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RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. — RTI International, a nonprofit research and international development institute, is partnering with Guatemala’s Ministry of Education on a new five-year effort to improve foundational reading, writing, math, and social and emotional skills for Guatemala’s children and youth. Funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the project aims to increase the number of students who successfully transition from elementary to middle school in Guatemala’s Western Highlands.
“We have assembled the right partners at the right time to truly make a difference in the communities of the Western Highlands,” said Cynthia del Aguila, RTI’s Chief of Party for the project. “This effort brings together four Guatemalan organizations already working in the region and RTI, who has global expertise in improving education at scale. I'm excited to lead this project.”
In Guatemala, according to PISA-D results, 40% of 14- to 16-year-olds were out of school. A lack of education contributes to fewer economic opportunities for youth, which can lead to migration and poorer outcomes in other areas such as health, nutrition and civic engagement.
The COVID-19 pandemic has compounded this crisis in education, with students who were not able to access distance learning — particularly young children and the most vulnerable — less likely to return to school and more likely to be subject to child marriage, child labor or gender-based violence. To sustainably tackle these issues in the Western Highlands, RTI will coordinate with Guatemala´s Ministry of Education and join with local partners to improve school quality and transition rates and ensure children and youth learn and thrive in their communities.
The implementation team includes Guatemalan partners Fundación de la Caficultura para el Desarrollo Rural (Funcafé), the Centro de Investigaciones Educativas (CIE) at Universidad del Valle de Guatemala (UVG), Fundación Sergio Paiz Andrade (Funsepa) and Wayfree, a local private-sector Wi-Fi provider.
Taking a comprehensive approach to addressing education disparities, the partners will:
- Support and equip the Ministry of Education, local authorities, schools and communities with new tools and processes to use school performance and student learning data to improve education outcomes
- Engage communities to identify social and behavioral issues and enact local solutions to address the twin challenges of low learning and high dropout
- Leverage community strengths and indigenous knowledge to reduce migration by helping individuals feel rooted in their communities
- Improve connectivity for underserved communities and expand access to remote learning
- Equip local and government partners to continue implementation beyond the life of the project
Over the life of the project, RTI and partners will support the Ministry of Education to improve learning opportunities for 200,000 children and their families. By focusing resources on indigenous peoples, women, youth and those with disabilities, the project will improve education quality and outcomes among historically excluded communities so that all students may achieve prosperous, secure and dignified lives.
