Inequities drive the health and nutrition challenges in Guatemala and people living in poverty, such as families in street situations are disproportionately affected. The country has the fourth highest rate of chronic malnutrition in the world and 45% of the population live in moderate or severe food insecurity. As a result of the widespread food insecurity and inadequate nutrition, nearly half of all children under five in Guatemala are stunted. As well as the challenges associated with physical health, mental health also remains under-prioritised by the health sector in Guatemala. Less than 1% of the health care expenditure is by the Ministry of Health are allocated to mental health.
According to estimates by the National Institute of Statistics, an estimated 400,000 children are born each year in Guatemala, of which approximately 10% or 40,000 are not registered at birth. Without a birth certificate, they have no legal protection and insufficient access to social service systems, schooling, healthcare and formal employment opportunities.
Some of the critical factors that contribute to the challenge in Guatemala include internal displacement, loss of records, births attended by non-registered midwives, language and geographical barriers, parents not being registered themselves, and high levels of poverty preventing parents for being able to pay the costs for a birth certificate.
Guatemala’s strategic location and geography make it attractive to organised crime groups wanting to link drug producers with drug consumers. As a result, some of the crime areas which most affect the country are associated with drug trafficking, such as extortion, murder and trafficking in firearms and people. While organised crime groups have been present in the country for decades, the economic hardship following the pandemic have given gangs new opportunities to tighten their grip on the most vulnerable communities and children are exposed to high levels of violence.
Read moreThe country is home to a number of mafia style groups - some estimates suggest that there are between 10,000 to 20,000 gang members in the country. Organised crime groups are in constant need of new members and see street children as easy targets. They have a pattern of targeting minors to recruit them, as the law is more lenient on those under 18 if they are caught. The gangs also benefit from the fact that many street children are not registered at birth. Unregistered children do not officially exist, so they have no legal protection – they are not even counted as missing when they do disappear.
Children also experience violence in the home due to extreme pressures on income. Domestic violence is transgenerational and normalised through generations and is a major cause of children leaving home and turning to the streets for solace.
For street children in Guatemala, services to directly assist child victims of violence and their families remain weak in and, in many areas, non-existent.
Toybox supports young people to enrol in a range of vocational courses to support them with gaining employable skills for the future.
Parenting skills classes are delivered to parents and caregivers with a strong emphasis on reducing violence against children.
Our wider work focuses on building the foundations for a safe home environment with advocacy and awareness raising in the communities on violence against children.
Workshops are delivered to support children on the streets with learning a range of life skills.
Awareness raising through sexual and reproductive health workshops led by local health staff with adolescent girls take place.
We focus on enhancing access to health services. Medical check-ups and eye tests are offered to children and young people.
Homework clubs provide educational support to children.
Support is provided to vulnerable street children by accompanying them to specific services including counselling and medical support.
Regular night outreach sessions reach children on the streets with food, water and basic medical care. During these sessions the team identify children and young people that may need additional support.
Weekly sports activities provide the opportunity for the young people to begin to build trusting relationships with project staff.
Psychosocial and therapeutic support is offered to children and young people on the streets to help them explore the issues and concerns they face.
Awareness raising activities on the importance of birth registration and information sharing on the process takes place. Awareness raising campaigns contribute to ensuring that those children and families directly impacted by the program use their knowledge of the importance of birth registration to ensure that they register any new births immediately and to encourage others to do so too.
The project runs a series of ‘Registration Days’ in which our partner and RENAP complete the process of late registration for children and young people.
Project staff support unregistered children with more complex cases. These can take longer to resolve and involve significant time and effort to trace back the correct documentation to ensure the child is fully registered.
As key gatekeepers, midwives are trained on the process of birth registration and the importance of parents registering births on time so that they are confident to inform parents and families of the process.
Thank you for helping some of the most vulnerable children in Guatemala and across the world.
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