AMA History

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.

During the first two years of active participation through the implementation of projects, AMA Association began to contribute directly to the development of adolescent girls, women, and Maya Q’eqchí and Mestizo youth of Southern Peten, Guatemala.

During this period, AMA Association gained experience, strengthened its capacities, and deepened its understanding of the problems faced by adolescent girls, women, and youth, but above all the importance of responding to these problems with the full participation of the aforementioned population.

In addition, the AMA Association began to be recognized locally and internationally as an organization led by adolescent girls and young women, which promotes their development through projects and programs aimed at the transfer of skills and advocacy.

In this context in which the AMA Association began to live, allowed its members to value the importance of becoming legally constituted since they considered that this would provide them with autonomy, access to more resources and thus strengthen the work being promoted.

As a result, the AMA Association proposed the legal incorporation of the organization within the project "Organizational strengthening as a strategy for the promotion and defense of young women's rights, Phase II."

AMA Association achieved the objective of becoming legally constituted in July 2016, within the framework of the aforementioned project which was implemented in partnership with the Central American Women's Fund -FCAM-.

The legal constitution of the AMA Association allowed access to more sources of funding, so it went from having two donors, to 10 during the last 4 years and raise the percentage of the budget by 2400%.

This has allowed AMA Association to now have a presence in the 14 municipalities of the department of Petén, to carry out training and advocacy activities with key actors since it now focuses not only on working with adolescent girls and young women but also with officials and collaborators of public institutions and civil society.

AMA has effectively promoted democratic participation and leadership of women and youth, human rights, sexual and reproductive rights (SRR), promoting the prevention of pregnancy in girls and adolescents, the implementation of comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) in the education system, and the inclusion of women and youth in local development processes in southern Petén, with the full participation of young people, local institutions and the organized civil sector.

These processes have led to the empowerment of 21,000 boys and girls, 40,850 adolescents, 26,315 young people, 34,123 women, and 1091 primary and elementary school teachers, with respect to knowledge, defense, and exercise of SRR, gender equity, and democratic participation. Likewise, progress has been made in the implementation of the SIA in 89 primary schools and the inclusion of women and youth in the spaces for participation and within the municipal development agendas of southern Petén has been promoted. These processes have strengthened the work that AMA has been carrying out with the support of local and international actors.

AMA Association has become a leading organization recognized by local and international actors as an organization led by young women that promotes the integral development of adolescent girls, women, and Guatemalan youth through the programs and projects it executes.

The programs and projects have been focused on promoting the human development of adolescent girls, women, and youth, through the transfer of skills, political advocacy, sports as a tool for development and environmental conservation, which as a result of the pandemic of COVID-19 began to turn, as this contracted the importance of providing humanitarian assistance

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, AMA focused its work on human development through the transfer and capacity building of adolescent girls, young Maya Q’eqchí, mestizo women, and strategic actors in the public and private sector to promote a comprehensive response to the problems faced by adolescent girls.

With the arrival of COVID-19 in Guatemala and the devastating effects it is causing to the health, nutrition, security, and economic situation of adolescent girls and their families, AMA Association valued the importance of implementing actions in response to the pandemic.

In this sense, AMA decided to join the first line of response to COVID-19 in Guatemala, by providing humanitarian aid, education, and timely information on biosecurity measures to prevent COVID-19 and violence in times of pandemic against adolescent girls and their families. This is because the direct beneficiaries live in conditions of poverty in rural communities and marginal urban areas, where the effects of COVID-19 are felt most severely.

The adverse situations in which the beneficiaries live are aggravated by the confinement, suspension of economic activities, and classes imposed by the Government of Guatemala, which has limited access to education, information, prevention, and subsistence activities to which the families of adolescents’ girls are dedicated.

In addition, the Guatemalan public health system has lacked resources to provide quality care to Guatemalans, who have been even more affected by the pandemic, since to date there is no appropriate response to COVID-19, especially in the interior of the country.

As a result of the pandemic and in solidarity at times of emergency, the AMA association now provides humanitarian aid to adolescent girls, young women, and their Maya Q'eqchí' and mestizo families, so that they can better cope with emergencies.

This response made it possible to provide food support and personal hygiene kits to more than 2,500 people from 628 families in marginal Maya Q'eqchí and mestizo communities and urban areas in five municipalities of Petén, Guatemala, thereby strengthening the food and nutritional security, menstrual hygiene, and COVID-19 prevention of 628 adolescent girls, 28 of whom live with physical and mental disabilities.

In addition, materials and equipment were provided to the Health Districts of the Petén South-East Health Area and the District Hospital of Poptún, Petén, Guatemala. The response did not stop there, as an awareness campaign was implemented through 95 radio programs, 13,000 posters, and four billboards with information on biosecurity norms and prevention of violence against adolescent girls and pandemic times, reaching more than 36,000 people.

Related to this in partnership with the Global Fund for Children, Global Fund for Women, MADRE's VIVA Girls Initiative, Women Win, Summit Foundation, and the Latin American and Caribbean Women's Health Network.

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