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PROJECT SCOPE: This project will train 15 people, in each of 4 villages, in the skills of construction with a focus on masonry, over 11 months. We will also provide each person with the necessary tools for the trade of masonry.
CURRENT SITUATION: Education in these 4 villages is at most, grade 6 level. Most are less. Finding unskilled employment is very difficult and most men work out of the village on coffee plantations or find day-work in nearby towns at low wages. Women typically stay in the village looking after family gardens and weaving for sales in markets. Both of these efforts are low-wage work and have become much more difficult to find and with COVID restrictions, paid work is much reduced, resulting in very low family incomes, inadequate for the necessities of life. This leads to high malnutrition and low education levels.
COMMUNITY RESPONSE: Community COCODES (committees), in these 4 villages, have, over the last 12 months, looked at possibilities to improve their situation with a focus on helping their young adults. Local governments have worked with the villagers and they recognized that small building construction will be a strong industry over the next 10 to 20 years. They connected with INTECAP to evaluate construction trade education possibilities. The local Rotarians are well connected to these villages and helped throughout this process. They did a full Community Assessment on each of the villages. Then, together with INTECAP and the COCODES, they developed an in-village training program in the construction trades, specifically masonry.
MEETING THE NEEDS: The program will provide 11 training modules over 11 months with professional instructors, from INTECAP, going to the 4 villages. 15 young adults, from each village, will be selected by a committee composed of COCODE members and Rotarians. The necessary tools of masonry will be given to each student. This will provide a skill, in high demand, to people from these villages. Those skills will result in more consistent work for 60 people at much higher wages. They, in turn will provide more jobs and training for assistants to help them on job-sites. Also, each village group will build a small building in their village which will end up being for the use of the villagers.
PROJECT FUNDS: The total estimated cost is $70,000. Half will go to the purchase of the materials of construction. The other half will be spent on the Masonry Course training, the necessary trade tools for their masonry trade and to oversee and manage the project. All funds will be spent locally in Guatemalan Quetzales.
HOST ROTARY CLUB INVOLVEMENT: The Host Rotary Club members have already been close to the planning of this project. They will continue to provide project oversight, control the project expenditures, participate in selecting the students, helping to organize the training sessions and follow-up after the training.
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