RISE: A Challenge to Address Gender Based Violence in the Environment

Tz’unun: Ending Environmental Violence Against Indigenous Women in Guatemala through Empowerment in Community Forestry, Agroecology, and Collective Healing Spaces.
Co-implemented with Utz Che’

This year, out of over 200 applications from 66 countries, our team, Trees, Water & People (TWP) and Utz Che’, was selected as one of the winners of the the 2020 USAID RISE Challenge, which aims to address gender-based violence (GBV) in environmental programs.*

Our unique partnership began in 2012. Since then, we have built a comprehensive program that seeks to support Indigenous communities in Guatemala’s Southeast in 4 areas:

  1. Community Forestry

  2. Sustainable Family Agriculture

  3. Sustainable Community Economies

  4. Women’s Empowerment

 

With USAID funding, we will integrate a new component into our program to address the root causes of GBV that Guatemalan women face (specifically inequalities and barriers in economic, social, physical, and psychological security).

During the course of this program we will continue to support women's groups within Utz Che's community-based organizations, enabling women to organize, express their problems, and work collectively to pursue and promote their own social and environmental solutions.

Staying true to our community-based development philosophy, we will work side-by-side with 23 indigenous, multicultural, and campesino communities to empower 400 women through community forestry, agroecology, and Collective Healing Spaces (CHS).

The CHS will provide a safe space for women to share their experiences with GBV, receive guidance on how to  identify specific GBV challenges, and collectively build solutions. This project will also support women’s associations’ efforts to promote food sovereignty, economic entrepreneurship, and forest protection, while addressing the importance of women’s voices in contributing to community-led conservation and development in Guatemala.

Disclaimer: The views or positions on this website do not necessarily represent the views or positions of the U.S. Agency for International Development or the U.S. Government.

 

Interested in seeing these projects on the ground? Come travel with us.

Or contact Daniela Bueso at daniela@twp.tours or call (970) 233-2396