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Empowering Indigenous Children through Intercultural Gender Transformative Education

The aim of this project is to develop an innovative, intercultural and gender-transformative education model in 15 primary and 5 secondary schools in Rabinal, Guatemala, that improves the learning outcome, empowerment and life expectations of 4400 indigenous boys and girls.

  • 0.0

    is the average years of schooling for indigenous girls in Guatemala

  • 00%

    of girls below the age of 14 registered as pregnant were indigenous

  • Where
    Rabinal, Guatemala
  • Focus area
    Education
  • Duration
    2019 - 2024
  • Economy
    DKK 9 million
Prime partner: Oxfam IBIS

Background

Guatemala is among the countries in Latin America with the most inequality and where it is a challenge for children to get education. The education system is failing as a driver for social mobility due to lack of quality. Especially for indigenous girls the quality of education is low. As a result, many children do not learn the basics, leaves school prematurely and thus are unable to advance within the education system. The average number of school years for girls in Guatemala is 4 to 5 years; in areas with predominately Native American populations, the average is 2.6 years.

In addition to a massive lack of culturally-adapted educational content, Native American girls and young women also face widespread gender discrimination and violence. These forms of oppression are rooted in cultural norms and a patriarchal system and often lead to early pregnancies and fewer opportunities in women’s lives. In the Rabinal region, where the project is to take place, 32% of the population can neither read or write. 60% of them are women, which reduces their opportunities for a better life. Furthermore it is also seen in the Rabinal region that children drop out of school to take paid work. Some work with their parents in agriculture and especially girls perform household chores, while others migrate to Guatemala city.

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The project

This project connects to Oxfam’ s Gender Justice Program and follows the priority axis of ensuring that more indigenous rural women, especially young women, achieve greater empowerment and capacity to exercise their rights free from violence. The project takes the opportunity to work with indigenous children to ensure high-quality education, promote sexual and reproductive rights, and prevent violence against women and girls.

The project ambition is that more Achi´ girls and boys get access to quality bilingual education and improve their academic performance in reading and in math so students stay in school, value their culture and improve their opportunities in life. This includes the introduction of new technologies and education materials reflecting the local context and gender equality. The project suggests to work with an intercultural gender transformative education model to provide change and overcome challenges related to low education performance, over-age, school drop-outs and early pregnancies identified as some of the key obstacles to education in the area.

With regard to education quality, the project will work in 20 indigenous and rural communities in the municipality of Rabinal facing poverty and social exclusion.

Objectives

At the end of the project educational authorities of 15 primary and 5 secondary schools have adopted the model, empowering over 4,400 boys and girls in the targeted schools with improved reading and math skills, as well as 1,500 student making a successful transition to secondary school, continuing to strive for their life projects with support from their parents (and guardians).

It is also the ambition that the Ministry of Education approves not only the Achi Curricula but also the intercultural gender sensitive curricula and starts implementing it in non-project schools.

400 teachers will be trained to apply new content and methodologies for effective learning in their classrooms, with social and community recognition for their transformative efforts. As part of the
transformative approach, schools should be committed to the creation of classrooms and environments free from violence against girls.

The project also plans to raise the awareness of 1,600 parents to accompany and support their children's right to education, becoming important actors for violence prevention and reducing early pregnancy as well as improving education quality for their children.

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