Our Programs
SERniña is proud to offer diverse workshop programs to address the varying needs of our participants and partner schools. Regardless of the program, all are taught through a variety of activities including arts and crafts, yoga, meditation, dance, selfdefense, theatre games, guest speakers, group discussion, and more. Our goal and mission is to give every participant the tools and confidence they need to live up to her/his full potential and be the author of their own story. All programs are run on-site at our partner schools organized in weekly two-hour sessions. All workshops are run my Certified SERniña Instructors who are local men and women.
Programs
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SERniña - Girl Empowerment Program
This customizable program addresses the key issues affecting girls’ selfesteem, and provides participants a safe space where they can learn and construct a powerful toolset to overcome the daily challenges faced by women and girls. Our workshops and camps feature twelve modules that aim to educate and empower girls through their direct participation in our conversations. We tackle difficult topics such as body image and the influence of society and the media on gender norms and expectations. We also teach girls the importance of self advocacy and goal setting, forming healthy relationships, and living a life based on values. These skills are especially crucial for Guatemalan girls, many of whom live in poverty and face many barriers to healthy development and success. 
SERniño / SERlider - Positive Masculinities Program
Seeing the critical role boys and men play in the creation of fair, safe and just communities, SERniña has created SERniño and it’s year-two program SERlider, to guide boys and men to become whole and balanced humans dedicated to creating a gender-equal world. 
Violence Prevention & Response Program
In 2021, we were proud to launch a new branch of our program which provides holistic violence prevention and response support to survivors of violence in our programs and their family. This program was created to respond to the high rates of unaddressed domestic and gender-based violence faced by our young participants. In 2021, we hired a ‘Violence Prevention & Response Coordinator’ to take the lead on program design and implementation. This new program provides the following services to children in our programs and their families: free group therapy, free one-on-one therapy, free family counselling, free legal support, and personalized case support for each survivor of violence. |
SERlideresa - Girl Empowerment Program
In 2017, SERniña also launched SERlideresa, which is an additional year of programming to strengthen the skills, knowledge and confidence acquired in their first year of the program. Like SERniña, SERlideresa is run in two-hour weekly workshops throughout the school year. SERlideresa is also built on the 12 core modules of SERniña, but provides a more in-depth approach to the curriculum and activities that are age appropriate. 
SERelCambio - Youth Leadership Program
SERelCambio (Be The Change) is a program aimed at young graduates of our other flagship programs. Whereas our flagship programs focus on personal empowerment, SERelCambio encourages youth to apply their learning from SERniña/SERniño in their daily lives and step up as agents of positive change in their families, schools, and communities. Throughout the course of the program participants explore local community needs, brainstorm creative solutions, and then plan, execute and evaluate a youth-led community action project. SERelCambio is based on the award-winning methodology of the SERES leadership program. 
SERmujer
This is an intensive course for all women and specifically SERniña/o mother's where they have the opportunity to experience the core modules of the SERniña curriculum in monthly workshops organized by their home-school, and run by a SERniña Facilitator. Through these workshops, we hope each mother will better understand her own programming and be inspired to fully support and empower her daughters and raise emotionally-connected and socially conscious sons. |
Whole Family Healing Program
In 2021, through the support of the Fund for Innovation & Transformation and Global Affairs Canada, SERniña launched an innovative approach to violence prevention and response that works with entire families (parents, siblings, and victims) to provide healing-based workshops to help entire families overcome the trauma of abuse and step up as co-creators of violence-free and gender-equitable communities. Key components of this approach include using traditional Mayan healing methodologies and taking a restorative justice approach.
In 2021, through the support of the Fund for Innovation & Transformation and Global Affairs Canada, SERniña launched an innovative approach to violence prevention and response that works with entire families (parents, siblings, and victims) to provide healing-based workshops to help entire families overcome the trauma of abuse and step up as co-creators of violence-free and gender-equitable communities. Key components of this approach include using traditional Mayan healing methodologies and taking a restorative justice approach.
Modules
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Our modules include, but are not limited to:
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