Restorative justice for girls in Guatemala

• In Event: Speaking Up: Educating for Civic Purpose on Both Sides of the Wall

Proposal

Alejandra Colom, Population Council Guatemala Country Director, will present on Abriendo Oportunidades, a theory of change case study based in Guatemala. The program, led by Population Council, works in rural Guatemala with adolescent girls to empower them with the tools and skills needed to improve their lives. The goal of the program is to reduce the pervasiveness of child marriage by taking a holistic approach. A mentorship program at its core, the participants are paired with young female mentors from the community to discuss sensitive issues related to sexual health and violence against girls. These topics are approach in an informal and culturally sensitive way.
The anticipated outcome of the program is to raise awareness of girls both married and unmarried on their rights and access to health, education, economic and legal support. The other main goal of the program is to change the local norms and perceptions around issues of child marriage, girls’ education and, ultimately, change the local perceptions related to the value of girls. The program approaches this goal by engaging parents, guardians and community leaders in dialogue and reflection. Given that the issues of child marriage and girls’ rights to accessing education and health care are highly sensitive topics, involving the community leaders and families was key to the success of the program. The other key elements of the program that ensured the continued success of the program was the mentoring program. Mentors were young, local females between the ages of 18-25 who were given quarterly trainings to learn new content, improve their facilitation skills, and learn from each other. They were also given weekly support sessions by site coordinators. The mentors not only engage with the girls at the school level but also conduct home visits, which helps to identify issues at the household level. Moreover, since the mentors are close in age to the mentees, this interaction helps to break barriers to discuss sensitive topics such as sexual health and safety in the community. The program has adapted safety scans, which are mapping exercises where girls use smartphones to map areas where they feel safe, somewhat safe, or unsafe. This activity involves discussions with the community and family to raise awareness and reduce harassments and threats to girls. The other key element of the program is the focus on supporting girl’s education. In partnership with Ministry of Education the Population Council provided an accelerated program for girls in remote rural areas secondary schooling was unavailable. The program allows older adolescents to complete lower secondary school in two years rather than in three years.
The program was implemented in two stages. The first stage of the program focused on issues related to education and health for adolescent girls as detailed above. The second stage of the program focused on issues related to gender violence and protection of women during conflict. These topics were approached in the context of the civil war and the violence that took place against women and young females. This phase of the program involved civic learning through girls’ participation in restorative practice/justice. The restorative justice in terms of the civic learning played a crucial role in addressing the grievances of the civil war and the trauma that most girls and mentors had endured. In this panel, Alejandra Colom will expand on the role that civic learning with the lenses of restorative justice played in the success of the program and led to empowering young girls in accessing education and better health care.

Author

• Alejandra Colom, Population Council