Help us raise $17,000 USD so we are able to repair and furnish our 'Family & Community Center’!
The ‘'Family & Community Center’ will allow REALgirl (SERniña) to launch more in-depth and community-wide support programs in El Hato so we can better support the empowerment, safety, well-being and leadership of Indigenous girls in Guatemala!
In response to this, REALgirl (SERniña) hopes to expand our services to provide more holistic support, not only to girls, but also to their families and communities. To meet this need and unleash unprecedented potential, we have set the goal of opening a ‘Family & Community Support Center’ in El Hato in 2023.
Alongside the community, we already have so much in place to make this happen: the space, a hard-working team, passionate community members, program plans, participant wait lists, empowerment workshops are ready...and so much more!
Now we just need the support from you to make it happen!
Alongside the community, we already have so much in place to make this happen: the space, a hard-working team, passionate community members, program plans, participant wait lists, empowerment workshops are ready...and so much more!
Now we just need the support from you to make it happen!
The Need
The space that will house our 'Family & Community Centre' is made up of two small classrooms, a large outdoor classroom, a bathroom, as well as outdoor spaces. Though it has ‘good bones’ the space is in critical need of repairs and needs to be fully furnished to be functional for our launch in February 2023.
The space that will house our 'Family & Community Centre' is made up of two small classrooms, a large outdoor classroom, a bathroom, as well as outdoor spaces. Though it has ‘good bones’ the space is in critical need of repairs and needs to be fully furnished to be functional for our launch in February 2023.
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Though REALgirl (SERniña) has been working in this space since 2021, we have always done so in collaboration with other groups. But, next year we will be fully taking over the space, and as a result, will need to fully furnish the space, cover all costs of critical repairs, and provide all educational and workshop supplies. To do so, we need your help!
The children and community members of El Hato deserve to live, learn, play, and grow in a dignified space that fosters a sense of security, safety, learning, and empowerment.
Help us make this happen!
The children and community members of El Hato deserve to live, learn, play, and grow in a dignified space that fosters a sense of security, safety, learning, and empowerment.
Help us make this happen!
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Through your support, with the launch of our new Family & Community Center we will be able to achieve the following next year:
- Run weekly empowerment workshops for over 100 children
- Provide bi-weekly empowerment workshops for 30+ women
- Provide over 600 one-on-one therapy sessions
- Launch our ‘SERelCambio’ Leadership Program for community teens
- Offer women of the community literacy programs and support
- Provide empowerment, entrepreneurship, and skill-development training for teen girls and women
- Offer parenting and couples’ workshops
- Provide monthly positive masculinity workshops for men
- Run Sexual and Reproductive Health workshops, information fairs, and offer mobile clinics
Additional Info
Why A Family & Community Center?
Girls do not live in a bubble. They are constantly impacted, and often held back, by the challenging realities they face in their families and communities. When we ignore the pivotal roles family and community members play in the co-creation of equitable and safe communities, we greatly impede the empowerment of girls.
Over the past two years, through the support of the Government of Canada, we were able to test the impact of expanding our programs and working with whole families and communities to better support the safety, empowerment, and leadership of Guatemalan girls. As it turns out, the results were astounding...
REALgirl (SERniña)'s History In El Hato
REALgirl (SERniña) has been working in El Hato since 2015. In fact, El Hato was one of the first communities to join our program. Since then, we have run year-long empowerment workshops with their primary school, middle school, distance learning program, and parent groups. Throughout 2021 and 2022 through the support of Global Affairs Canada and the Fund for Innovation & Collaboration, we were able to launch our first 'Whole Family Healing Program' which provided empowerment and healing workshops to children, fathers, and mothers, couples workshops, parenting workshops, and one-on-one therapy. This was a first venture into expanding our programs to work with families and communities and the results were entirely positive (see above). Over the past seven years REALgirl (SERniña) has served over 500 El Hato community members and continues to grow each year. Through our community-driven approach we have deep and collaborative roots with the community, including strong relationships with the school, local government, partner non-profits, as well as powerful relationships with the community members themselves. Alongside the community of El Hato, we are honored and excited to open our dream 'Family & Community Center' so we can grow our work unlike ever before and bring about even more transformative and lasting change!
Transitioning Shared Space Into REALgirl (SERniña) Family & Community Center
From March 2020 until June 2022, public schools in Guatemala were closed. Therefore, to provide our programs to the children of El Hato we were forced to pivot our efforts and innovate our strategies. In 2021, in collaboration with our hard-working partners in the area (Las Manos de Christine, Together We Can Guatemala, and the Garden of Hope) we were able to rent a space in the community to each run our programs. During this pilot phase we have had resounding success:
Despite great success in the two pilot years, as knowledge of our programs grew so did the need: SERniña had waiting lists of women and girls wanting to do more workshops and seek more resources than the current center could support, the tutoring programs were limited in how many children they could support due to challenges with space, and overall all partners were limited in what they could offer and do due to lack of space and the scheduling challenges that came from so many organizations sharing one space. As a result, alongside our partners, we came to the collaborative solution to spread out our work and move into separate spaces allowing each program to grow and thrive. Therefore, in 2023, 'Las Manos' and 'Together We Can' will be moving to a separate space. The Garden of Hope will continue with their use of the existing outdoor garden space. And, SERniña will remain in the current space and will be the only organization using the indoor spaces, allowing us to expand and deepen our community support and provide more transformative programs to more girls and community members than ever before. And to do so, we need your help!
Girls do not live in a bubble. They are constantly impacted, and often held back, by the challenging realities they face in their families and communities. When we ignore the pivotal roles family and community members play in the co-creation of equitable and safe communities, we greatly impede the empowerment of girls.
Over the past two years, through the support of the Government of Canada, we were able to test the impact of expanding our programs and working with whole families and communities to better support the safety, empowerment, and leadership of Guatemalan girls. As it turns out, the results were astounding...
- Cases of violence against women and children in the community dropped by 45%
- 79% of participants reported an improved sense of safety (less violence) in their homes
- 90% of the women and girls who participated reported taking a concrete action towards their empowerment
- The vast majority of participants demonstrated significantly more egalitarian viewpoints towards women and girls
- There was a community-wide marked increase in access to sexual and reproductive health supports
- Families were more supportive with their child’s education, especially that of girls
- The involvement, empowerment, and leadership of girls in their academics and community projects greatly increased
- And so much more!
REALgirl (SERniña)'s History In El Hato
REALgirl (SERniña) has been working in El Hato since 2015. In fact, El Hato was one of the first communities to join our program. Since then, we have run year-long empowerment workshops with their primary school, middle school, distance learning program, and parent groups. Throughout 2021 and 2022 through the support of Global Affairs Canada and the Fund for Innovation & Collaboration, we were able to launch our first 'Whole Family Healing Program' which provided empowerment and healing workshops to children, fathers, and mothers, couples workshops, parenting workshops, and one-on-one therapy. This was a first venture into expanding our programs to work with families and communities and the results were entirely positive (see above). Over the past seven years REALgirl (SERniña) has served over 500 El Hato community members and continues to grow each year. Through our community-driven approach we have deep and collaborative roots with the community, including strong relationships with the school, local government, partner non-profits, as well as powerful relationships with the community members themselves. Alongside the community of El Hato, we are honored and excited to open our dream 'Family & Community Center' so we can grow our work unlike ever before and bring about even more transformative and lasting change!
Transitioning Shared Space Into REALgirl (SERniña) Family & Community Center
From March 2020 until June 2022, public schools in Guatemala were closed. Therefore, to provide our programs to the children of El Hato we were forced to pivot our efforts and innovate our strategies. In 2021, in collaboration with our hard-working partners in the area (Las Manos de Christine, Together We Can Guatemala, and the Garden of Hope) we were able to rent a space in the community to each run our programs. During this pilot phase we have had resounding success:
- SERniña was able to provide 1:1 coaching and small group coaching to girls during the pandemic
- SERniña was able to run weekly empowerment and equity workshops for nearly 100 children, despite on-going school closures
- SERniña was able to launch our ‘Whole Family Healing Program’ and provide over 150 children and family members with weekly workshops, group programs, and individual therapeutic support
- Las Manos and Together We Can were able to continue to provide tutoring, after-school, and summer school programs
- The Garden of Hope was able to build a new garden space and offering gardening and cooking classes to community members
Despite great success in the two pilot years, as knowledge of our programs grew so did the need: SERniña had waiting lists of women and girls wanting to do more workshops and seek more resources than the current center could support, the tutoring programs were limited in how many children they could support due to challenges with space, and overall all partners were limited in what they could offer and do due to lack of space and the scheduling challenges that came from so many organizations sharing one space. As a result, alongside our partners, we came to the collaborative solution to spread out our work and move into separate spaces allowing each program to grow and thrive. Therefore, in 2023, 'Las Manos' and 'Together We Can' will be moving to a separate space. The Garden of Hope will continue with their use of the existing outdoor garden space. And, SERniña will remain in the current space and will be the only organization using the indoor spaces, allowing us to expand and deepen our community support and provide more transformative programs to more girls and community members than ever before. And to do so, we need your help!
We cannot do it without you!
Our goals are only possible through the support and generosity of donors like you.
This campaign is led in collaboration with the following SERniña (REALgirl) Partners:
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