Voces de Cambio recruits groups of indigenous and non-indigenous girls to participate in a fifteen-week writing and photography program to investigate one central question: What does it mean to be a woman in Guatemala?

The program participants meet for two hours twice per week. Voces de Cambio implements all of its programming using a well-designed curriculum that is based on an open-inquiry and participatory approach to learning.

Activites include:

• An exploration of how women are portrayed in the media
• Self-directed research and writing project on themes such as security of women in Guatemala, sexual harassment, participation of women in art, images of women in the media, profile of a woman in Guatemala, and youth movements
• Photo-essay on “a woman I admire”
• Production of a public service announcement related to gender equality
• Exercises in interviewing techniques and story-writing
• Basic photography techniques (camera use, composition, color); how to tell a story using images

Following the fifteen-week writing and photography program, a public exhibition of the participants’ written and photographic work is held at a local venue. The exhibition generates a public dialogue about issues of discrimination, racism, and machismo, thus broadening the program’s impact and positioning Voces de Cambio as a central figure in the movement toward women’s equality.

Pilot Program

In July of 2006, following a six-month community planning process, Voces de Cambio launched a 15-week Pilot Program in writing and photography with seven teenage girls. The seven participants gained an awareness of the present and potential roles that women play, or could play, in Guatemalan society, and learned to tell their own stories. The more introverted participants developed the confidence to express themselves, and the more outgoing participants learned to “share space” with others. They all developed a significant level of trust with each other, and each learned to express their opinions while respecting those that differed from their own. The group was diverse, allowing participants to cross social and economic lines, an opportunity rarely encountered in other contexts.

The following are reflections from the Pilot Program participants (translated from Spanish):

“To promote equality, we must begin by valuing ourselves.”
Yenifer, age 15

“Remaining silent is a way in which women contribute to machismo.”
Tomasa, age 13

“I never really thought about things like machismo before … I’ve learned a lot about what it means to have opportunity and choice. I think one of the most important things we can do is raise our own awareness about important issues, and to share our own knowledge and points of view with others.”
Brenda, age 15

“We can occasionally share our opinions and ideas at home and in school, but here [in Voces de Cambio], we can always express ourselves freely.”
Cecilia, age 15

“To me, to be beautiful means to be good, kind, and humble. I used to think that for a woman to be beautiful, she had to have a perfect body and nice hair. She had to dress well and have everything she wanted. But my opinion has changed. Now I think that a beautiful woman is beautiful not because of how she looks, but because of what she carries inside.”
Sandra, age 15