GOJoven Guatemala

Mission:

To fight for the observance and enactment of sexual and reproductive rights (SRR) of marginalized adolescents and youth in Guatemala through training, research, communication, and political advocacy in various levels of national public administration and the international community.

Vision:

GOJoven Guatemala Fellows envision themselves at the forefront of Guatemalan society, promoting respect and protection of the SRR of adolescents and youth.

Strategic Focus:

• Civic Participation: Propel actions to uphold adolescent and youth SRR, through communications and advocacy with key stakeholders at the local, national and regional levels
• Training and Capacity-building: Build capacity among adolescents and youth in SRR that contributes to universal access to sexual and reproductive health (SRH) and comprehensive sexuality education as a human right
• Research: Implement interdisciplinary research on SRR to improve adolescent and youth SRH
• Organizational Development: Develop the structure, function, methodology, and sustainability of GOJoven Guatemala

Meet the GOJoven Fellows in Guatemala:

• We are pleased to introduce the newest cohorts of GOJoven Guatemala Fellows from 2015, 2016 and 2017!
• Read more about all the GOJoven Alumni Fellows in Guatemala here.
• Learn about their inspiring community leadership projects, called Leadership Action Plans, here.

GOJoven Guatemala in the News:

• GOJoven Guatemala Fellow Joseline Velásquez Morales Recognized As One of BBC’s Top 100 Women in 2018
• Concerns About Underage Pregnancies (Preocupan embarzos en menores de edad), featuring GOJoven Fellow Eunice Ramírez

Select achievements of GOJoven Guatemala:

• Graduated three new generations of Fellows from GOJoven Guatemala between 2015 and 2018, using the GOJoven Model, for a total of 62 new young leaders from 11 departments across the country
• Mobilized hundreds of adolescents and youth to advocate decision-makers and contribute a youth perspective to the debates in Congress about the National Youth Law 38-96 initiative
• Developed advocacy actions that contributed to the approval of Decree 8-2015, which modified the Civil Code to raise the minimum age of marriage for adolescents, and Decree 13-2017, which closed remaining loopholes thus making this child marriage ban truly enforceable
• In partnership with the National Working Group for Girls and Adolescents – and independently – promoted dissemination and awareness of Decrees 8-2015 and 1302017 among the local policymakers and the general population to accelerate the elimination of child marriage
• Acted as a member of the National Working Group on Comprehensive Sexuality Education (MENEIS) since 2015 to help advance the right to comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) from a human rights, gender and intercultural perspective
• Implemented the first Youth Promoters and Providers (JPP in Spanish) program in Guatemala in partnership with Planned Parenthood Global, equipping 15 young leaders who acted as peer educators and providers promoting contraceptive methods and counselling to 450 other young in their communities who would not otherwise have had access to ASRH services
• Co-organized the first and second national youth camps in Guatemala as part of the Juventudes Ya! (Youth Now!) regional SRHR advocacy trainings in partnership with UNFPA Guatemala for youth and adolescents in Latin America and the Caribbean, contributing training methodology in the first camp (2017) and taking a greater technical leadership role in the second camp (2018), reaching 80 youth ages 17-24
• Partner organization and youth member of the Reproductive Health Observatory (OSAR) national and departmental networks, to improve reproductive health outcomes and monitor the implementation of Guatemala’s Universal Law for Family Planning and Comprehensive Sexuality Education
• Reached more than 18,000 youth and adolescents with ASRH trainings and information to reduce adolescent pregnancy, HIV transmission and sexually transmitted infections
• Trained over 700 teachers to offer CSE in primary and secondary schools in multiple departments of Guatemala
• Designed and implemented an intercultural SRHR and CSE training with over 1,600 Quiché Mayan indigenous young men and women ages 13-18 and in partnership with 19 community organizations in the municipalities of Totonicapán and Quiché
• Developed youth-friendly multilingual ASRH radio programming to reach thousands of youth
• Produced a youth-targeted HIV prevention video utilized by the Ministries of Health and Education to educate youth on protecting their SRH
• Co-organized the First National Youth Conference for youth and civil society organizations to address adolescent pregnancy, HIV and sexual violence
• Worked in partnership with Planned Parenthood Global, CAMY Fund of the Seattle International Foundation, UNFPA, CARE Guatemala, The Summit Foundation via the Public Health Institute, Global Fund for Children, Every Mother Counts, and on a pro-bono basis with Johnson & Johnson, Girls Not Brides, among others