Indigenous Women and the Long Road to Justice - A WOW! e-brief

 

WORLD NEIGHBORS AND INDIGENOUS WOMEN IN GUATEMALA

While indigenous people represent a significant portion of the population with which World Neighbors works around the world, we focus this brief on our work in Guatemala because indigenous communities represent our entire focus there. In that country, World Neighbors partners exclusively with indigenous communities, specifically six different ethnicities—Achí, Pocom’chi, Keckchi, Tzutuhil, Kackchiquel and Quiche.

When World Neighbors first begins working in those communities, the initial problem they focus on is meeting the basic health and nutrition needs of the people. In areas of Guatemala, poverty is so severe that addressing gender rights is not a possibility without first addressing some of the survival issues that result from high levels of poverty. Even so, women are at the center for efforts to improve the communities' health and well-being.

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In Guatemala, World Neighbors work reaches 530 households and 22 different communities. In this country, around 60 percent of indigenous people live in severe poverty, not having even enough money to eat or meet basic needs. Traditionally, women and children are most affected by poverty because their needs are usually considered last. For example, women are often the last to eat within a family, and if there is not enough food they simply miss the meal.

Elmer Lopez, World Neighbors area representative for Mesoamerica, describes the organization’s approach: “First, we improve the productivity of crops for food, and second, we work on gender issues so that women have better and more access to food.”

In other words, World Neighbors first focuses on increasing food production, so that the families have enough to eat and a little extra food to sell. In order to improve food production, World Neighbors focuses on teaching sustainable agriculture methods to indigenous communities, sharing techniques to preserve soil fertility, manage water and increase production.

 

Second, World Neighbors works on improving gender relations to better the position of women within the community. World Neighbors is fully committed to finding solutions to hunger, poverty and disease. Several years ago, World Neighbors recognized that we could strengthen programs in certain regions, such as Guatemala, to more equally benefit women and men.

 

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To do this, World Neighbors began to work on programs in Guatemala that specifically addressed women’s position within indigenous communities. These projects ensure that progress is made in indigenous communities both in establishing income generating activities and making sure that decision-making power that comes from increased income is shared equally between men and women. With this gender support, research has indicated that when women have more money and when communities work to improve gender relations, women have more status, which leads to greater decision making power. Women use their power to make decisions that benefit their families and entire communities.

World Neighbors focuses on income diversifying activities so that indigenous women can earn and manage more money. World Neighbors provides training in basic financial management, specifically focusing on running savings and credit groups. Women are provided with technical training in raising and selling small livestock, like chickens. World Neighbors seeds efforts with women’s groups so that they may quickly establish savings and credit groups.

 

For example, in the Lake Atitlán region of Guatemala, World Neighbors helped eight communities begin savings and credit groups in 2007. Another example of the progress being made in Guatemala is Asociación Ija`tz, an indigenous women’s group. Under the leadership of Esperanza Hernández, the group established their own restaurant to generate income. World Neighbors helped the group purchase larger stoves and other utensils and renovate bathroom facilities. Additionally, with a grant from the University of Texas, World Neighbors and Asociación Ija`tz began construction of a facility this month to package and prepare food products for export.

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The work World Neighbors does with indigenous communities addresses many dimensions of the problems women face in Guatemala. In addition to building indigenous communities’ ability to manage their development on their own, World Neighbors recognizes the benefits of staff who are from those same communities. For example, work in community and reproductive health is currently coordinated by an indigenous woman from the population that she now serves.

World Neighbors strives to help communities meet their basic needs and quickly focus on improving social conditions. Providing indigenous people with the means to improve their food production allows them to earn enough money to pull themselves out of severe poverty. Women are a central element in this work. World Neighbors approach also helps women to undertake projects that will increase their status in society, giving them more decision-making power.

 

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Indigenous Women: An Overview

Learn More and Get Involved

A WOW! e-Brief

Work of Women @ World Neighbors

January 2008

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