Good Neighbors Guatemala

Good Neighbors Guatemala strengthens community capacities to create a context of protection that guarantees the well-being and rights of children and youth.

• Child Protection: We promote awareness of child rights. This initiative includes regular home visits to sponsored children, monitoring cases through parent groups in communities, disseminating and distributing educational materials, developing methodologies, and campaigning in primary schools.
• Education: We ensure all children have inclusive and equal opportunities for quality education. This initiative includes improving primary school infrastructure, providing school supplies, supporting teacher capacity building and teaching equipment, offering Junior High School scholarships, tutoring programs, and vocational courses.
• Youth development/Entrepreneurship-Employment: We support job access and promote entrepreneurship for positive social participation. This initiative includes entrepreneurial and job access workshops, capacity building in languages and office trades, access to certifications, workshops on life planning, leadership, and volunteerism, and promoting youth leadership and participation for social and community commitment.
• Nutrition: We improve the nutritional status of toddlers and children in prioritized communities. This initiative includes health checkups, backyard gardening, nutritional education workshops, recreational activities, and the distribution of inputs and goods, especially targeting malnourished children and their families.
• Menstrual Health (Blooming Cycles): We empower girls through knowledge and access to resources for proper menstrual health. This initiative includes menstrual health educational workshops, sanitary pad production workshops and distribution, and awareness-raising activities in schools.
• Water Sanitation and Hygiene: We increase access to secure water and improve community hygiene and sanitation practices. This initiative includes constructing and rehabilitating school infrastructure, distributing household water filters, and conducting hygiene workshops and hygiene kit distribution.
• Disaster Risk Management and preparedness: We reduce vulnerabilities through risk prevention and preparedness. This initiative includes building risk management capacity, developing community prevention plans, and distributing emergency kits.
• Economic Development: We generate sustainable livelihoods in communities. This initiative includes supporting microeconomic activities with sponsored children’s families, improving market access for efficient income generation, supporting and consolidating social enterprises, coordinating with micro-credit entities for partners, and promoting and designing handmade products.

Our interventions are aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Overall, we have significantly contributed to SDGs 1 (ending poverty), 2 (food security and nutrition), 3 (good health), 4 (quality education), 6 (water and sanitation), 8 (sustainable economic growth), 10 (reduced inequalities), 13 (climate change adaptation), and 17 (partnerships for the goals).