Opening Doors

Less than 30% of poor, rural indigenous girls are enrolled in secondary school in Guatemala, and half the population lives below the poverty line. This project will open doors and expand minds in underserved, marginalized areas of the country.

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Facing Adversity

Barriers to quality education in the region include a lack of classroom infrastructure (including a lack of classrooms and desks), large class sizes, insufficient supplies, lack of training for teachers, lack of planning time for teachers, lack of access to diverse, culturally appropriate and technologically appropriate teaching tools.

Improving Education

This project is designed to improve the quality of education in Guatemala’s western highlands – home to the Maya-Mam indigenous people – by providing accessible mobile learning technology, best practice examples in teacher training, and using culturally-relevant content.

This project will reach 35 indigenous communities and includes the construction of two permanent technology classrooms that will be equipped with Mobile Learning Labs in two  communities, in addition to eight Mobile Learning Labs that will travel between the other 33 communities for use in local schools.

Training will also be provided for local teachers both in the use of mobile learning technology (ie. Remote Area Community Hotspot for Education, RACHEL) and also in classroom design, the development and use of innovative didactic materials and their application, through a gender equality lens.

Project Results

The Project theorizes that technology can build and strengthen the three key elements that lead to improved student learning: 1) accessible high quality content; 2) skilled teachers; and 3) engaged students. Qualitative and quantitative data collected in the project were assessed using a theoretical model for how student learning occurs with technology. The Project deepens our understanding of the comparative advantages of using technology for education in the Global South. Results and Learnings from this Project and research study can be found here: Technology for Improved Education; Results and Learnings from a Project in Guatemala (2019-2020). 

Project Partners

Thanks to the funding support of the 60 Million Girls Foundation, your donations to this project will be matched 2:1 and support the education of young girls and young women who currently lack opportunity.

The Mayan Man Association for Research and Development (AMMID) has been working for nearly two decades to strengthen indigenous capacity through community development projects. AMMID’s projects focus on school building, bilingual education, textile cooperatives, agricultural production and improving gender equality in remote, rural communities of the Comitancillo province of Guatemala.