Mano A Mano Para El Desarollo: Creating Evidenced-Based Strategy to Increase Educational Access

To design effective and responsible development programs, an understanding of the country and sector context along with the desires of those targeted by the work is crucial. We must ask: what cultural norms will this program operate within? What does the community actually want and need? What are their daily realities?

In the summer of 2017, inspired by months of research on women's empowerment organizations, Guatemala, and how fair trade programs can better benefit the women they seek to "empower," I sought an opportunity to work with such an organization. I was so lucky to work with Cojolya Association of Maya Women Weavers to evaluate and expand Mano a Mano pay el Desarollo - a program which aims to improve educational access for the children of Cojolya's association members.

In Santiago Atitlán, the enrollment rate of students drops signi cantly from 75 percent of students attending primary school to just 24 percent of students attending the rst years of secondary school, equivalent to junior high school. This rate drops even further to 5 percent for the higher levels of secondary education.

Through Mano a Mano, Cojolya wanted to expand its impact into the community.

When I arrived in Santiago Atitlán, the program had been operating for 4 months. The organization had purchased a computer and printer that students could use free of charge to complete their assignments, removing the cost barrier of using internet cafes to print their homework. The average family earns Q40 a day, the equivalent of approximately $5.50, and students were spending Q5-Q10 each day just on printing and internet cafes. The organization also was holding monthly meetings where students in the program could talk about goals and some of the challenges they were experiencing in school.

In order to have the most appropriate and significant impact, Cojolya needed to know which barriers were most prohibitive to these particular students and their families and design a strategic way forward to implement Mano a Mano. My three months in Santiago were spent trying to answer that question.

After conducting in depth research on the education sector in Guatemala, and specifically the reality of education for indigenous youth in Santiago Atitlán, I designed comprehensive surveys for parents and their children which served multiple purposes: Establishing baseline data on the families in the program, evaluating the outcomes of the programs so far, and serving as a needs assessment to determine where resources would be most impactful.

The surveys were written in Spanish and conducted with 10 students. To interview the parents of the students, however, interviews had to be translated into Tz'utujil as most adults are not fluent in Spanish. This required concepts that made sense in English in Spanish to also be translated in the design of questions as many terms did not exist in their indigenous Mayan language.

Once the interviews were conducted, I was able to combine the data from qualitative and quantitative portions of the interviews to gain insights into trends on the families in our program. I examined their demographic characteristics (family size, average monthly income, average monthly costs), facts on the students (ages, grades, distance traveled to school, experiences with school), family perceptions and priorities, school costs, and the perception of prohibitiveness of those costs. I also examined our data on the usage of the computer to determine trends in usage (usage was increasing) and how much money was being saved by families through the availability of the computer.

All of this data was presented to the Cojolya team and was included in a training on the evaluation and program design process. Data was then used to provide recommendations of where the association might invest in future programming to have the most impact that was desired and needed by their association members and their children.

You can read more about Mano a Mano here.

Below is an example of one impact story which I wrote as a result of my interviews. This was published in Cojolya's Annual Report 2016. The original text can be found here.

“My father and mother did not go to school because they didn’t have opportunity to do so,” José Miguel explained on a typical rainy afternoon in Santiago Atitlán. “This is because their parents, before them, did not go to school and weren’t able to give them that opportunity.”

José Miguel is a first generation middle schooler. He is quiet and pensive but you can see wisdom, hope, and excitement for his future in his eyes as he speaks. His older sister was the first in his family to attend 6th grade, but has since stopped going to school. José Miguel is now the first in his family to reach secondary school and truly enjoys learning.

“The thing I like about school is that every day when I go to school I learn something new and learn more,” says José Miguel.

When he needs help with his assignments, his family can help him come up with ideas but to do more is a challenge as his classes become more advanced. What’s more, his class- es are taught in Spanish and while his parents know some Spanish they mainly speak the local language, Tz’utujil, at home.

When he grows up, he wants to be an accountant. José Miguel knows that he will have to dedicate a lot of his time to studying and will may even need a tutor to achieve this goal. He has a hard hill to climb to get there. And he’s not alone.

While enrollment in school up to 6th grade is required in Guatemala, the costs associated with school fees, school supplies, and other resources like computer and internet access are prohibitive for families earning an average of 40 Quetzales a day (approximately 5.50 USD.)

In Santiago Atitlán, the enrollment rate of students drops signi cantly from 75 percent of students attending primary school to just 24 percent of students attending the rst years of secondary school, equivalent to ju- nior high school. This rate drops even further to 5 percent for the higher levels of secondary education. José Miguel, for example, knows just two people who have graduated high school -- one is now a teacher and the other is the accountant who has inspired his future career goals.

Many of the children of our artisans, like José Miguel, are striving for more. Through our rst educational support program, Mano a Mano para el Desarollo, Cojolya will lend students a hand in reaching their goals. In March of 2017, Cojolya launched the program with an orientation welcoming the association members and children who wanted to enroll. Since then, Mano a Mano has expanded to include weekend art classes and monthly meetings with students to discuss the their needs and provide guidance on how to succeed in school. The association also purchased two computers that students can use to study and do their homework while using free internet and free printers. To date, our enrolled children have collectively saved more than the average monthly salary in computer use and printing.

For José Miguel, access to these resources is invaluable. He needs computer and internet access to complete assignments for his computer class, which began when he started secondary school. Before he could access the computers at Cojolya he had to pay to use these services at cafes and businesses just to do his home- work.This meant asking his mother for 5 quetzales each time he needed to do work for just one class. Now, he can be seen studying in our office almost every day and can study for as long as he wants.

“Being able to use the computer is helpful for me but it’s even more helpful for my family,” he says, “I’m thankful that Cojolya has been able to help.”

Cojolya is currently building strategic plans to evaluate the needs of the families in our association, identify what students want most, and deliver these solutions. Students have mentioned the need for school supplies like pens, notebooks and dictionaries, and nancial assistance for school fees, tutoring, and other resources. They have also expressed a desire to talk with successful members in their community about their career paths for inspiration and guidance. In 2017 and beyond, we look forward to finding the best ways to support the children of our association members and expand our impact into the community ofSantiago Atitlán.