STEAM-GIRL POWER

Guatemala is a country with almost 40% of its population is younger than 18 years old, and almost half of that population is made up of girls. More than 3 million people are young girls and half of them live in rural areas. Saddly, only very few of those girls will develop a career in science. And most of those who will, will live in Guatemala City where access to technology is easier to get. 

On the other side, of reality, here in rural Guatemala, it is difficult to get a regular electricity and internet supply, plus the lack of English speakers makes it even harder for young girls to have access to STEAM technologies in their native language (spanish). 

Lack of good quality education is also a big demoralizing factor. Girls who do manage to finish high school in rural areas do not have the basic skills required to be admited in a science career (Math, Phisics, Chemestry), forcing them to opt for the university careers that do not require STEAM or English Language knoledge. 

In our community we have been able to identify less than 10 women under 30 working in science fields out of 80,000 inhabitants. This is a huge problem for our community, where people is forced to work in low payment jobs or to iligaly migrate to get a better payed low income job. 

Saddly, local public schools do not have any technology programs nor computers nor internet available for their students. Most of this girls do not own a computer and some of them have never used one before. 

Our goal is to implement a STEAM Workshop Program oriented to introduce STEAM fields to 6 to 18 years old girls from local schools by using basic STEAM kits with various projects that opens their minds and imagination. 

On 2023, the EDS (Electron Device Society) from IEEE (Institute of Electrics and Electronics Engineers) donated a STEM lab to Casa de la Esperanza (House of Hope) Community Center. 

With the STEAM lab and kits, we now can provide access to internet and technology to over 100 indigenous girls from local schools. 

Our lab has the capacity to work with over 100 students in a month. This program is designed to give the access that they should be getting, but are not. 

Thanks to this program, the girls will experience first hand what it is to be a scientist, they will explore different fields, learn by doing, they will generate their own logical criteria providing them a first hand experience on how does it feels to be a scientist. 

Thanks to this program, our girls will have a boost of confidence and selfsteem. When children succed in a certain project, they start believing that they can, they find the motivation and discipline they need to achieve their goal. 

We are a group of male and female young entrepreneurs who have realized that it is only through educating girls, giving them the tools and opportunities they need to succed, that we will be able to change the overall wellbeing of our comunity. We have been working for education and entrepreneurship for quite sometime now, working hand to hand with the community, local teachers, principals, parents and students who constantly give us feedback on the projects that will best fit the need of their young learners. 

Up to today, we are working with two different schools, providing computers classes to 130, 6th grade students  at the lab. 

We are still lacking the curriculum and standarized struture  to escalate. 

What we need now is the help to create a curriculum to standarize our program, and not only give the students the motivation that they need, but to adapt it to different levels, ages and  academic needs. We also need 100 STEAM Kits, with 10 different STEAM projects each, that will be delivered to 100 students who will embark in a one year long STEAM voyage.  

Although our solution is not the most innovative world-wide, here in Poptún, Petén it is the most technologicaly advanced these  young girls have ever had. This opportunity will open their hearts and minds, showing them what they are capable of doing. It will also serve as inspiration to other teachers and children who would like to be part of this amazing project. 

On a broad scope, the more we motivate young indigenous girls to believing that they can be scientists, the more they will belive and achieve.

In our rural community, girls are not related with the STEAM fields, but they are prone to teen pregnancies, drug use, underage marriage, underage labor, and to drop out of school before finishing high school. 

While they go through this STEAM process, they would rise their hopes and expectations for themselves, they will be able to dream of having a career, they will be able to apply to different programs available for them, they will start believing that Maths are not "just for boys", they will open up their minds to the possibilities that lay outside of their confort zone, they will know that in order to succed, they need to work hard, they will learn to fail and go on after failing. 

Our goal with this project is to give 100 children and teens the basic  knowledge on all the STEAM fields, so then can make an informed decision and take a scientific career  on their further education. 

Related to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, this project will provide the quality education that is much needed in this rural community. This quality education will open up new doors for these girls, so they can get a decent work and boost the economical growth of the community. 

Empowering indigenous girls will reduce the gender and race inequalities, will keep them from dropping out of school, teen pregnancies, drug use, chilhood marriage and many other social problems that can be avoided thanks to education. 

STEAM LAB KITS, our technology consist in 10 different technology kits for the children to develop, consisting in projects that they will have to solve.

We are 2 full time staff 

and the rest is completely runned by volunteers: engineering students, engineers, foreign volunteers, local teachers, local artists, and other community members. The number of volunteers might vary between 2 to 10 depending on the ongoing STEAM project

This project started online during the pandemic, 2021, but last year, on 2023, with the donation of the Technology lab, STEAM kits, and other equipment, it became what it is now. 

Thanks to our volunteer system, we ca guarantee the inclusion and diversity of our team.  Casa de la Esperanza House of Hope Community Center is an indigenous trainning center, founded by a local Indigenous Leader. It is a very important place for mayan ceremonies, debates, and discusion, it is a well known place for inclusion and diversity.  Thanks to this background, we can assure that local indigenous families will have the confidence to send their daughters to this center, where they know will be no discrimination towards them. 

Concerning staff and volunteers, our links to local universities and engineer associations like IEEE and the National Association of Engineers of Guatemala plus volunteers Apps like World Packers or Workaway give us enough access to a very diverse pool of enthusiastic professionals who really want to make a change in these girls lives.  

Key resourses: The STEAM lab that we already have, STEAM Kits with different projects, a strong network of volunteers, commited families and girls. 

Partners and Key stake holders: Casa de la Esperanza Community Center, IEEE, National Association of Engineers, local elementary and middle schools 

Key Activities: To provide STEAM education to local indigenous girls using the STEAM Lab, kits and the help of our volunteers. 

Costs: Our job is completelly voluntary, work by donations and agreements with the stakeholders. 

Type of intervention: STEAM Workshops

Channels: Local elementary and middle schools and Casa de la Esperanza Community Center.

Segments: Our beneficiaries are indigenous girls between 7 and 18 years old. Our sponsors are the donnors who colaborate with their time, equipment or financial aid to keep the project running. 

Value proposition:beneficiaries will get the skills they need to be proeficient in the basic knoledge in STEAM fields. Donnors will help to promote women in science. 

Revenue: donations, equipment. 

For the present year and the next,  the plan is to continue working solely on donations and volunteerships. After the program is well stablished and known locally, we will implement payed STEAM workshops for local families who can afford it. So far, our lab is the only one available in the whole south of Petén Department, so its potencial to generate revenue by providing quality workshops is very high. None of the local schools, public or private own a Techlab like ours, so in the future, we will have available for local schools the same projects that we are ofering now but with a little fee to make the project sustainable.