Employment

Guatemala

The Project improved the living conditions of 300 families living in extreme poverty in an outlying urban area of Guatemala City either on or in close proximity to the great garbage dump that encroaches upon the city. This project aimed to improve the standard of living of the families by incorporating the women into the labor market, since, even though they want to collaborate effectively in the support of their families, they don’t have training that allows them to escape the cycle of poverty. In the majority of the cases, these women aged 15 to 50 years old are heads of households – due to being single mothers, being widows, or having been abandoned by their partner. Because of working with women with a very low level of schooling – illiterate in some cases – basic education programs were especially promoted for them to acquire technical training – the minimum needed for them to compete effectively in the labor market.
The training consisted of teaching sewing and embroidery techniques, beauty and cosmetology, pastry and commercial bakery, floristry, handicrafts and cooking, and will include a course of basic literacy, human values and self-esteem.
The beneficiary families will be given basic health care, consisting of a medical check-up for each family member and participation in a campaign of vaccinations for each one who needs them, especially geared to the youngest. The whole family will be given free basic health care (900 persons). In addition, the young children will be cared for in a nursery school where they will be given nutritional supplements.