Tag Archive for: Poverty In Guatemala

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Fragility and Rule of Law in Guatemala

Rule of Law in GuatemalaThe rule of law underpins any free and thriving democracy. It ensures access to justice for all, places limits on executive power and protects fundamental human rights and freedoms. It is particularly important for the most vulnerable in society, those living in poverty. Although Guatemala has been a democratic country since the 1990s, its institutions are fragile, corruption is rife and it consistently underperforms on international rule of law rankings.

Rule of Law in Guatemala

Freedom House, an American NGO promoting democracy worldwide, labelled Guatemala a “partly free” country in 2026, with a particularly low score for rule of law. The NGO gave independence of the judiciary, due process in civil and criminal matters and equal effects of state laws and practices, a concerning one out of four. The implications of these troubling scores demonstrate that fragility and rule of law in Guatemala disproportionately affects the poor.

A Dependent Judiciary and Corruption

For the rule of law to be upheld, a judiciary independent of political influence is essential. This is a particular area in which Guatemala is faltering. A 2022 poll showed that 54% of Guatemalans believe that top government officials seek to limit the courts’ competencies and freedom to interpret the law.

The appointment of members to the country’s judiciary is a non-transparent process, riddled with political meddling. As a result, corruption is able to thrive in Guatemala, as the judiciary serves to favor the interests of the rich and powerful.

The severity of the problem is evident in the Corruption Perceptions Index’s 2023 report, wherein Guatemala placed 154th out of 180 countries.

A corrupt, dependent judiciary will not protect the human nor material rights of vulnerable people who need that protection most. It leads to an unjust society where resources and opportunities are concentrated at the very top, and therefore blocking people from rising out of poverty. 

Due Process and Equal Laws

The fragility of rule of law in Guatemala prevents due process and the equal application of laws for all of society. An example demonstrating the implications of the lack of these core democratic features lies in the Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights 2023 report claiming that Guatemala is seeing increased forced evictions and land conflicts. The situation primarily affects indigenous communities, those most affected by poverty and longstanding marginalization. Land laws do not protect their rights to ancestral lands, and many indigenous leaders seeking to prevent displacement meet with criminalization and harassment from the state.

A New Start

One of the many organizations working in Guatemala to remedy the situation is Be Just, a nonprofit that promotes the rule of law in Central America through strengthening democratic institutions, judicial independence and free elections. 

In November 2025, Be Just ran a workshop in Sacatepéquez, Guatemala ahead of the Attorney General and Head of the Public Prosecutor’s Office elections in May 2026. The workshop sought to educate participants on how the election process operates, what is at stake for Guatemala’s democracy and the socio-political context shaping the election. A population educated on and invested in free and fair elections serves to prevent impunity and corruption and ensures that elected officials serve the public good.

Hope for 2026

The year 2026 brings hope for democratic rule of law in Guatemala. In May, Be Just’s efforts paid off, as the public voted in a new Attorney General, Gabriel García Luna, replacing the eight year tenure of María Consuelo Porras. The former Attorney General had played an outsized role in dismantling the rule of law in Guatemala. Her list of wrong-doings are long: impunity was rife, as Porras disassembled key prosecution units in charge of investigating corruption cases and human rights violations committed during Guatemala’s internal armed conflict of 1960-1996, and criminalization was political, with journalists, human rights activists and anti-corruption activists being prosecuted. In 2023, she attempted to nullify the presidential election results, and in 2024, more than 40 countries sanctioned her for eroding democracy and the rule of law.

Looking Ahead

The country has some hard work ahead of it before the public’s trust is regained and rule of law in Guatemala reinstated. But with the work of foundations like Be Just helping the public to oust corrupt officials like Porras, the country is taking encouraging steps toward a more free and fair democracy for all. 

– Amelia Krone

Amelia is based in London, UK and focuses on Technology and Politics for The Borgen Project.

Photo: Unsplash

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$25 Million PAHO Health Initiative in Latin America

PAHO Health Initiative in Latin AmericaOn June 25, 2026, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) launched a $25 million health initiative in five Latin American countries. The project will directly benefit more than 1.1 million people in Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti and Honduras, and indirectly reach close to 900,000 more. It aims to expand access to essential health care in communities facing some of the region’s most severe humanitarian pressures. In these nations, poverty and poor health access often reinforce each other.

Why Now

The United Nations (UN) Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs manages the Regional Humanitarian Pooled Fund for Latin America and the Caribbean (RHPF LAC), which was established in 2024. The fund delivers faster, more flexible funding to one of the world’s most disaster-prone regions. Latin America and the Caribbean face mounting humanitarian pressure: food insecurity and violence have reached record levels, with 27.3 million people in need of assistance in 2025.

In Colombia, armed conflict, extreme weather and migration pressures continue to drive urgent health needs, particularly in areas where non-state armed groups restrict access to essential services. Haiti, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador face their own overlapping challenges. These include population displacement, cholera, drought, food insecurity and vector-borne disease outbreaks. PAHO selected the five countries because their health systems face some of the region’s steepest strains, making them priorities for a coordinated response.

Country-by-Country Snapshot

Haiti will receive the largest share of the funding, reflecting the severity of a humanitarian crisis marked by widespread displacement and cholera outbreaks. Poverty compounds the crisis. The World Bank’s most recent national survey from 2012, found 88% of Haitians live below the national poverty line. Given the survey’s age, that figure likely understates current conditions after more than a decade of continued political and economic instability. In Haiti, the initiative aims to maintain access to emergency and essential health care for more than 524,000 people in highly vulnerable situations. This includes support for the cholera response, maternal and neonatal care, mental health services and vaccination campaigns against measles and diphtheria.

In Colombia, where an estimated 37% of the population lives below $8.30 a day, funding will expand health services for communities affected by conflict, violence and climate-related displacement, with a specific focus on hard-to-reach rural and tropical areas. Planned actions include primary care, disease surveillance, nutrition support, mental health services and improved access to safe drinking water.

In Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, where implementation began in early June, PAHO is working to restore and strengthen essential health services disrupted by climate shocks, food insecurity and disease outbreaks. Around 50% of Hondurans and 47% of Guatemalans live below $8.30 a day, while roughly 30% of Salvadorans live below their country’s national poverty line. These figures underscore why sustained health investment in these communities matters. Response efforts include mobile health brigades, vaccination campaigns, rehabilitation of health facilities and improvements to water and sanitation systems, alongside targeted disease prevention work. In Guatemala, the project will prioritize communities affected by drought and crop losses, while in El Salvador, funding will concentrate on vector-borne diseases and climate-related emergencies.

The Capacity-Building Angle

PAHO structured the health initiative in Latin America to build lasting capacity, not just deliver short-term relief. Alongside emergency response, its projects include strengthening epidemiological surveillance, expanding maternal, child and mental health services, also improving water, sanitation and hygiene systems in all five countries. These investments will help local health systems detect and respond to future outbreaks and climate emergencies on their own, reducing long-term dependence on humanitarian aid. The initiative pairs immediate care with system-level improvements. This approach aims to leave communities more resilient and better equipped to protect their own health and economic stability long after the current funding cycle ends, offering a model for how emergency response and lasting development can work together.

– Gonzalo Rodriguez

Gonzalo is based in London, UK and focuses on Global Health for The Borgen Project.

Photo: Flickr

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How Trachoma Elimination in Guatemala is Changing Lives

Man and child eating watermelon in Sololá, Guatemala, benefiting from trachoma elimination efforts.“Today I feel very grateful, satisfied, and happy. Now I can do my daily tasks. I used to feel a lot of discomfort and pain,” Manuela Suy Yac told PAHO, a 66-year-old resident of Guineales, a rural community in Guatemala’s Sololá department.

Yac received eyelid surgery as part of a trachoma elimination campaign supported by Guatemala’s Ministry of Public Health and Social Assistance, the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO), and the Government of Canada. After the procedure, she said she no longer feels the constant discomfort that once kept her from her daily tasks.

Yac’s experience reflects Guatemala’s broader efforts to eliminate trachoma, the world’s leading infectious cause of blindness. The country is using surveillance initiatives, health worker training, and regional partnerships to identify remaining cases and prevent future outbreaks in vulnerable communities. Recent efforts, supported by PAHO, Tropical Data, and international partners, focus on strengthening disease monitoring through training and enhanced surveys.

Understanding the Impact of Trachoma in Guatemala

Trachoma is a neglected tropical disease caused by repeated infection with certain strains of the bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis. If left untreated, the disease can lead to serious scarring of the eyelids over time. In severe cases, the eyelashes turn inward and rub against the surface of the eye, which can result in permanent vision loss. Trachoma occurs most often in communities affected by poverty, where access to clean water and sanitation is limited.

Although trachoma has been eliminated as a public health problem in some countries in the Americas, Guatemala still requires active surveillance to track the disease’s prevalence and identify vulnerable populations. Researchers identified 69 municipalities in Guatemala as very high priority for trachoma surveillance, highlighting where continued monitoring is most needed.

Guatemala Strengthens Trachoma Surveillance

Since 2011, Guatemala’s Ministry of Health, in partnership with PAHO and the Government of Canada, has implemented the SAFE strategy to eliminate trachoma in affected areas (p. 2). These efforts have included antibiotic treatment for more than 75,000 people across 95 communities in Sololá, as well as surgical interventions for more than 100 people between 2019 and 2022 to treat advanced trachoma-related eye damage.

As part of these elimination efforts, the country hosted a regional Training of Trainers workshop in February 2025 focused on expanding surveillance capabilities across regions. Organized by PAHO with support from Tropical Data and funding from the Government of Canada, the workshop trained health professionals to conduct enhanced trachoma surveys and collect additional data to help identify remaining cases. These efforts are designed to improve the quality of surveillance and provide public health officials with better information to guide elimination strategies.

Unlike standard trachoma surveys, the enhanced “plus” surveys include conjunctival swabs and dried blood spot samples, which provide additional information about transmission and exposure. According to Tropical Data, these methods support more integrated disease surveillance by allowing health officials to screen for multiple diseases with a single sample and detect disease patterns across communities. As Guatemala moves toward trachoma elimination, these tools support a more multi-disease surveillance approach to public health monitoring.

Regional Partnerships Expand Elimination Efforts

Regional partnerships have played an important role in supporting trachoma elimination in Guatemala. As reported by Tropical Data, the 2025 training workshop brought together 14 delegates from Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, and Mexico. Participants received training they can share with health professionals in their home countries, helping to strengthen surveillance capacity and standardize methods across the region.

Beyond trachoma, these collaborative efforts support broader disease surveillance and elimination goals across the Americas. Tropical Data notes that integrated approaches to disease monitoring improve both the efficiency and the reach of public health surveillance. By strengthening partnerships and sharing expertise across borders, countries can build more sustainable public health systems while working toward the elimination of neglected tropical diseases.

Improving Lives Across Guatemala

The benefits of this work extend beyond improved health outcomes. According to PAHO, restoring eye health allows people to resume daily, economic, and family activities that were limited by the disease. As communities gain greater access to treatment and prevention, trachoma elimination can reduce the burden of preventable vision loss in vulnerable populations.

The progress made so far shows how investments in public health can create lasting benefits for communities. Through continued surveillance, training, and collaboration with regional and international partners, the country is eliminating a disease that has long affected some of its most vulnerable residents. While challenges remain, these efforts are helping move Guatemala closer to a future free from trachoma-related blindness.

For patients like Yac, this work is more than a public health achievement. It represents a personal transformation. Reflecting on the impact of her surgery, she put it simply: “I am free of trachoma.” As Guatemala continues its elimination efforts, stories like hers highlight the life-changing potential of accessible health care and disease prevention.

– Lily Hoch

Lily is based in Midway, PA, USA and focuses on Global Health for The Borgen Project.

Photo: Pixnio

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Migration to Guatemala: The Struggle of Deported Migrants

Migration to GuatemalaSince the beginning of this year, the American immigration authorities have forcibly returned more than 24,000 Guatemalans to their homeland after years of building lives in the United States. For most, the trip back home represented a tragic end to their pursuit of the American dream. However, repatriation is only the beginning of their struggle, as the return is often the first chapter in the broader story of unwanted migration to Guatemala and the challenge of reintegration in a country still suffering from the very issues they fled.

Such is the story of Marvin, who lived for 20 years in the United States – where he left behind a wife and children – and now struggles to make ends meet in Guatemala, despite having owned a successful business before his deportation. Then there is Hector, a former manager in a larger American company. Having crossed the border as an infant, he spent his entire life in the U.S. before a prison stint led U.S. officials to deport him to a foreign homeland. Data and statistics often obscure individual stories like theirs. Stark examples of the struggle that Guatemalan deportees face as they try to rebuild their lives.

The Labor Barriers 

When deportees land at La Aurora International Airport, government officials receive them with snacks and beverages, before leading them into an office for a quick medical check. For the vast majority, this is the only form of support they will know. Once they leave the reception gates, they must fend for themselves.

For people like Hector and Marvin, the immediate struggle is to integrate into a low-income economy where skilled individuals often struggle to find work that fits their profile. The structural constraints are the result of a scarcity of high-productivity jobs and a mismatch between the skills acquired abroad and the domestic demand. This results in inactivity levels in the returnee population that reaches 50.3% in rural areas and 45.7% in urban areas.

Most of the deported population – 79% – are working-age men who are unable to find a stable job in a country where 68% of employment remains informal. Economic necessity often forces them to rely on low-paid, temporary and informal work in construction and agriculture.

For female deportees, reintegration can be more challenging, as they must navigate gender-based discrimination regarding women’s role in society, particularly in rural communities. For children, the experience can be traumatic, having been pulled from the only life they knew while facing the harsh realities of an underfunded education system and enduring child labor.

The Social Struggle

Some deportees must face the social stigma that comes with deportation. After years spent abroad, many struggle to reconnect on a social and cultural level while their own communities often stigmatize them, leading to social isolation.

Exposure to Guatemala’s endemic violence also threatens returnees. Street gangs often extort them under erroneous assumptions that they possess wealth. In the worst case, deportees borrowed money from usurers in order to pay smugglers, meaning that upon their return, they remain in debt with dangerous human trafficking networks, while being unable to earn a stable living due to the country’s economic conditions.

The Institutional Gaps

For most migrants, rebuilding their life in those conditions is like climbing a steep mountain of economical and social hardship. Historically, there has been an institutional vacuum regarding migration to Guatemala, reflected in the lack of coherent policy and long-term reintegration strategies, especially regarding deportations.  For the affected population, this means an absence of support in areas such as employment, housing and mental health.

Following the tightening of immigration policies in the United States, Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo announced in January 2025 the launch of a program designed to assist deported migrants upon their arrival. Known as “Plan Retorno al Hogar,” it is intended to provide immediate assistance to deportees, ensure individualized support, and connect them with services such as healthcare and education, as well as job opportunities or training programs.

However, the actual impact of the program remains questionable. In a document that Pop No’j shared with The Borgen Project – a Guatemalan association working closely with returned migrants – the organization noted that since its implementation, no noticeable changes have been observed beyond the basic reception and the creation of a registration center in Guatemala City. In their view, state support remains limited, failing to adapt to the returnee’s changing profile, now including entire families and individuals who have spent their entire lives abroad.

How Civil Society Is Filling the Void

The vacuum the government left has pushed grassroots organizations and civil society groups to fill in the gaps regarding return migration to Guatemala. Pop No’j, for instance, provided support to more than 400 returned migrants in indigenous regions between 2021 and 2024, focusing on some of the country’s most vulnerable and marginalized populations.

Similarly, organizations like Casa del Migrante, originally founded to assist the displaced population during the Guatemalan civil war, have expanded in order to meet the current needs of migrant communities. Today, Casa del Migrante provides help for transient migrants, as well as deportees. 

The work of these civil society organizations and individuals shares a common holistic approach. According to Pop No’j, it offers not only economic and social reintegration support, but also legal counsel. Its efforts are also focused on coordinating with other organizations and state institutions as much as possible.  

Support comes also from social initiatives that stem from concerned citizens. Such is the case with la Red, a restaurant and cultural center located in Guatemala’s second-largest city, Quetzaltenango. Willy Barreno, a chef and former migrant, founded it upon his return, in an effort to create employment opportunities for returned migrants, and teaching locals some of the skills he learned abroad.

Looking Ahead

Reintegration remains a struggle for deported Guatemalans. In light of the recent developments, the government responded with a program to assist returned migrants, with the results yet to be seen. Meanwhile, deported Guatemalans will always find a safety net in the solidarity of their fellow citizens.

– Mateo Montes Asturias

Mateo is based in Montpellier, France and focuses on Politics for The Borgen Project.

Photo: Pexels

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How Satellites are De Risking Poverty in Guatemala

Poverty in Guatemala In Guatemala’s driest corridor, farmers have lived for generations at the mercy of the region’s violent weather patterns. In the 1,600-kilometer stretch of tropical dry forest, the changing climate has transformed the traditional seasonal rhythm that brought rain into an extreme cycle of drought and flash flooding. Farmers like Maria Lopez, who depend on a small plot of maize and beans, face collapse from a single dry month, which no longer just means a poor harvest — it means total financial ruin, food insecurity for their children and the possibility of dangerous migration, a situation made more acute by recent cuts to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Organizations estimate that 2.7 million people across the subregion face persistent food insecurity and the changing climate threatens to worsen the ongoing crisis.

How Aid Is Helping Farmers

In the past, smallholder farmers would rely on traditional insurance to cover crop failures, which typically failed in most cases. Indemnity-based insurance requires manual adjusters to travel to remote mountain slopes to verify damage — a slow, expensive process that results in payouts arriving months after seeds have already withered. A technological shift is changing this for millions of Guatemalans. By leveraging Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellites and parametric insurance, international aid organizations such as USAID and the World Food Programme (WFP) are helping farmers build a social safety net that triggers financial aid the moment a drought begins, breaking the multigenerational cycle of poverty in Guatemala. WFP covered insurance premiums for 5,484 farming households between 2025 and 2026, providing 24,720 people with a monetary safety net to weather drought and excess rainfall.

How New Technology Is Improving the Situation

Monitoring Central American agriculture has historically been difficult for optical satellites, which take pictures like a camera and cannot see through the thick tropical cloud cover that masks the region during the critical growing season. The launch of a SAR satellite by NASA in 2025 dramatically changed this. Unlike optical sensors, SAR is an active sensor that emits its own microwave pulses, which refract from the earth’s surface. These waves penetrate through clouds, smoke and tree branches. By analyzing the backscatter — the way these waves return to the satellite — scientists can measure the moisture content in the soil.

An image of the Earth is taken twice every 12 days, with sensors resolving individual plots as narrow as 10 meters. This allows stakeholders to monitor week-to-week changes in small-scale holdings as well as broader agricultural shifts. When soil moisture levels drop below a scientifically determined threshold, the system recognizes a trigger event. Because the insurance is based on a measurable parameter rather than a physical inspection, the payout is automatic.

USAID and Poverty in Guatemala

USAID has been a central architect in scaling Insurtech solutions. Initiatives such as the Feed the Future program and partnerships with the Microinsurance Catastrophe Risk Organization have shifted the goal from reactive aid to anticipatory action. As of April 2026, the United Nations (U.N.) The Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) released more than $10 million to preempt drought affecting Guatemala’s dry corridor. The funding does not wait for a famine to be declared. Instead, it provides cash to keep the parametric insurance pools solvent, guaranteeing that as soon as SAR data confirms a moisture deficit, farmers receive mobile payments directly to their phones.

The speed of these payments is critical for poverty alleviation in Guatemala. A farmer receiving a payout at the onset of a drought does not have to sell livestock or take out high-interest loans to buy food. The capital can be used to purchase drought-resistant seeds for a second planting or invest in small-scale irrigation.

Insights From the Field

To understand the mechanics behind SAR technology, Geospatial World interviewed Matt Wood, Vice President of Go to Market and Business at Capella Space, about the shift from traditional imaging to SAR technology.

Wood explained that, unlike traditional satellites that rely on reflected sunlight, SAR satellites emit their own energy source, which reflects off the earth and is received back by the satellite. Traditional optical satellites, he said, are limited by the same cloud cover that humans see from the ground.

On accessibility, Wood noted that SAR technology was historically the domain of defense and intelligence agencies and required very large antennas and rockets. Advances in miniaturization have changed this, allowing multiple smaller satellites to launch on a single rocket and making SAR data increasingly available for humanitarian and commercial use.

Wood cautioned that SAR data cannot be used in isolation. It needs to be combined with optical satellites, ground-based sensors, Internet of Things (IoT) sensors and other data sources to be effective. He described SAR satellites as filling a key gap in global information on a regular basis.

Looking Ahead

The combination of SAR technology and parametric insurance represents a meaningful shift in how international aid organizations support farmers in Guatemala’s dry corridor. By delivering automated, data-driven payouts at the onset of drought, these tools help smallholder farmers avoid poverty and food insecurity that have persisted for generations in Guatemala. As weather patterns continue to change across Central America, scaling these solutions will be essential to long-term poverty reduction in the region.

– Haydn Goodboy

Haydn is based in Massachusetts, USA and focuses on Good News and Technology for The Borgen Project.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

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Vocational Education Training Centers in Guatemala

Vocational Education Training Centers in GuatemalaThe journey to providing adequate education to the youth in Guatemala has been a tumultuous one. Vocational institutions especially lack the funding necessary to provide their students with a proper technical education. But, the salient jobs in this country, like agriculture and information technology, require solid technical foundations. So, it is clear that vocational education is becoming more prevalent than ever to its future generations. However, issues like nationwide poverty and internal political turmoil hinder the quality of these facilities. Here is more information about the state of vocational education training centers in Guatemala.

General Educational Barriers in Guatemala 

According to WorldData.Info, Guatemala has ranked 162nd out of 193 countries in the global education ranking. Only about half of students complete elementary school, and one-third finish secondary school. The issue of providing education to Guatemalan citizens stems from poverty across the country. Guatemala’s 36-year Civil War between 1960-1996 displaced hundreds of thousands of Indigenous people, which still negatively impacts their standard of living today. About 47.3% of Guatemalans live with a budget of around 64 quetzales, which in U.S. dollars, translates to about $8.30 a day.

As a result, many families in Guatemala are unable to afford sending their children to school. There is also a significant resource gap in classrooms; they are oftentimes overcrowded, or they lack teachers with the proper training necessary for instruction. These political and economic obstacles bleed into vocational schools, which prevent students from getting a good education.   

Vocational Education Training Centers in Guatemala 

Guatemalan technical institutions offer students high-demand skills learned in a wide range of subjects in culinary and pastry arts, agriculture, carpentry and computer science. The Ministry of Education stated many of them lacked proper equipment. Some schools, such as Junkabel and William Cornelius Training Center have excellent facilities. But the vast majority lack the budget, staff and infrastructure needed to run them.  

Luckily, there have been several efforts aimed at improving the quality of education at Guatemalan trade schools. Foreign aid organizations, like the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), fundraised $20.6 million for Education toward the Guatemala Threshold Program, $4.2 million of which went to technical education alone. Also, the CEPA Foundation, a nonprofit organization, has partnered with another nonprofit, Fundación Corazones Libres, in order to provide vocational education to young children in Vuelta Grande. These funds are used to create new vocational high schools with modernized computers that increase accessibility.

Another nonprofit, Infinite Chance, has funded enough money to buy welding and industrial sewing machines necessary for instruction. Besides nonprofits, affluent vocational institutions in Guatemala like INTECAP have offered vocational certifications and training to secondary students to help them gain specialized skills. 

The Future of Vocational Education Centers in Guatemala 

Although there is much left to be done to improve vocational education training centers in Guatemala, such as updating curricula to fit the rapidly advancing job market, many charities and nonprofits have organized initiatives to help repair the education system. For instance, the Swisscontact Project teamed up with the Ministry of Education and Social Welfare in Guatemala in 2023 to provide students with technical courses relevant to the IT and food sectors.

The primary goals of these projects is to reduce the need for migration in the Guatemalan workforce. Guatemala wants to decrease the levels of unemployment among Guatemalan youth by providing sufficient Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) to students who wish to pursue a career in the skilled trades.

More than 90% of Guatemala’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) comes from industry, service and agriculture jobs. By promoting vocational education centers in Guatemala, future generations can hope to earn a living through these technical careers and boost their domestic economy.

– Stacie Hueter

Stacie is based in Denville, NJ, USA and focuses on Technology and Solutions for The Borgen Project.

Photo: Unsplash

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How Thrifting Reduces Poverty in Guatemala

Poverty in GuatemalaMany people in developing countries rely on second-hand clothing imported from other countries. The second-hand clothing (SHC) sector trades more than 24 billion items annually. As of 2023, the national rate of poverty in Guatemala was 56%. With more than half of the population living in poverty, the ability to afford brand-new clothes is often not possible.

Second-Hand Clothing Industry in Guatemala

According to the Garson and Shaw report on secondhand clothing imports from the United States to Guatemala, in 2023, Guatemala imported 131.25 million kilograms of second-hand clothing, 98.6% of which originated from the United States. HS Code 6309 is an international trade classification for worn clothing used to determine costs and tariffs. People in Guatemala have a high demand for low-cost clothing, as many are unable to meet basic food and health needs. The Guatemalan economy is the largest in Central America and relies heavily on the SHC market to support economic activity.

The largest second-hand retailer in Central America, Megapaca, is based in Guatemala. Megapaca is comparable to the North American company Goodwill, with similarly large stores and a fast turnover rate of clothing.

The SHC market is particularly appealing to women in Guatemala, as a high proportion of people do not complete more than primary or secondary education, with more women than men stopping after primary school. The SHC market is one of the few accessible jobs that generate income for people with limited education. A study conducted by Garson and Shaw found that almost all surveyed participants reported that the SHC market has a positive impact on their families.

Supporting Women Through Fair Trade

The SHC market is a key component of reducing poverty in Guatemala. With a large number of women involved in the sector, it promotes financial independence for women who do not have many other job opportunities.

Trades of Hope is a fair trade company founded by Gretchen and Elisabeth Huijskens in 2010. The organization gives women living in poverty the opportunity to support their families by making clothes, jewelry and bags. Trades of Hope pays these artisans a fair and livable wage and markets their items on its website.

One Guatemalan artisan, Clara, said that she built a workshop in her home so she could work while staying with her children, and that other parents in her village who previously had to travel far for work now work alongside her.

Looking Ahead

With more than half the population of Guatemala living in poverty, second-hand clothing is a necessary industry for people to access affordable clothing and participate in the economy. Companies like Trades of Hope work with women artisans to create stability for them and their families by selling handmade goods at fair wages. The second-hand clothing industry plays an important role in many developing countries in efforts to reduce poverty.

– Kaitlyn Crane

Kaitlyn is based in Rohnert Park, CA, USA and focuses on Good News for The Borgen Project.

Photo: Flickr

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Toward Ending Poverty in Mayan Communities in Guatemala

Mayan Communities in guatemalaMayan communities are Indigenous to present-day Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, El Salvador and Mexico. In Guatemala, Mayan people make up 51% of the population, making it the only Central American country where more than half of the population is Mayan. Guatemala is considered one of the most impoverished countries in the region, with 56% of its population living below the national poverty line.

Conditions are generally worse for Mayan communities, many of whom live in rural areas far from major cities. As a result, access to essential services such as health care and education is often extremely difficult and in some cases, impossible. Poverty affects 75% of Indigenous populations in the country, compared to 36% of non-Indigenous people.

A Brief History

The Mayan civilization was a highly advanced, agriculture-based Mesoamerican society. It established city-states, developed sophisticated trade routes and made significant advances in writing, mathematics and astronomy. The Spanish conquest of the Maya in the 16th century led to a sharp decline in civilization, marking the first of three major periods of cultural erasure.

The Liberal Revolution of 1871 triggered a second wave of repression against Mayan communities. The new government dispossessed Indigenous populations of their land, including farms belonging to Mayan families. Many were then forced into exploitative labor systems, working on lands that had been taken from them.

In the ’80s, during a period of military rule, General Efraín Ríos Montt led a counterinsurgency campaign targeting Mayan communities that had long advocated for basic rights and cultural recognition. The army destroyed more than 600 villages, killing or disappearing more than 200,000 people. It also displaced more than 1.5 million others during three years of conflict.

Despite these periods of violence and repression, Mayan communities in Guatemala have endured. Today, the country is home to 24 Indigenous ethnic groups that continue to practice their cultures and preserve their languages.

Medicine and Health

Access to health care is often more difficult for rural Indigenous communities around the world and Mayan communities in Guatemala are no exception. With few hospitals located in rural areas, many people must travel for hours to receive care. Maternal mortality rates among Mayan women are also significantly higher. 

The maternal mortality ratio for Mayan women is 166, compared to 78 for non-Indigenous Guatemalans. This disparity is partly driven by limited access to health facilities in rural areas, which forces many women to give birth at home. At the core of these disparities is a “deep-seated mistrust of institutional health care, rooted in historical trauma and systemic neglect.” 

Beyond physical distance, Mayan communities also face major cultural and structural barriers, including language, cost and discrimination. For many, the challenge is not only a lack of access to health facilities, but also a lack of what some experts describe as “cultural accessibility.”

Wuqu’ Kawoq (Maya Health Alliance) strives to address the health care challenges Mayan communities face every day. With a mission to advance health equity, the alliance serves more than 11,000 people annually. It plays a significant role in improving both access to care and the quality of health care available to Mayan communities in Guatemala.

Education

Access to education is similarly restricted when children have no nearby schools to attend each day. Karla Sucely Ramos Reyes, a kindergarten teacher based in Guatemala City, told The Borgen Project that in some cases, “children have to walk several kilometers to attend” school, contributing to low attendance and a “shortage of teachers.” She also noted that while nearly all children in major cities complete secondary education, “in rural areas, boys typically study up to the sixth grade of primary school.”

Adult literacy rates in Guatemala are relatively high overall, reaching 82% in 2024, according to the World Bank. However, literacy rates are significantly lower among Indigenous communities, at just 33%. Reyes also noted that “public schools [in Guatemala] do not have libraries.” She added that the government “provides little funding to libraries,” which means many rely largely on “donations from organizations that support literary and cultural arts.”

Chajul, a small town in Guatemala and home to the Ixil Maya community, opened its first public library, the Saber Sin Límites (Limitless Knowledge) Community Library, in 2010. The library houses more than 11,500 books in English, Spanish and Ixil, along with quiet study rooms and community spaces designed to support learning and growth. It also offers a range of programs, classes and projects to bridge the educational gap and encourage young people to embrace their Indigenous language and culture.

Labor and Employment

The labor market is often unforgiving for many urban Mayan people. Linguistic and cultural barriers continue to shape employment opportunities, as those who speak little or no Spanish and wear traditional clothing often face discrimination when seeking work. This can severely limit access to stable employment, social security and a livable income.

Women’s labor force participation in urban areas is nearly 50%. For Indigenous women in rural areas, however, that figure is significantly lower. Reyes also told The Borgen Project that gender-based wage inequality is more common in rural areas than in major cities.

Employment patterns also reflect deep inequality. For example, Mayan people make up 80% of domestic workers in private homes. In politics, by contrast, Indigenous people account for only 15% of parliamentarians. 

Mayan Power and Light (MPL), a project developed by the nonprofit Appropriate Technology Collaborative, is one initiative helping Mayan women pursue careers as entrepreneurs through training in green technology, particularly solar energy. Through workshops and training sessions, MPL seeks to address unemployment and gender inequality in the workforce. MPL also promotes sustainable, renewable energy solutions in Guatemala. In doing so, it is helping create a brighter future in more ways than one.

Looking Forward

Several other organizations are also making a meaningful difference for Mayan communities in Guatemala. The Office of the Ombudsman for Indigenous Women (DEMI), for example, is a government institution that works to defend the rights of Indigenous women by addressing discrimination and other forms of vulnerability. Although many initiatives are working to challenge inequality and confront the lasting effects of colonial oppression on Mayan communities in Guatemala and beyond, significant work remains.

Advocating for increased government investment in health care and education, while raising awareness of the inequalities faced by Mayan communities across the country, are essential steps toward a brighter, sustainable and equal future. 

– Brittany Buscio

Brittany is based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada and focuses on Good News and Global Health for The Borgen Project.

Photo: Flickr

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The Struggle With Higher Education in Guatemala

Higher Education in GuatemalaGuatemala is a country in Central America with a population of 18.45 million people, of whom more than half are socioeconomically disadvantaged. Unfortunately, the one factor that could be leading them above poverty also has alarming data. It is a well-known fact that a good and complete education is vital for the eradication of poverty. In fact, every additional year of education increases a person’s income by 10% on average, contributing to the overall development and improvement of their life and their community.

However, in Guatemala, only 56.6% of 25-year-olds have completed elementary school, and 17.9% have completed upper secondary grades. When it comes to higher education in Guatemala, only 5.1% hold a bachelor’s degree and 0.4% hold a master’s degree. Some of the reasons for these low percentages are as follows.

A Weak Foundation for Higher Education 

Legally, education is free and compulsory for children up to the age of 14. However, due to the low number of educators, low quality of education and poor infrastructure, the basic education facilities are not satisfactory. Moreover, within socioeconomically challenged communities, due to family constraints and economic pressure, most children drop out and aim to contribute financially. Overall, a bottleneck exists at the base level, which leads to further declining number of students pursuing a higher education. To increase primary education among the underprivileged children, the government have created targeted scholarship programs and an early warning system, ENTRE, to identify and support students at-risk for dropping out. The long-term benefits of these measures are yet to be seen.

Diminished Access To Higher Education in Guatemala

Currently, Guatemala has only one public university, Universidad de San Carlos (USAC), and 15 private universities, such as Universidad Rafael Landívar, Universidad del Valle de Guatemala and Universidad Francisco Marroquín. For those in socioeconomically disadvantaged communities, real and holistic access to these few universities is limited. These universities are based in Guatemala City or larger towns, leading to restrictions for people all over the country, such as relocation, housing and transportation costs. These often hinder individuals from pursuing higher education. The small concentration of universities also provides fewer opportunities for these individuals. Programs and NGO funded scholarships, like PROGRESA, aim to target academically gifted, disadvantaged students, hoping to offset the access barrier.

Scarce Funding for Disadvantaged Students

Globally, governments allocate around 4.3% of gross domestic product to the education sector. Unfortunately, the Guatemalan government invests only approximately 3.1% of its GDP to education. The scholarships set aside for the socioeconomically disadvantaged community reflect this. Only 0.01% of the overall education spending goes toward scholarships for higher education. Moreover, scholarships are competitive, often targeting individuals with an excellent academic track record. Unfortunately, since the number of students who have completed both primary and secondary levels is quite low, there is a limited number of students who may obtain and benefit from these scholarships.

Language and Cultural Barriers 

Indigenous Guatemalans make up 43% of the overall population, of whom 80% live in extreme poverty conditions. These individuals face additional language and cultural barriers. A Spanish-centric and culturally non-inclusive education system leads to poor completion rates among indigenous students both at the basic and higher education levels. These students also face discrimination based on ethnicity, which leads to limited opportunities and unequal treatment and resources. Indigenous communities have created six Mayan universities, designed for their younger generations, but are yet to have their courses certified officially. Foundations, like the BFB Foundation, and programs, aim to support indigenous youth through scholarships and mentorships, so they go on to complete their higher education.

Looking Ahead

These factors are a few among many that have resulted in the poor educational levels in the country. Overall, the higher education system in Guatemala requires further investment, better policies and more refinement, such that the younger generations among socioeconomically challenged communities are empowered to rise above and uplift their communities. Steps are being taken in response, however, only time will tell how effective they are. 

– Nishtha Mahendra Kumar

Nishtha is based in London, UK and focuses on Technology and Solutions for The Borgen Project.

Photo: Unsplash

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Women’s Cooperatives in Guatemala

Women’s Cooperatives in GuatemalaIn the highlands of Guatemala, women’s cooperatives are writing a tale of defiance against poverty. Historically marginalized groups of women have united through cooperatives to become the lifeblood of their local economies. The benefits are cascading in metamorphic ripples, transforming entire communities in their wake.

Economic Independence

The most immediate impact is a dramatic rise in household income. Cooperatives like the Cojolya Association guarantee members more than twice the local market rate, shattering legacies of exploitation and establishing women as primary economic actors. This empowerment was a product of necessity, born from the ravages of a civil war that left countless women widowed.

Survivors, now solely responsible for the welfare of their families and the rehabilitation of their communities, founded cooperatives like Trama Textiles, which has grown into a network of more than 400 weavers. Cooperatives like Ixoq Ajkeem demonstrate the power of a collectivist approach with their strategy of pooling resources, leveraging bulk orders and constructing common storefronts. In this way, women’s cooperatives in Guatemala integrate vulnerable and disparate artisans.

They unite them under a single, resilient organizational model. This structure protects families from economic volatility. It also shields individual producers from the unpredictability of the market.

Investing in Health and Nutrition

This economic power creates a direct second ripple: improved family health and nutrition. As primary earners, women consistently reinvest in their families’ well-being, marking a critical shift in a country where a severe poverty crisis drives chronic malnutrition. Through cooperatives, this care becomes institutionalized.

UPAVIM, for instance, has channeled its collective resources into a medical and dental clinic while also initiating targeted campaigns, like a soymilk program, to combat child malnutrition. The women of rural Guatemala continue to teach a lesson in ingenuity by using the cooperative model to transform earnings directly into community health care, ensuring the windfalls of their work are felt throughout their entire locality.

Keeping Children in School

The third ripple and perhaps the most foundationally transformative, manifests in education. Protection from poverty enables children to return to the classroom instead of toiling away in the workforce of manual labor. This commitment is structurally embedded in cooperatives like UPAVIM, which operates its own school.

It also provides members’ children with scholarships for school supplies and meals. These efforts significantly reduce costs and make education accessible to many more families. The result is both tangible and visible. Children in school uniforms are now a common sight.

This change reflects their mothers’ success in securing a right to education denied to earlier generations by poverty. It also signals systemic transformations capable of breaking long-standing cycles of deprivation.

Building Skills and Confidence

The impact of women’s cooperatives in Guatemala transcends material gain, mounting to a fourth ripple of personal empowerment. Beyond the loom, women receive vital training in financial literacy, business management and leadership, highlighting cooperatives as institutions for holistic human development and collective self-sufficiency. This newfound expertise fuels a powerful shift in communal identity. As one weaver from the Aj To’ooneel cooperative asserted, “Women today are entrepreneurs.”

This transformed identity is reproduced at home, reshaping the perceptions of forthcoming generations. “The children of the artisans are seeing that women also have an important role or they occupy the same position as men in the family,” observed Lidia Garcia of Mercado Global. This cycle of empowerment, once begun, becomes self-perpetuating.

Strengthening the Entire Community

These individual ripples converge into a fifth: community fortification, transforming cooperatives into vital civic institutions. Aside from its school, UPAVIM established a health clinic and bakery, establishing a grassroots community support system. This role as a community pillar becomes most evident and most critical during crises.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, cooperatives like Multicolores, Kakaw Designs and Mercado Global leveraged their networks to facilitate emergency food baskets, hygiene supplies and public health information when state aid was insufficient. Ultimately, these women’s textile cooperatives in Guatemala amount to something far greater than the sum of their parts; they weave a stronger, more resilient social fabric for the future.

Final Remarks

The story of Guatemala’s cooperatives is a testament to how women’s empowerment creates a cascade of change. From individual economic independence to healthier families, educated children and resilient communities, the ripple effect is lifting rural communities in Guatemala out of poverty. These cooperatives demonstrate that the most sustainable path to development is not through top-down aid alone, but by empowering those at the heart of communities to become the architects of their own futures.

– Georgio Moussa

Georgio is based in London, UK and focuses on Good News for The Borgen Project.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons