The visit took place within the framework of the “Women, transformer of the Society” Seminar that is taking place at the training center for Women “Las Gravileas” in Antigua organized by the Observatory “Women and Equality” (OMEI) .
On behalf of OMEI, the General Director of the Social Promotion Foundation, María Beamonte, Julieta de Micheo, OMEI Coordinator, Ana Fernández Ardavin, Dean of the IMF Business School and Lucía García Gilabert, communication department at the Social Promotion Foundation. Together with them, María Tosca, Director of Training and Entrepreneurship Employment of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce, Paloma Cervilla, ABC journalist, and Ana Lucía Barrios, Technical Assistant of the Directorate for the Promotion and Participation of Women, were part of the delegation. of the Presidential Secretariat of Women in Guatemala.
The visits were guided by Karla Rodríguez, General Manager of FUDI, Dr. Marco Tulio, Manager of the Aq’on Jay Center, and Ing. Lesly Moreno, of the Utz Samaj Center.
The objective of this day was to see the work that the Integral Development Foundation (FUDI) develops in Guatemala through its three centers in Tecpán Chimaltenango:
Utz Samaj (Good Work) agricultural center dedicated to teaching, and whose main focus is to enable to produce various crops both in greenhouses or protective structures, and in the open field so that farmers can implement their own productive project or optimize what they already own,
Ixoqi ’(Woman) center that seeks to commercialize products made by women in rural areas, improve their living conditions and be able to actively participate in the development process of their families and communities, and
Aq´ on Jay (Medical House) medical referral center whose objective is to train and support rural inhabitants in primary health care, with emphasis on chronic child malnutrition, as well as contributing to the well-being of the family through education, promotion, prevention and approach of the health services of the target communities with timely follow-up.
The visit began in one of the target communities of Aq ‘on Jay, Joya Grande, in the Municipality of Zaragoza in Guatemala, where 354 families reside, and in particular, in a center that they have built in order to combat child malnutrition, and care for mothers, although other members of the community are also cared for. They were with some of those mothers and their children who participate in the program.
Later they moved to Tecpán to visit the three centers mentioned.
They visited the woman of a rights holder of Utz Samaj and her greenhouse in which they cultivate tomatoes and vegetables that guarantee the family’s livelihood; there they told us that women suffer discrimination and refusal to manage their own crops; One of the measures they have introduced in the center is to create greenhouses to grow flowers, as it is facilitating the change of mentality of husbands towards their wives.
They also visited a place where training and advice for crop entrepreneurship are carried out.
Afterwards they visited the Ixoqi’ center and some of the training activities which are offered to women in the rural area in cutting and sewing, perforated necks and eyeglasses, typical fabrics and machine embroidery, among others in the textile and artisan bakery area, commercial pastry, cooking and packaging in the food area.