AMA Association emerged at the end of 2012 as a youth group made up of adolescent and young women leaders between the ages of 14 and 30, living in rural communities and marginal urban areas of southern Petén, Guatemala (San Luís, Poptún, Dolores and El Chal).
The youth leaders valued the importance of democratic participation, exercising active citizenship, promoting and defending human rights, and being organized to manage resources and respond to the problems faced by adolescents and young women in Southern Petén, Guatemala since there were no full spaces for democratic participation, nor organizations led by young women that would manage resources for adolescents and young women.
Therefore, they decided to form an active group led by young women, which they initially called the Active Women's Youth Group- AMA, in order to promote democratic participation, youth leadership and entrepreneurship, gender equality, sexual and reproductive rights, to respond to the high rate of pregnancy, sexual violence, and child, early and forced marriages and unions among adolescent girls in Southern Petén, Guatemala.
In 2013, AMA participated in the Ola Joven program of the Central American Women's Fund -FCAM-, with the project proposal "Actívate Joven Mujer". Through which AMA was awarded a seed capital fund, which was transferred and managed directly by the group during the implementation of the project in 2014.
As a result of the first experience and the good results achieved, AMA implemented the projects, "Actívate Joven Mujer Fase II", in 2015 and the project "Organizational strengthening as a strategy for the defense of the rights of young women in southern Petén" in 2016, with funding from FCAM.
In collaboration with the Fund for Youth of Central America and Mexico -Fondo CAMY- executes the project Love Me and Protect Me from Pregnancy "Youth Leadership for the prevention of pregnancies in southern Petén", during 2015, all these projects executed still as a youth group.
Gradually this youth association was valuing the importance of constituting it legally since as a group the access to resources was limited, there are minimal donors who give grants to organizations without legal status and the amount did not exceed five thousand U.S. dollars.
This limited the actions of the youth association since the demands of adolescent girls, women and youth are great and the problems that affect them must be addressed from a comprehensive approach, so it is necessary to have all possible resources, so it is key to become legally constituted.