Guatemala Cultural Action, Guatemala

Guatemalan Cultural Action (ACG) was established in 1989 as groupings of Mayan Guatemalans affected by the civil war in that country, who were formerly refugees living in Mexico or had been internally displaced during the conflict, were able to return to their rural lands and rebuild their lives. Global Ministries has partnered with ACG since its beginnings. ACG has four main objectives: 1) to promote community projects in the area of education, culture, economics, and ecology; 2) to promote Mayan and Christian spirituality as inspiring and encouraging sources of meaning for community work; 3) to promote ecumenism and inter-religious dialogue in promotion of a climate of harmony, peace, and solidarity within the rural, indigenous communities; and 4) to provide training for the communities on their human rights and how to defend them.

The Women’s Commission of ACG was created through the initiatives of a group of women in the Huehuetenango department. They responded in August of 1993 to an invitation that was extended by the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Cristobal de las Casas in Chiapas, Mexico. This invitation called them to the general assembly of an organization of Mayan women in the area. They returned enthusiastic with the level of organization of the delegates at that meeting and asked the coordinator of ACG about the creation of their own organization within the structure of ACG.

Their objective at that time was to organize and mobilize the women to work for peace, justice, the defense of the rights of the poor population, and at the same time contribute to the transformation of the society to respect the values and the rights of the indigenous population. Their first years were years focused on the training and organization of women’s groups in the communities of Huehuetenango, el Quiché, Alta Verapaz, in the communities in resistance (CPR) in the Ixcán, and in the refugee camps in the Mexican states of Campeche, Quintana Roo, and Chiapas. At the same time they participated actively in the peace process, in the mobilization for the return of the refugee families, and in the public recognition of the communities in resistance.

With the return to Guatemala and to their communities of the former refugees and the internally displaced, and the signing of the Peace Accords in 1996, the women of ACG dedicated their efforts and strengths to development and looking for a means to increase family incomes through a series of small productive projects.

The micro-credit and savings project is based on the Grameen scheme that helps women to finance small productive ventures. This service was begun with a one-year experimental project that involved 23 women. The program was a great success. In 2004 the number of women grew to 130 in eight communities and in 2005 to 354 in 12 communities. The goal for 2006 is to add 300 more women from 18 communities.

The majority of these women invest their loans in the raising of barnyard animals or in small businesses like the fabrication of clay pots, selling of vegetables in the regional market, tortilla selling, or arts. At the same time ACG offers training sessions in technical development of their projects.

Each participant receives $67.00 (500 Guatemalan quetzals) for her productive project. ACG gives an orientation to the participants about the administration of credit. In order to expand the Micro-Credit program, ACG requires additional resources in order to provide the staffing, field visits, and the rotating loan fund for the 300 new participants.