Asociación MAIA is the first school for indigenous girls in Central American, and a 2020 Honnold Foundation Partner. MAIA is committed to unlocking and maximizing the potential of young women to create transformational change. We spoke with Lidia Oxí, Director of Special Projects, and Jenny Dale, Coordinator of Institutional Support and Sustainability, to learn more about how girls’ education and the solutions to climate change are intertwined, in Guatemala and beyond.
In 2008, MAIA founded an afterschool program that provided Guatemalan girls with financial support for attending secondary school, and an intensive mentorship program that partnered girls and their families with supportive peers from within their communities. But by 2015, MAIA’s leadership team started to wonder if they could do even more.
In Guatemala, 25% of girls and women attend secondary school, 10% graduate, and just 1% study at a university. Students must pass a difficult entrance exam in order to access public university, but a poor public education system creates a challenge— just 25% of high school graduates are considered proficient in reading, and only 6% proficient in math. “[In the beginning,] we were offering scholarships [to public universities], but students weren’t always able to pass the entrance exam”, explains Jenny Dale. Ultimately, poor public school education and generations of systemic poverty have created a massive gender gap in Guatemala’s leadership institutions.
How many women could be Doctors? Lawyers? Climate scientists and solar experts? With real investment and opportunity for the first time in generations, how far could she go?
MAIA’s founders envisioned a school designed specifically to meet indigenous Guatemalan girls’ holistic needs. A place where students’ cultures and identities would be recognized and celebrated. With support from donors all over the world, the MAIA Impact School opened its doors in 2017.
Rigorous academics help Girl Pioneers (MAIA’s own name for their students,) quickly surpass educational benchmarks. Classes also emphasize critical thinking skills, negotiation tactics, intercultural networking dynamics, and other crucial leadership skills, ensuring that Girl Pioneers don’t just graduate with an education— they graduate with a voice.
Since mentorship and teaching staff are 86% indigenous and 82% women, they understand the cultural and socioeconomic barriers their students face. They know what it’s like to feel torn between helping their families earn income and prioritizing their own learning. For example, Lidia Oxi’s roots are planted firmly in the same communities she now serves. She grew up in rural Guatemala and grappled with the same barriers her students face. Eventually, she earned a scholarship to the University of Georgetown and later, received an MBA while studying in Taiwan. Now, her experience and passion to lead the Girl Pioneers on a similar path makes students’ dreams that much more concrete.
“A growing body of data shows a cascade of positive outcomes associated with girls’ education. Literally every area of development– from addressing climate change to world economic prosperity– is improved when girls participate fully in society” — MAIA
MAIA’s team always envisioned the Impact School as a hub for solar energy education. According to Jenny, “Sustainability [is] a core piece of MAIA’s mission. We are not only preparing Girl Pioneers to enter the workforce, we want to make sure that they are prepared to be agents of change.” With the Honnold Foundation’s help, MAIA will soon finish installing a solar array that will save $10,000 annually, eliminate 32 metric tons of CO2 emissions per year, and catalyze the community’s commitment to sustainability.
The solar array will be incorporated into the school’s science and sustainability curriculums, including a hands-on workshop open to families and the entire community. “Just to be able to share the utility savings, the process for getting a licence, and other [logistical] pieces [...] that creates tangible, practical, learning opportunities for the students and community,” notes Lidia.
Changing centuries of intergenerational poverty takes effort, belief, and continued investment, stresses Lidia. "We’re empowering students so that they can continue empowering their community, and then the country [...] but you cannot change the life of a person with a workshop. We've spent over 5000 hours across six years with our students, and we're just now starting to see those effects. For systemic poverty in communities to change, it's about an investment of resources, including time. It's a process."
The Honnold Foundation proudly supports MAIA’s Girl Pioneers, and the process of empowering a bright new generation of Guatemalan leadership. To support MAIA’s work, and other solar community initiatives like it, make a gift today.