|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
May 2003 Learning How to Make a Difference to Mayan Girls Thirty-six years of civil war that ended in 1996 left Guatemala among the poorest countries in Latin America. A third of the adult population cannot read. Guatemala has the highest infant mortality rate in Central America, as well as the highest fertility rate. Eleven percent of births are to girls ages 15 to 19. Ana Langer, director of the Population Council’s regional office for Latin America and the Caribbean, and social science researchers Jennifer Catino, Kelly Hallman, Sara Peracca, and Marta Julia Ruiz are seeking to clarify how best to help improve the lives of a particularly beleaguered segment of Guatemala’s population, Mayan girls.Nearly half of the Guatemalan population are Mayans, who for the most part live in isolated rural areas, with access to only a few basic services. Seventy-five percent live in poverty. Among Mayan women ages 15–19, only seven percent of the extremely poor have completed primary school and, on average, they are two years younger when they marry than their mainly urbanized ladina (Spanish-speaking) peers.
Theorizing that cultural, economic, geographic, and language barriers have contributed to the current circumstances of Mayan girls, Council researchers are seeking to identify initiatives to bring about change— known in social research parlance as interventions. They are examining the possibilities for building on existing programs for which success can be demonstrated. Their goal is to identify the type of support programs that provide the most leverage for positive change. The research is being underwritten by the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “We are taking a very evidence-based approach in order to eliminate preconceptions,” Hallman noted. “We are looking at the dimensions of adolescent life in Guatemala, using such existing data as the World Bank’s Living Standards Measurement Survey.” The researchers already have uncovered important facts that could guide the design of future interventions. For instance, by the age of 14 half of Mayan girls have dropped out of school. However, there is no large jump in the percentage of Mayan girls who are married or pregnant until the age of 18. The preconception that these girls are leaving school mainly because of marriage or pregnancy appears to be unfounded. Research is revealing that the girls are dropping out of school to work in their homes or in the fields, often for no pay. Now that factors for further investigation have been identified, the next question is, where to investigate them? “We know from the data that there are variations in conditions by region,” Hallman says, “but we need to know which regions have the most pressing needs.” “We also want to find areas in which programs already are in place,” adds Peracca. They are forging collaborative relationships with local partner organizations that are working with—and are known and trusted by—the Mayans. New approaches then can be incorporated into existing programs to avoid redundancy and stretch existing resources. Local researchers have inventoried programs serving Mayans and adolescents that are run by the government, nongovernmental organizations, and private charities. Four communities in two of Guatemala’s mountainous rural regions have been chosen for further study. Adolescents, parents, teachers, and community leaders are now being interviewed by local researchers about the aspirations, opportunities, and barriers affecting the lives of Mayan young people. Informed by the findings of evidence-based, scientific investigations, Council researchers plan to use that knowledge to design and test additional, practical interventions appropriate to the Mayan culture. See Also
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
