INICIATIVA GUATEMALA


GYI’s Mission is to reduce unplanned teen pregnancy, promote gender equality, and empower young mothers in extremely marginalized communities near the Guatemala City landfill that struggle with high levels of violence, crime, and poverty.
Having a child at an early age isn’t necessarily bad if that’s what you want, but it’s important that you’ve thought through the responsibility of having a child and how that responsibility will affect your future plans. Most adolescents feel pressure from their peers to have sex at an early age because “everybody is doing it,” but they’re not recognizing their rights and thinking about what’s best for them. Iniciativa provides a safe space where youth not only learn about those topics, but also receive guidance about how to navigate situations they’re facing with sexual and reproductive health, teen pregnancy, maternity, and they can exercise their right to contraception as long as they are 14 years-old.
An eight-year-old came up to me the other day when I was working in the community [promoting the teen pregnancy program]. She came up and tapped my hand, and said, “come with me, my sister is 15 years-old. I’m gonna take you to her.”
Guatemala Youth Initiative is focused on opening new locations so that vulnerable youth can access the services they need as they navigate relationships, sexuality, and teen parenting. In 2022, the team partnered with four new schools, three new NGOs, and two government centers to expand services around the Guatemala City trash dump. Expanding to new communities has allowed more young mothers and children to receive support when it counts most.
New school partners for comprehensive sexuality education
New locations for young mother support program
New location for youth-friendly space & contraception
With a growing number of adolescents seeking help with sexual and reproductive health, GYI decided to open a youth-friendly space for one-on-one youth consultations. This space offers differentiated attention for teenagers to ensure they have a safe and private place to access sexual and reproductive health information from a counselor trained in youth-friendly services. The program seamlessly ties into our existing contraceptive services.
Navigating parenthood is not an easy task for anyone, especially youth, so GYI has worked together with its partner organization – Planting Seeds – to provide teen parents with different tools they can use for positive parenting. Teen parents learn about the different development stages of their children and how to use different techniques towards healthy childrearing.
Over the past two years GYI has witnessed a surge in youth referrals for contraception from its teen mom beneficiaries. Their own personal experiences have motivated them to take an active role in promoting family planning among youth, so GYI created a youth leadership program for young mothers to make a positive influence in their community through peer-to-peer education.
Doubt, fear, abandonment, and violence are common challenges mentioned by teen mothers near the Guatemala City landfill. GYI has worked together with its partner organization – Creamos – to provide young mothers with a safe space for expressing their fear, doubts, and pain so they can find healing and tools that will help their emotional wellbeing as they raise their child.
Guatemala Youth Initiative has taken a multifaceted approach to preventing unplanned teen pregnancy. The organization provides comprehensive sexuality education, a youth-friendly consultation space, peer-to-peer education via youth leaders, and free contraceptive services.
327 workshops given
59 active youth leaders
1,200 youth taught
810 peer-to-peer conversations
1,649
2,107 consultations given pregnancies prevented
Contraceptive services have been growing rapidly or young women living in marginalized communities.
Guatemala Youth Initiative focuses on maternity during the first thousand days from conception until the child is two years old with emphasis on breastfeeding, family planning, emotional wellbeing, positive parenting, child health, nutrition, and early childhood development. The program also offers a transition class for two-year-olds that feeds into other local preschool programs.
Expanding to new communities has allowed more young mothers and children to receive support when it counts most.
Susy was still a teenager when she became pregnant. At age 17, she faced maternity as a single parent and a number of emotional and financial battles along the way. Her mom heard of an organization that helps first-time mothers, and that’s how Susy arrived at Guatemala Youth Initiative with her little baby girl, Marjory. At GYI, Susy was able to take an active role in her daughter’s development, and practice at home everything she learned in class with Marjory. She learned about positive parenting and the different health and nutritional needs that her daughter would have during her early childhood. At GYI’s Youth Center, she was able to obtain long-acting contraception to avoid an unplanned pregnancy and dedicate herself to Marjory. Susy was able to finish her education and find a stable job thanks to one of GYI’s partners – Creamos. This year, Marjory will graduate from GYI’s toddler program and be able to start preschool with another one of GYI’s partner organizations. Being a teen parent certainly hasn’t been easy, but Susy has made the most of every resource available to her and Marjory.
Keily is a teenager studying in 9th grade at one of the schools near the Guatemala City landfill. GYI provides comprehensive sexuality education at her school. After learning about sexual and reproductive health, Keily decided to join GYI’s youth leadership program having the opportunity to educate other students at her own school as well as other schools in the city alongside GYI’s staff.
GYI’s youth leadership program isn’t just about educating youth, but empowering them to make informed decisions for their own sexual and reproductive health. After starting a new relationship, Keily made an appointment at GYI’s new youth-friendly space and opted for an intrauterine device – the most effective contraceptive method offered at GYI’s Youth Center. Concerned about unplanned pregnancy in her community, she also began referring other young women for contraception. Just recently, she accompanied two of her friends to GYI’s youth-friendly space who needed emergency contraception after having unprotected sex. With the prohibitive cost of emergency contraception, few government health centers willing to help adolescents, and abortion being illegal in Guatemala, many youth are left with no options after having unprotected sex. Not only were Keily’s friends able to obtain free emergency contraception, but they received options to protect themselves against unplanned pregnancy in the future.
Year Ended December 31, 2022
$330,418 Raised in 2022
$287,851 Expenses in 2022