Women’s Voice and Leadership – Guatemala

Development Project

Women’s Voice and Leadership – Guatemala

Fighting discrimination against Indigenous women in Guatemala by increasing the leadership of grassroots Indigenous women's organizations

The Situation

Indigenous women suffer extremely high levels of violence and widespread violations of their human rights in Guatemala. Despite how widespread these issues are, the marginalization of Indigenous women is mostly invisible to the rest of Guatemalan society.

Four out of five Indigenous women live in poverty, and they are three times more likely to live in extreme poverty compared to non-Indigenous women. The life expectancy for Indigenous women is 13 years less than non-Indigenous women, and maternal mortality for Indigenous women is twice as high in Guatemala than for non-Indigenous women. This elevated maternal mortality is linked to higher malnutrition, lack of prenatal care and lack of access to health services overall.

Collective action can be a powerful part of shifting deep inequalities and advancing women’s rights. However, the structural racism that Indigenous women and their families face translates into huge roadblocks to their progressive organizing work.

Poverty, violence, discrimination and limited formal education make it much more difficult for Indigenous women's organizations and community groups to do strategic planning, to fundraise and to monitor progress of their programs and campaigns. On top of this, available funding is often short-term, unreliable, insufficient and geared towards specific projects rather than the necessary work of strengthening organizational capacity, leadership and collective organizing.

DETAILS

LOCATION
Guatemala

DURATION
3 years, 9 months (2019-2023)

The Women's Voice and Leadership Program is a worldwide initiative by Global Affairs Canada to support local and regional women’s organizations and movements seeking to empower women and girls, advance the protection of women's and girls' rights and achieve gender equality.

OUR SUPPORTERS
This project is undertaken with the financial support of the Government of Canada, provided through Global Affairs Canada, and the generous Canadian public.

New logo from government of Canada that reads, in partnership with Canada.

Issues at a Glance

What are some of the challenges Indigenous women face in Guatemala?

4 of 5
Four out of five Indigenous women live in poverty, and Indigenous women are three times more likely to live in extreme poverty.
13
In Guatemala, life expectancy for Indigenous women is 13 years lower than for non-Indigenous women.
2X
Maternal mortality is twice as high for Indigenous women than for non-Indigenous women.

What are we doing?

FUNDING

Short-term and multi-year funding to support the equality-seeking programs and advocacy work of Indigenous women's rights organizations in Guatemala.

SUPPORT

Direct support to build on the existing leadership, programming and advocacy work being done by the Tz’ununija’ network and its member organizations.

NETWORK BUILDING

Critical network and alliance building, both nationally and internationally, focused on defending the human rights of Indigenous women in Guatemala.

What do we hope to achieve?

Women's Voice and Leadership — Guatemala will provide key strategic support to the only national Indigenous women’s movement in Guatemala, the Tz'ununija' Indigenous Women's Movement, working with member organizations in Totonicapán, Chimaltenango, Baja Verapaz and Alta Verapaz.

By strengthening existing leadership, programming, advocacy work and collective action, Oxfam will ensure the Indigenous women's rights movement will be in a strong position to advance gender equality and increase the ability of Indigenous women and girls to enjoy their human rights.

Help to end discrimination against Indigenous women in Guatemala.

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