Empower a Girl in Guatemala: Education after COVID

In the department of Retalhuleu in 2018 the dropout rate on average was 5.6% in the high school education cycle, this means that the equivalent to 1,062 young people abandoned their studies for different reasons, but with a common goal, to work and support their family with the expenses.

This region is hit by the lack of stable jobs, which causes that mainly the father of the family does not prioritize the education of the children and culturally the woman is the one who has less opportunity to continue her studies. 

Thanks to the donations during this period 2018-2020 we were able to break this cultural pattern and 43 young girls continued their studies in the basic cycle, 28 of them satisfactorily completed the level and 15 continue studying. Without your support this would not have been possible.

Throughout the three-year period, each girl and their families have received support to guide them on important family issues and training to strengthen the family unity and, above all, that parents recognize their fundamental role in helping each girl achieve her dreams and have access to better opportunities.

On the other hand, personalized and collective tutoring has allowed us to strengthen reading speed and comprehension skills in each girl, since, through small reading tasks and continuous monitoring, improvements have been visualized. 

The biggest challenge has been to get families to continue supporting the girls’ studies, especially because of their vulnerability. But despite this, this year 2021, of the 28 girls who finished third grade, 19 have enrolled in high school. The rest, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, are still evaluating whether to enroll considering the risks of contagion.