Storm Eta Emergency Response in Guatemala

In a country of 17 million people where 75% are estimated to have anxiety disorders, there is only one psychologist for every 10,714 people. IsraAID Guatemala is working to address this issue through one of our tried and tested methods – training community workers. 

“Together We are Resilient” is IsraAID’s in-person course aimed at increasing the capacity of integral protection and psychosocial community workers in Guatemala, generating a wide network of support in especially vulnerable communities. But this wasn’t the first place we launched the course. As IsraAID Colombia’s Education and Protection Coordinator, I brought the training from my team in Colombia to my regional partners in Guatemala. I had the honor of working with Maria, who coordinates IsraAID’s protection programs. 

Maria and I worked together to ensure the course was relevant to the local and national needs. We focused on making sure that the context of Guatemalan culture and humanitarian system was represented, including adding more Child Protection and resilience-building aspects. Thirty officials from the Education, Health, and Protection sectors participated in this two-week course, representing 15 governmental and private organizations that provide social services to the communities. 

Collaboration was key to the success of this course: Collaboration between IsraAID’s different missions, between the different levels and sectors of officials involved, and between people will have different skill sets. Every participant in the ‘Together We are Resilient’ course shared case studies, stories, and skills, establishing cross-cutting support networks for people working with vulnerable communities. Simply put, everyone’s unique experience maximized the success of the training and eventual impact on the community.

Edna, coordinator of a shelter for survivors of sexual violence and trafficking told us that "This course is of vital importance for those of us who work with survivors, and especially strengthens my ability to support my team as a coordinator. The tools that we received, especially those of self-care and resilience, will be useful to my whole team, helping us to continue providing quality care to survivors in the shelter." 

"The course offered the opportunity for professionals from across the spectrum to focus on child protection, benefitting from the dialogue between people with a range of experiences working to support children at risk,” Maria said. 

Our Protection teams in Colombia and Guatemala are stronger than ever, as individuals, as teams, and as a region. We’ve been learning from each other from the very first discussions about this collaboration. As I told my colleagues, the learning experience with the Guatemala team has been transformative on a personal and professional level. The culture, the beliefs, and the entire ecosystem of this cross-sectoral project are very enriching. I brought them back with me to our programs in Colombia. I am very happy and grateful for this opportunity, to be able to contribute my knowledge, and to be welcomed by the Guatemala team. I am certain that we will continue working together to advance the sector across the region.

In both Colombia and Guatemala, and in the future hopefully more countries across the Latin American and Caribbean region, this cross-regional approach strengthens all of us.

Karen is IsraAID Colombia's Education and Protection Coordinator

Links:

• Read here in Spanish

Guatemala is one of the poorest and most unequal countries in Latin America, which translates into low levels of basic infrastructure services in the country, especially in the rural areas where 46% of the population lives. Few have access to universal health care and it is difficult to receive medical care in rural areas.

Water is an essential basic service, though access to safe water for large parts of the population remains deficient and scarce and the quality remains a serious problem causing health problems and gastrointestinal diseases, constituting the second most important cause of infant death in the country.

Last year, field inspections by IsraAID found that of the 7 hospitals in Alta Verapaz and Escuintla, all rely on buying bottled water for human consumption and untreated water for cleaning.

We were very excited to celebrate the arrival of six NUFs. One NUF can produce up to 1000 liters of clean drinking water per hour for communities without access to safe drinking water. Supported by local and international partners, including GlobalGiving, this specific NUF pictured below now serves the Tiquisate hospital in Escuintla which has around 262 permanent users per day.

Your support provides rural Guatemalans with access to safe water. Thank you.