Perreault Magazine - 65 -
Ensuring that adolescent girls can go to school, see a doctor, participate in their communities, and live free from violence is key to driving social and economic change. Investing in girls is necessary to end poverty, strengthen communities, and build a more just and peaceful world. Girls are powerful. When they are educated, healthy and safe, they transform their communities. When girls stand up for girls in need, they empower each other and transform our world. GIRL UP, the United Nations Foundation’s adolescent girl campaign, engages girls to take action.
Led by a community of nearly half a million passionate advocates raising awareness and funds, their efforts help the hardest to reach girls l, who are iving in places where it is hardest to be a girl.
GIRL UP : GUATEMALA
775 girls are supported in
Totonicapan and Huehuetenango
In a place where poverty and inequality are prevalent, indigenous females are by far the most disadvantaged and vulnerable group. The rights of adolescent girls are not protected and thus many girls and women do not attend school and are forced into child labor. More than 2 million children in Guatemala do not attend school, most of whom are in rural areas. The prevalence of child labor is higher in Guatemala than anywhere else in Latin America. Girls can be forced to spend many hours working, leaving little time for school or to just be a girl.