Our Partners
Our work would not be possible without our partners. Thank you so much to all those who lend a hand, including:
You
You, our donors and volunteers, are our most important partners. You are helping to make a better life for Guatemala’s children.
Asociación Juntos Podemos
We work hand-in-hand with Asociación Juntos Podemos (AJP), a Guatemalan nonprofit association founded at the same time as Together We Can Guatemala (TWCG). The two organizations were founded with the same mission in order to work together as a tightly-knit team. Each has its own board, but shares some of the same board members. AJP provides the “boots on the ground” and TWCG supports that work with fundraising, technical and logistical support, volunteer work and management/oversight.
Las Manos de Christine
Las Manos de Christine (Las Manos) is a nonprofit that has been a presence in El Hato for years. Like us, Las Manos is dedicated to improving the educational opportunities of El Hato students. They do this in several ways, including by funding a number of scholarships for students who otherwise couldn’t afford to continue in school. On top of that, they team up with us by providing an extra teacher to tutor children in El Hato.
SERNiña
SERNiña is another nonprofit that has been working for years in El Hato and other towns around Antigua. SERNiña is dedicated to ending gender inequality in Guatemala. They run a variety of programs to empower girls and mothers. They also run programs for boys, recognizing that ending gender inequality can't be achieved if you ignore the boys' side of the equation.
El Hato Community Center
The El Hato Community Center is a joint project of AJP, Las Manos, and SERNiña. Before the pandemic, these three organizations conducted their programs on the grounds of the local public school. Unfortunately, the school closed its doors when the pandemic started and, as of September, 2021, still hadn't opened them. But the community's needs didn't go away. In fact, the need for services became greater than ever, while the ability to provide those services became more difficult than ever. In the face of this, the three organizations joined forces to rent a house in El Hato to continue providing services so badly needed in the community.
Escuela Rural Mixta José Ignacio Ortiz Vides
The public school in El Hato, Escuela Rural Mixta José Ignacio Ortiz Vides, has been another key partner in our work. For years, the school donated the space that hosted one of our key projects, the EL Hato Literacy Center (EHLC). At the EHLC, we taught library classes, provided afternoon tutoring, lent books, and supported a variety of other educational and development activities in El Hato. The public school recognized the value of our contribution there and encouraged us to expand our offerings. Unfortunately, since the beginning of the pandemic, the school has been closed.
Education for the Children Foundation
Based in England, the Education for the Children Foundation (EFTC) provides education for around 650 students from economically struggling families in Jocotenango. They do this by running the School of Hope and by providing scholarships to students who move on to higher education. The School of Hope was our next door neighbor in Jocotenango when we ran the Garden of Hope there. Its students loved coming to the Garden ever since it was founded. For many students, the peacefulness of the Garden was a welcome respite from the noise and commotion of their city lives. Now that we are moving the Garden of Hope to El Hato, we hope to continue to explore ways to work with EFTC, a valued partner for so many years.
LAVOSI
Located in Jocotenango, LAVOSI is unique in Guatemala: it’s a privately-funded school for the deaf. Since the beginning of the Garden of Hope, LAVOSI students loved visiting the Garden, and we cooperated with them on a variety of projects. Although the Garden has moved to El Hato, we look forward to continuing to partner with this wonderful school.