Guatemala

Projects

Economic Empowerment of Indigenous Youth and Women

The Project will improve the living conditions of indigenous men and women between the ages of 15 and 35 years, so that they can increase their income and improve their capabilities as well as improving the current conditions for autonomous decision-making; gaining access to professional technical education and market insertion opportunities; it...

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Credit Suisse - Swisscontact Initiative to promote entrepreneurship and innovation

The initiative serves to represent entrepreneurship and innovation in developing countries and emerging economies. Through skills transfer and cooperation, select private and public partner institutions work to enhance the economic and social significance of entrepreneurship, fostering entrepreneurial thinking and action.The initiative creates...

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Action Research - Social Network Analysis

By analysing social networks, we can identify and improve the dynamics of social groups. If applied to entrepreneurship ecosystems, this translates to actively linking actors and creating collaboration mechanisms that could facilitate the interaction and development of local entrepreneurial communities. The Guatemalan entrepreneurship ecosystem is fragmented and has difficulties in collaborating and coordinating with its members, which often leaves entrepreneurs adrift. As in most Latin American countries, start-ups in Guatemala are built on relationships and connections. The value chain does not begin with the what, but with the who. This disconnect, coupled with social and economic factors, is why the failure rate of local ventures is over 90%. Additionally, most companies created in the country are classified as a type of "sustenance employment" or self-employment, with little or no growth potential.

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Innova

Disadvantaged young adults will be able to successfully enter professional life through solid, high-quality training. In this way they will generate income for themselves and their families, freeing themselves from poverty on their own initiative.Young men and women are learning important technical skills in vocational training. Since the project...

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Nuevas Oportunidades: Productive Reintegration of Returning Migrants

The project seeks the productive reintegration of returning migrants through the introduction of certification of competences in El Salvador and eventually in the whole Northern Triangle (El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras).Thousands of migrants are forced every year to return to their home countries. Back in their country in the northern...

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News

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25.11.2021

A new television programme to empower the youth of Alta Verapaz

Swisscontact is bringing information and awareness of sexual and reproductive health to young people in Alta Verapaz, one of the poorest departments in Guatemala. For this purpose, a television programme was recently created to contribute to the prevention of teenage pregnancies and violence. This initiative is implemented together with the Municipality of Cobán and the local health department (DASAV) of the Ministry of Health.

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27.10.2021

From mother to entrepreneur - the story of Estela Rivera, founder of Reusa Beeswax Wraps

Thanks to expert consulting services, Estela Rivera found new distribution channels repositioning her small enterprise in Guatemala despite challenges faced during the pandemic. Photo ©James Rodriquez/Panos

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16.09.2021

A web portal to guide young people in Guatemala on vocational training and job opportunities

In spring 2021, Swisscontact launched a website to offer vocational guidance to young people in Guatemala, supporting them in their search for a future professional career or technical training. The platform is a tool to promote vocational and professional orientation in a personalised way from anywhere in the country. It allows students to discover their strengths and aptitudes accompanied by a coach. Such initiatives are of great value in a country like Guatemala where access to training is limited for the population.

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Regional Director Latin America

Saúl Díaz Ortíz

Interventions

Swisscontact has been working in Guatemala since 1972, implementing projects in diverse institution's areas of specialization: air quality control, strengthening micro and small enterprises, increasing competitiveness in agricultural and non-agricultural value chains, promoting entrepreneurship, vocational training, among many others.

More recently, Swisscontact in Guatemala has worked under the systemic approach as a facilitator empowering local actors to achieve development, targeting vulnerable populations with emphasis on youth, small-scale producers linked to agribusiness, women and returned migrants. Swisscontact Guatemala focuses on the following areas of work:

Vocational training and certification of competencies under the principle of Recognition of Prior Learning.
Promotion of entrepreneurship
Inclusion in the labor market
Increasing the competitiveness of value chains

Additional news and content on the spanish version of this page