Mujéres en Acción (Women in Action)

See the article in UN Chronicle about World Accord interns and partners in Guatemala!

(Asociación Civil Ixoki Ajsamajela ix Cheebel Yax)

Throughout the 1970's, 1980's and early 1990's many of the indigenous women in the Chimaltenango region were widowed by the violence in Guatemala. These women were left with no political voice and very little economic opportunity.

Mujéres en Acción (MeA) was founded by an indigenous Guatemalan woman, Felipa Xico, in partnership with World Accord, to address the needs of the large numbers of disenfranchised widows. MeA empowers these women by providing programs that develop community organizations, teach skills, and provide micro-credit loans for businesses that can open new doors of economic opportunity and political strength.

How Mujéres en Acción Operates

Mujéres en Acción's primary activity revolves around organizing indigenous women into community groups. To that end, the women first receive training in building groups, financial record keeping and democratic processes. They then can receive further training on everything from preventive healthcare and bilingual literacy to women and indigenous rights.

Once a group is sufficiently strong, they can then take advantage of Mujéres en Acción's micro-credit fund to collectively borrow the money needed to invest in their own small businesses (primarily agriculture-related). These businesses allow the women in the group to regain some measure of economic freedom, and empower them to make their own financial decisions for themselves and their families.

In the past year, MeA:

• Welcomed 32 new participants
• Conducted 32 new training workshops on business, environmental and legal issues
• Doubled the number of participants in Spanish bilingual education and healthcare workshops
• Completed building a new central training centre

Bilingual Education Project

Illiteracy is a significant problem within MeA's community groups. The link between literacy and people's economic, social and political well-being is well documented, but for the women in MeA's programs, literacy is not the only barrier. The majority of them are indigenous (i.e. the native people of Guatemala) and their first language is almost always Kaqchikel or another indigenous language. This effectively excludes them from the political, social and economic life of Guatemala, all of which is conducted in Spanish.

MeA, with the support of World Accord, has the ambitious goal of not only improving the reading and writing ability of the participants, but also of improving their spoken Spanish so they can better represent themselves in their daily business affairs while protecting their indigenous heritage. Currently, MeA holds 15 classes focused on reading and writing Spanish that are helping 65 participants improve their ability to take control of their future.

MeA Scholarship Program

These challenges, however, are not insurmountable. In 2007, the MeA, in partnership with World Accord, established a Scholarship Program, which aims to provide struggling students with the additional support that will ensure their successful education.

The Scholarship Program supports students in 3 ways:

• Students receive 100 quetzales (approximately CAD$13.75) per month for school related expenses such as books, shoes, bags, etc.
• 3 teachers facilitate extracurricular lessons throughout the week on the subjects of Language, Math, Natural Sciences, and Social Science
• Parent meetings teach parents how to facilitate their child’s education before and during their school-age years

In its first year, the Scholarship Program helped 77 children complete 8 months of schooling with a success rate of 99%, and 76 of the children passed on to the next grade of their public schooling. Efforts to provide additional tutoring for the remaining student have been implemented to ensure that, truly, no child gets left behind.