Project Name:

COVID-19 and the health of Maya Q'eqchí and Ladina girls and women of Southern Petén, Guatemala (2020)

Start Date: 05/01/2020

End date: 05/31/2020

4 radio broadcasts

Project Description:


With the project "COVID-19 and the health of Maya Q'eqchí and Ladina girls and women of Southern Petén, Guatemala". Implemented within the framework of the International Day of Action for Women's Health 2020, COVID-19's containment and prevention actions were strengthened and the importance of access to sexual and reproductive health in times of pandemic in Southern Petén, Guatemala.

Through informing and sensitizing girls and women about hygiene and safety measures for the containment and prevention of COVID-19 and the importance of having access to sexual and reproductive health in times of pandemic.

Para lograr el objetivo se desarrollaron cuatro emisiones del programa de radio bilingüe Español-Maya Q’eqchí «El ABC de la Sexualidad» el cual fue transmitido por la radio comunitaria con orientación en la religión evangélica Shekina 102.9 FM la cual se sintoniza en línea por el enlace: https://shekinafmpoptun.radiostream123.com/.

In addition, four bilingual Spanish-Maya Q'eqchí radio spots were produced and broadcast (two in Spanish, two in Maya Q'eqchí) on access and importance of sexual and reproductive health and prevention of domestic violence in times of pandemic, which were transmitted during the period of implementation of the proposal, by Shekina radio.

With this project, AMA Association joined the #GritoPorLaSaludDeLasMujeres campaign, which was promoted by the Latin American and Caribbean Women's Health Network (Red de Salud de las Mujeres Latinoamericanas y del Caribe -RSMLAC), of which it is a member.

In addition, 90 broadcasts were made of the bilingual Spanish-Q'eqchí radio program "El ABC de la Sexualidad" (The ABC of Sexuality), which was transmitted as an open forum, where young people and parents spoke openly about the aforementioned topics.

2020 Activities

Direct beneficiaries:

        • 3,000 adolescent girls and women from rural communities and marginal urban areas of the Maya Q'eqchí and Mestizo communities in the municipalities of San Luis, Poptún, Dolores, El Chal, and Santa Ana, Petén, whom professing the Evangelical Christian religion and tune in to Shekina radio.
        • 90,000 adolescent girls and women from rural communities and marginalized urban Maya Q'eqchí and Mestizo areas in Petén, Izabal, Quiche, Alta, and Baja departments Verapaz, Guatemala, who tune in to the U'tan Kaj radio station, where the educational spots were also broadcast.

Project implementation

With the project "COVID-19 and the health of Maya Q'eqchí and Ladina girls and women of Southern Petén, Guatemala". Executed within the framework of the International Day of Action for Women's Health 2020, COVID-19 containment and prevention actions and the importance of having access to sexual and reproductive health in times of pandemic in Southern Petén, Guatemala was strengthened.

To achieve the objective, the following activities were implemented:

 

A1. Cuatro emisiones del programa de radio bilingüe español-Maya Q’eqchí «El ABC de la Sexualidad».

The programs were broadcast by the evangelical-oriented community radio station Shekina 102.9 FM, which is tuned online here: https://shekinafmpoptun.radiostream123.com/.

Each program lasted one hour and was conducted by three bilingual speakers from the AMA Association.

The programs focused on informing adolescent girls and women about COVID-19 containment, prevention and hygiene measures, the importance of continuing to practice sexual reproductive health, preventing violence during the pandemic, and socializing the International Day of Action for Women's Health.

The programs were interactive since during each broadcast the listeners made comments, sent greetings or requests, and asked questions related to their sexual and reproductive rights, ways to prevent or denounce violence since some of them stated that during the pandemic the violence they experience has increased.

The recurrent and interactive radio program strengthened the transmissions since it counted with the participation of girls and women, who often live in unequal situations, violence, and discrimination, especially those living in rural and marginal urban Maya Q'eqchí and Ladina areas with poverty index and for whom the main means of communication in the community radio.

 

A2. Four productions and broadcasts of bilingual Spanish-Maya Q'eqchí radio spots (two in Spanish and two in Maya Q'eqchí).

The bilingual Spanish-Maya Q'eqchí educational spots were aired during the radio programs and talked about access and importance of sexual and reproductive health and prevention of domestic violence in times of pandemic.

Debido a gestiones realizadas con la gerencia de la radio, los spot fueron transmitidos durante todo el mes de  mayo durante la programación regular de la radio Shekina. Además, se transmitieron por la radio comunitaria U’tan Kaj 106.9 FM, donde AMA transmitió el programa «El ABC de la Sexualidad», los días sábados de 10:00 a 11:00 horas, en alianza con el Fondo Global de Mujeres.

The spots were produced by the team of Maya Q'eqchí and Ladinas from the AMA Association, who produced them in a dynamic way and with languages in keeping with the context of the populations of southern Petén.

  • 3,000 adolescent girls and women from rural communities and marginal urban areas of the Maya Q'eqchí and Ladino communities in the municipalities of San Luis, Poptún, Dolores, El Chal, and Santa Ana, Petén, who profess the evangelical Christian religion, sensitized on hygiene measures and prevention of COVID-19 and the importance of sexual and reproductive health care.
  • 90,000 adolescent girls and women from rural communities and marginalized urban Maya Q'eqchí and Ladina areas in the departments of Petén, Izabal, Quiche, Alta and Baja Verapaz, Guatemala, sensitized on hygiene and COVID-19 prevention measures and prevention of COVID-19 and the importance of sexual and reproductive health care.
  • In Guatemala, 18,096 people are reported to be infected with COVID-19 and 773 have died as of June 2020.
  • As of June, 1,111 children and adolescents are reported to be infected with COVID-19 in Guatemala, of which 48.9% are adolescent girls.
  • In the midst of the coronavirus crisis, 55 reports of domestic violence per day are registered in Guatemala

The donor who funded this project

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