Photo Essay: Family Strengthening in Guatemala
– May 11 2018
Photo Essay: Family Strengthening in Guatemala
This photo essay illustrates how you help support vulnerable families in Santa Cruz del Quiché, Guatemala, so they can adequately care for and protect their children.
Guatemala is one of the countries with the highest levels of chronic malnutrition in Latin America and even worldwide. Additionally, high levels of inequality and poverty put many families in Guatemala in a situation of acute vulnerability. Two-thirds of the country’s population of around 16.5 million lives on less than $2.00 per day.
The indigenous population is disproportionately affected by a lack of resources, as are women and children. Santa Cruz del Quiché is among the areas with the highest percentage of indigenous children (87.3%) and has one of the highest prevalence of malnutrition in children under five in Guatemala (69%).
This photo essay shows how SOS Children’s Villages Guatemala is supporting vulnerable families in Santa Cruz del Quiché so that they can adequately care for and protect their children. Currently there are 240 families participating in SOS family strengthening programs in the region. Family strengthening support includes measures to help curb malnutrition, family development workshops, training community members to carry out early childhood development activities, access to literacy classes and educational activities to empower community leaders and foster communities’ organizational skills.