in public! and in 2018  she won  the beauty pageant and oratory in her classroom.

Ingrid says: “the Scholarships project has transformed me and at the same time has believed in me, that makes me happy because I can be myself”. She is a young girl with many goals, besides her academic education she loves sewing and creating new clothes.

This April the Scholarships program continued to advance thanks to the support you offer to FUNDAP, providing an opportunity for these Guatemalan girls to continue their education. In addition to your necessary support, in FUNDAP we know that the constant support of the project is crucial, especially with home visits or tutorials that we do to each of the beneficiaries of the program. This is done to support them in their accomplishments or complications that might be presented to them at home and throughout the entire educational cycle.

With this accompaniment it is visualized that the girls present problems when there is school absenteeism, either by going out and working to help with family expenses, supporting unemployed parents or situations of all kinds that makes them more vulnerable and encourages school dropout. In cases like Dalila's, who was failing in her school grades upon entering the project, the home visits of the field technician help strengthen the family environment, giving confidence to the graduates, achieving greater commitment, attendance to class, greater participation and improvement of behavior, which entails a gradual rise in academic performance.

So, thanks to these agreements achieved in personalized tutorials, cases like Dalila's gave a considerable improvement. Now in the mornings, before going to school, she helps her mother in the kitchen cutting fruit, which is used for sale in her community, all in order to obtain funds for school and for her family. Dalila previously had problems with her parents due to the little support she offered in her home, but with the visits a better attitude was achieved in this aspect and it was crucial for her school future.

Dalila wanted to share her thoughts with us: "I value the visits they have made to my home very much. I have made changes, such as starting to read, one of the tasks that the project has left me and I checked how it helps me to express myself in a better way when speaking or doing my tasks. Also, I feel that my parents are more concerned about attending classes and asking me about what I do and what I like. Now I feel they are closer to me." Undoubtedly, the support of the family, FUNDAP and the educational technicians are very important for Dalila's future, but yours can also remain vital. If you want to help her, but also contribute to school development in Guatemala, with a simple donation we will take care of them: by accompanying and encouraging them to finish school. Thank you very much again for your perseverance and love for these girls.

One of the aims of basic education is to comprehensively train young people in aspects such as: values, leadership, personal identity and appropriate use of technology so that it can help them make better decisions.

The data generated by the project shows that of 10 young people who finish sixth grade 5 continue their studies of high school, possible only through the donations received, with this information we have implemented strategies that allow the girls granted a scholarship to keep in school and create awareness to the families regarding the accompaniment provided by the project.

At the end of 2018, the results at the national level showed that of a total of 804,958 young people enrolled, 70% won the degree, while at the project level the promotion was 96%, this is due to the follow-up provided to each young woman and the commitment that the families have with the project, showing regular attendance to the classes, delivery of tasks, better performance, which creates significant changes in their communities.

That is to say, the young women are taking advantage of this opportunity to advance their education, such as Nory, from the community of Santa Fe Parish, Department of Retalhuleu, who has been in 8th grade of high school and understands the importance of schooling to achieve her goals of being a professional and generate improvements in her life.

Nory has only the support of her mother who goes out every day to work in domestic trades and wash clothes at home, always focused on offering better conditions and supporting her daughters with their studies; while Nory in the afternoon supports her mother with the care of her younger sister at home.

She explains that studying the high school cycle is a privilege that not all young women in the community have, she says: “It saddens me to see how several of my primary school friends did not have the opportunity to continue studying,” reason why  she is committed to finish high school, strive to improve her grades every day and support her mom, because she knows that this way she can improve their living conditions.

Would you like to discover more about the project? Check out our latest mini documentary series on YouTube and meet Arlet!

Links:

• Meet Arlet: discover her story!

Through granted scholarships in the last 4 years, 10,594 girls have benefited with the overall goal of strengthening their skills and at the same time allow them to discover their own potential. It is important to mention that the girls and young women benefited by the project are people who live in areas vulnerable to school dropout and have economic difficulties. Despite these circumstances, the scholarship has been essential for 98% of beneficiaries that have been promoted.

At the national level, MINEDUC (Educational ministry from Guatemala) statistics for 2016 mention that the dropout rate at the primary level was 3.02%, in the basic cycle it was 5.18% and at the general level of the scholarship project during the 2018 school year it was 1%. Which means that all the efforts are giving positive results.

As in the case of an ex-scholarship student who comments: “The FUNDAP scholarship has been a vital component in finishing school, what I valued the most was the follow up the follow-up, because during the 6 years of support I discovered my potential and how important is the education of women.” Mildred, former scholar, explains that the scholarship is fundamental and a privilege, that is, what she values most is the support she received during that period and she hopes that many girls have the opportunity she had.

Thanks to the donations received, Estefani continues her scholarship for second year with support and accompaniment, when the primary education cycle ended due to financial difficulties her parents decided that they wouldn’t support her to continue her educations, despite her good academic results. However, with the scholarship today she has the privilege of continuing her studies and her improvement has allowed her make plans for her future.

Donate $14 today to help us secure additional funding for the year!

Links:

• An opportunity for Arlet - Episode 1