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MEDIA CENTER Building Skills to Overcome a Precarious Reality NEW YORK AND ANTIGUA, GUATEMALA (29 November 2005) — Guatemala’s population is poorer, less-educated, younger, faster-growing, and more ethnically diverse than most others in Latin America. Nearly half of the population is indigenous (mainly Mayan), and for the most part they live in isolated rural areas, with access to few basic services. The Mayan girls and women of Guatemala, by virtue of being poor, indigenous, and female, confront severely limited economic and social opportunities. They lead lives marked by early marriage, frequent childbearing, inferior social status, and social isolation. Limited opportunities for education and mobility perpetuate the likelihood they will experience an unbroken cycle of poverty and poor health. To combat these harsh realities, the Population Council launched an effort to build skills and overcome the social isolation of these girls. On 1–2 December Council staff members will share the results of this groundbreaking work at a meeting entitled Innovative Multisectoral Strategies for Meeting the Needs of Indigenous Girls and Other Vulnerable Adolescents. Using the Council’s project as a starting point, the meeting will focus on multisectoral problem-solving, (i.e., efforts that incorporate methods to improve formal and informal education, livelihood opportunities, health awareness and services, intercultural relations, life skills, and gender empowerment). Participants, mainly from Bolivia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, and Peru, represent Latin American and international groups that address the needs of indigenous populations, women, and/or rural youth. The goal of the two-day meeting is to stop the intergenerational cycles of poverty and precarious reproductive health by identifying and responding to the special needs of indigenous girls and other vulnerable youth. Date/Time: Location: Meeting co-sponsors: The Population Council is an international, nonprofit, nongovernmental research organization that seeks to improve the well-being and reproductive health of current and future generations around the world and to help achieve a humane, equitable, and sustainable balance between people and resources. The Council conducts biomedical, social science, and public health research and helps build research capacities in developing countries. Established in 1952, the Council is governed by an international board of trustees. Its New York headquarters supports a global network of regional and country offices. ### Latin American contacts U.S. press contacts
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