Vocational guidance for children in Mexico

Childhood and Adolescence in Chiapas and Oaxaca: a view from the everyday work of Mundo de Talentos

Analysis prepared by the operations team of Mundo de Talentos A.C. 

Every Saturday, dozens of girls, boys, and adolescents arrive at Mundo de Talentos sessions across different communities in Chiapas and Oaxaca. Some arrive running, eager to play; others arrive tired, quiet, or in the company of a younger sibling because there was no one else to look after them. That diversity of stories is also the starting point of this report: an analysis the operations team built at the beginning of 2026, drawing on direct, session-by-session observation of what children and adolescents experience as participants in our programs.

This exercise was not meant to produce statistics, but to bring together what the team notices recurrently in its daily work: the family, social, educational, and health conditions surrounding childhood and adolescence in these two regions of southeastern Mexico, and how those conditions show up both inside and outside our sessions. The result is a map of seven broad categories of challenges, presented below along with how Mundo de Talentos responds to each one.

Homes that care as best they can, with what they have

A significant part of what girls, boys, and adolescents experience in Chiapas and Oaxaca begins at home. The team frequently observes situations of divorce or absent parents, as well as a heavy burden of caregiving that falls mostly on mothers, who often cannot bring their children to sessions due to lack of time or support. In many cases, it is adolescent girls themselves who take on the care of younger siblings, which keeps them from attending regularly or leaves them arriving exhausted.

These family dynamics carry a visible emotional cost: children who arrive sad, affected, with their energy spent elsewhere. In response, Mundo de Talentos has chosen to work with families as well as with children directly: we offer workshops on assertive communication, create spaces that recognize the mothers who carry this caregiving load, build support networks among them, and partner with other organizations to refer cases that require specialized psychological care. We also keep the door open at all times: missing a few sessions does not mean a child loses their place in the program.

Health, nutrition, and hygiene: conditions still left unmet

Food insecurity is a constant in the communities where we work. Some children arrive at sessions without having eaten breakfast, or rely mainly on low-quality processed food in the absence of better alternatives. In practice, this translates into difficulty concentrating and, in other cases, hyperactivity. This is compounded by gaps in access to health services: recurring respiratory illnesses, lack of preventive care, and, in the most severe cases, adolescents who have died from treatable conditions simply because they lacked timely access to medical care. The team also observes gaps in basic hygiene habits, which sometimes lead to teasing or discrimination among peers.

In response, Mundo de Talentos incorporates health and self-care modules into its sessions, offers guidance to families, and runs specific workshops on nutrition and hygiene. We also work to strengthen ties with organizations specialized in these issues, recognizing that these are needs that go beyond what a single program can resolve, but that we cannot afford to ignore.

The emotional weight children and adolescents carry

One of the most significant findings of this analysis is the marked increase in emotional difficulties: anxiety, panic attacks, and stress now appear with growing frequency among participating children and adolescents. This is accompanied by lower tolerance for frustration and boredom, greater difficulty sustaining attention, and cases of peer violence such as bullying. The team also notes a growing difficulty in following rules and agreements, both at home and within the program's spaces.

Faced with this reality, the core of Mundo de Talentos' methodology takes on particular importance. We work from a peace education approach, build agreements together with each group and reinforce them constantly, and strive to make every session, above all, a safe space. Strengthening skills such as attention, reflective thinking, patience, and tolerance for frustration is not just part of our pedagogical content: it is a direct response to what we are seeing in children's emotional health.

Learning under unequal conditions

On the educational front, the team identifies basic academic difficulties — such as problems with reading and writing, poor spelling, and limited reading habits — along with cognitive challenges related to concentration, deep reflection, and a limited vocabulary for self-expression. Added to this is many families' lack of knowledge about how to support children with specific learning needs, as well as the limitations of a school system that, in general, prioritizes memorization over spaces for listening and holistic development.

While these issues do not always directly affect how our sessions function, at Mundo de Talentos we observe them and accompany the children through them. Our activities are designed to strengthen communication, critical thinking, teamwork, and negotiation skills, and we work to engage with families to better understand each child's particular situation, connecting them, when possible, with people or organizations that can offer specialized guidance.

Growing up amid insecurity

The communities where Mundo de Talentos operates are not immune to the insecurity and violence linked to organized crime, which generate clashes and a climate of fear in streets and neighborhoods. This directly affects attendance at the program and the freedom with which children can move through their own surroundings. Adding to this is the spread of narco-culture through media, which deepens the sense of insecurity and, in some cases, creates expectations around those stereotypes among children and adolescents. Urban infrastructure deficiencies — potholes, accumulated trash, hazards in public spaces — round out an environment that is not always safe for growing up.

In response, we have chosen not to avoid the topic: in our sessions, we open space to discuss these social issues without taboos and with clear information, working to strengthen critical and creative thinking among children and adolescents, and to build awareness that leads them toward a proactive stance toward their environment, rather than resignation or fear.

Screens competing for their attention

Excessive use of technology and dependence on social media and screens are also part of the current landscape for children and adolescents in the region. This results in reduced interest in other activities, difficulty sustaining attention, and, at times, exposure to age-inappropriate content without proper guidance, with a direct impact on emotional health.

Mundo de Talentos positions itself as a concrete alternative to this trend: our sessions offer an after-school option that draws children and adolescents away from screens during that time and introduces them to activities that build life skills. We work on critical and creative thinking, and offer age-appropriate content that sparks interests beyond the digital world.

When poverty decides who gets to participate

Finally, conditions of poverty remain a determining barrier. Some families lack the resources to cover transportation to sessions, or lack basic services at home such as electricity and water. In many households, children's participation in economic or domestic work is prioritized over their participation in the program, which sometimes ends in them dropping out altogether.

In response, Mundo de Talentos works to support and strengthen the efforts families themselves make to keep their children in the program, aware that our intervention alone cannot resolve the structural conditions of poverty. What we can offer is a program that strengthens personal and vocational development — one that, session after session, helps improve their living conditions and life prospects.

A perspective that does not stop at diagnosis

This analysis confirms something the Mundo de Talentos team experiences firsthand: girls, boys, and adolescents in Chiapas and Oaxaca face an interconnected set of challenges — familial, health-related, emotional, educational, social, technological, and economic — that, in many cases, go beyond what a single organization can solve. Acknowledging this honestly is part of our responsibility.

At the same time, this exercise reaffirms the purpose of our work: where we have the capacity to make a difference, we act with intention, and where the challenges go beyond our direct reach, we work to build networks and partnerships with other organizations that can complement what we offer. Mundo de Talentos does not claim to be the answer to all these challenges, but it does aim to be a safe, consistent, and committed space where every girl, boy, and adolescent can find support, tools, and the certainty that their development matters.

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