Guatemala’s highlands are home to Indigenous communities, primarily Maya Mam and Maya K’iche’, where over 70% of families live in poverty and chronic malnutrition affects over half of all children under five. These communities face severe limitations in basic services, scarce economic opportunities, and increasing threats to subsistence agriculture from climate change. This has led to significant male emigration to the U.S., leaving women to manage households and farms.
For generations, alumni of the Institute for Training and Development (ITD) native to this region have been working on community-driven strategies for economic self-reliance and alternatives to forced migration. In 2023, ITD, invited by long-term partner, the Agricultural and Microenterprise Development Association (ADAM), began community-based programming to collaborate on the Rural Economic Dynamics for Prosperity (DERP) initiative. This initiative supports women’s agricultural cooperatives, helping them transform small agri-food initiatives into sustainable enterprises by reducing market entry barriers. ITD has contributed by providing workshops on business planning, cost-based pricing, and production scale-up skills.
ITD is committed to continuing its support for alumni making a difference in their communities worldwide.
2. Asociación de Mujeres para el Desarrollo Integral Nueva Estrella Poxlajuj -ADINEP-.
3. Asociación de Desarrollo Social Económico Mujer Indígena -ADSEMI-.
4. Asociación de Desarrollo Integral el Quetzal -ASODIQ-.
5. Grupo de Mujeres, Betzabe.
6. Grupo de Mujeres, Buena Semilla.
7. Grupo de Mujeres, Buena Vista San Juan Ostuncalco.
8. Grupo para el Desarrollo Cabricán.
9. Grupo de Mujeres, San José Buena Vista.
10. Grupo de Mujeres, San Sebastián.
