From Guatemala to the US Midwest: Connecting Indigenous Women and Girls to Each Other

NATIVE AMERICAN AND MAYAN INDIGENOUS GIRL MENTORS COME TOGETHER IN DIALOGUE TO BUILD MUTUAL UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN THE U.S. AND GUATEMALA IN THEIR FIRST-EVER VIRTUAL EXCHANGE.

On Tuesday, January 19, 2021, the Indigenous Adolescent Girls’ Empowerment Network (IMAGEN) co-hosted a Virtual Girl Mentors Exchange with Guatemala’s Abriendo Oportunidades© (AO) initiative. The meeting brought together mentors from reservations in the U.S. and rural communities in Guatemala, who are exposed to different cultures, languages, experiences, and ideas, to discuss long-lasting social change through the projects they implement with girls, as well as the unique challenges they face.

Building off of decades of programmatic research and lessons learned, IMAGEN and AO bring locally-led indigenous organizations together to propose innovative ways to reclaim female social infrastructure and matrilineal traditions. Through this framework, girl-centered programs adapted to the local context are built to impart important skills, safe havens, and mentor networks to American Indian and Mayan girls.

Both organizations foster girl-centered programming and help build and strengthen girl societies, and participants were able to share the culturally-relevant programs they lead and participate in, designed specifically for indigenous adolescent girls. Read the full reflection by Gabriela Lehnhoff here →