Guatemala: Education and future for women and girls

In Guatemala, around four million indigenous women live, many of them in poverty and without access to basic education. Discrimination and traditional gender roles make it particularly difficult for girls and young women to attend school or graduate. Only about one in five indigenous women completes their schooling, and almost half are illiterate. Despite this, many of them fight for their dreams—and receive support, for example, from the Terre des Hommes project "MAIA.".

Amelia comes from Sololá, one of the poorest regions of Guatemala. She, too, experienced exclusion and worried she would never achieve her goals. Today, she is the first woman in her family to graduate from high school. At 20, she is studying architecture and wants to help shape her community as an architect—inspired by the strength she discovered in the MAIA project and within herself.

The MAIA project in Guatemala is specifically dedicated to the education and empowerment of indigenous girls and young women. Through individual support, socio-emotional guidance, and educational opportunities, MAIA gives more than 250 young women the chance to escape poverty and disadvantage—just like Amelia.

A girl raises her right arm and poses confidently in front of a bookshelf

"Despite all the storms, remain confident and keep going. What we don't try, we can't achieve."

Amelia, 20 years old

Impressions from Amelia's life

Six young women from Guatemala are standing outside in a circle, hugging each other and laughing. — “I am thrilled to see that more young women are going to school through MAIA. They motivate me to pursue my dreams because I see myself reflected in them,” reports Amelia.

Four young women in lab coats are in a laboratory, looking through a microscope. They are laughing. — Greater self-determination and participation. The project specifically prepares young women for university studies and careers. Some of them actively participate in shaping the project work.

Young girls go to school, think about which professions they like, and will later freely decide with whom they want to share their lives.

To us, this sounds banal – and yet the right to a self-determined life remains denied to millions of girls.

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