1 year ago, american quarterly magazineIn the 2013 Social Inclusion Index, Guatemala had the lowest total score of the countries evaluated, at 14.8 out of 100. The index ranks 16 countries, including the United States, and 15 countries in Latin America. The review’s comments on Guatemala say: “Poverty and inequality are evident across all indicators, and unfortunately the region spends the least on social programs. A surprising number of Guatemalans are able to hold formal jobs. This country is far behind when it comes to women’s rights.”
This assessment was analyzed very seriously by the Guatemalan Development Foundation (Guatemala Desarrollo Foundation—FUNDESA) and the Guatemalan Commission of Agricultural, Commercial and Financial Associations (CACIF), and is a central starting point for important steps to improve social inclusion.
Through this initiative, Mejolemos Guate (Make Guatemala Better) The private sector supports economic and social challenges through open and inclusive dialogue based on public policy advocacy. This dialogue constitutes an effort to work with civil society leaders, indigenous authorities, and governments to reach consensus on a national plan to build a more prosperous, united, secure, and just nation.
last year, Mejolemos Guate has focused on the two most negative problems limiting Guatemala’s development: chronic malnutrition and improving the quality of education.
Guatemala’s social indicators show a lack of basic primary health care, particularly chronic malnutrition, which affects 49.8 percent of children aged 3 to 59 months, according to a 2012 study by the Inter-American Development Bank. He is said to be suffering. This is the highest rate in the Americas and the fifth highest rate worldwide.
Civil society leaders and the private sector are leading efforts to reduce that rate by supporting governments’ Zero Hunger Pacts. The agreement is an effort to reduce chronic malnutrition and infant mortality and promote food security in 166 priority municipalities, including 1,000 priority municipalities. Develop an opportunity plan to provide nutrition and health care from the start of a woman’s pregnancy until the child’s second birthday, and coordinate efforts through the Nutrition Alliance. The four main drivers of this effort are: Actions focused directly on public policy. Communication; food fortification and fortification. Efforts to promote maternal and child nutrition, access to nutritious foods, and ways to reduce food loss and waste.
Regarding education, Mejolemos Guate This initiative focuses on increasing the number of years children attend school. According to UNDP, children in Guatemala attend school for an average of only 4.1 years. Central to these efforts is the Department of Education’s reforms to improve the quality of the education system, with the department saying only about 8 percent of graduates pass standardized tests in mathematics and in reading. Only about 26 percent pass the test.
Mejolemos Guate’s activities include leveraging technology such as smartphone and tablet applications to monitor education in rural areas and ensure that teachers are present and teaching at least 180 days a year. Mejolemos Guate We are also introducing new models to improve how children read, including special training for teachers, knowledge-based applications through smartphones and tablets, increased computer and internet-based programs in schools, and more. Standardized test scores are made public for parents to understand. Participate in your child’s education.
To support this challenge, the International Commission on Culture, a group of indigenous leaders and private sector representatives, has been pushing for increased social investment. The ancestral Maya chiefs of Solola, Chichicastenango, Palín, and Totonicapán all participate in direct dialogue with the business community and support collaborative actions to increase social inclusion. As a direct result of these dialogues, Solola was able to receive more public spending on human development, particularly in health and nutrition, and for the first time local residents had the opportunity to participate in the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues . UNPFII).
The main challenge facing Guatemala in the near future is how all these actions will survive the regime change after a new president takes office in January 2016. Traditionally, most public policies were subject to change with each new government. And that is one of the main reasons why Guatemala has not made the progress that other countries have.
This political dialogue on social issues facing the country comes after Guatemala’s Congress last year signed the First National Human Development Agreement, which commits to combating chronic malnutrition and promoting quality education and vocational training for young people. That was one of the reasons I signed.
Guatemala still has many social issues to solve. AQ The Social Inclusion Index is a reminder of important topics that are still at stake, especially how to improve women’s rights. According to the 2013 National Survey on Employment and Income, only about 30 percent of Guatemala’s total active economic population has formal jobs, even though informal employment fell by 5 percent last year. .
As migration to the United States and other countries continues, the main goal of institutions such as FUNDESA and CACIF is to develop sustainable strategies to attract more foreign direct investment and increase women’s economic participation. be. According to the World Bank, Guatemala’s economic growth rate last year ended at 3.7%, foreign direct investment increased by 5% and the country improved its 14th place in the Business Activity Index, so the efforts paid off. It’s starting.
The situation is starting to improve in Guatemala. We just need all of us to continue to work together and support different initiatives to increase economic growth and social inclusion.
The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the opinions of: american quarterly magazine or its publisher.