Recent Successes in Guatemala
In Guatemala Co-Partners
works with a local indigenous non-governmental organization (NGO) the Asociación de Desarrollo Comunitario (ASDECO)
to support educational and health activities. This organization, which emphasizes work with
rural youth and women in the area around Chichicastenango was established with
the support of a consortium of European NGOs shortly after the signing of the Guatemalan
peace accords.
As part of Co-partner’s
collaboration, Ned and Lydia Stone have just returned from Guatemala where they
taught English to a group of 28 students ranging in age from 12
to 26 . The students were
enthusiastic learners with no absences at all throughout the course.
Ned with students in Chujulimul
The class was also attended
by a number of young local teachers, one of whom thanked the volunteers for
demonstrating an interactive method of teaching, very different from that typically
used in Guatemalan schools. Another student reported that he had learned more
English in seven days of the Co-partners’
classes than in all of his previous years of English study.
While Ned and Lydia were
teaching in Chujulimul, volunteer Jim Heinzen conducted four days of strategic
planning focusing on financial sustainability with the ASDECO board of
directors.
Strategic planning with Board
This work was important because the donor that
has been supporting ASDECO’s operating costs, is withdrawing from all Latin
American activities in the coming year making it necessary for ASDECO to
generate additional income to cover its operating expenses.
The Board developed a
detailed strategy, targets and timeline, and assigned responsibilities in five overall initiatives: 1) Approach organizations and agencies that
haven’t traditionally worked with ASDECO, 2) Publish an ASDECO Web Page,
3) Develop written materials that document
ASDECO’s service delivery and impact, 4) Increase the use of mass media to
communicate ADESCO’s message, 5) Present proposals to a broader group of
potential funding sources.
During the trip
ASDECO presented a detailed report on Co-partner’s
educational funding for 2009. Co-partners
provided a $1,000 grant for the 2010 school year to fund school supplies for 90
primary school students and a $1,000 grant
to support three scholarships for a one year Community Nurses program.
Lydia presenting partial 2010 school
supplies
Follow-up on El
Salvador Vocational Training
In August while delivering the Women’s Leadership Workshop,
Jeannette Rodriguez and Archer Heinzen conducted a follow-up evaluation on the
2008 vocational training program that had a goal of preventing youth
immigration to the U.S. They found that 75% of program participants did not
intend to migrate and were working or attending school. Two young men did leave
El Salvador ; one was not working; and two youth were pulled out of their jobs
to cover family responsibilities—one to work on the family farm and a girl to
care for her siblings. An important lesson learned in this experience was that
we did not do sufficient work with parents to ensure that they respected the
youths’ jobs and commitments.
Getting Out-of-School
Children Back to School
One of the most successful community plans to come out of
the Women’s Leadership Workshop was developed by the six members of the
Azacualpa group, who decided to establish an afternoon program to tutor
out-of-school children so that they might be able to return to school in the
coming year. Starting in August, they have had 25 to 30 children in a daily
catch-up class. When school opens in January, these students will receive
school supplies packages funded by the Emily Sandal Memorial Mini-grants
Program.
2010 Volunteer Opportunities
For the coming year, La Nueva Esperanza has asked for workshops on parent-child
communication, improving self esteem, and developing small businesses. Their
preference is for these workshops to be in February or March, which is agricultural down time in El
Salvador. Volunteers Ned and Lydia Stone plan to repeat their English classes
in Guatemala next November and Jim Heinzen will return to evaluate progress on
the ASDECO strategic plan. Additional volunteers are sought to teach English
and provide basic sewing instruction in Guatemala.
Co-partners of Campesinas, Board of
Directors
Archer Heinzen, Chairperson
Rotating, Secretary
Jenny Carroll
Jim Heinzen, Treasurer
Elizabeth Edwards
Marie Keefe
Joanne Murphy
Jeannette Rodriguez
Lydia and Ned Stone
La Nueva Esperanza, Board of Directors
Yesenia García Martínez, President
Karla Iris Bran, Vice-President
Julia Ester Vásquez, Secretaria de
Actas
María Delmy Bran Menjivar, Secretaria
General
María Eduvina Pana, Tesorera
Delmy Consuelo Bran, Tesorera Suplente
María Pastora Ramírez, Sindica
Evelia Flores, Primer Vocal
Orbelina Sánchez, Segundo Vocal
