Where Girls Connect, Opportunities Open: The Story of Abriendo Oportunidades and Indigenous Women and Girls in Mesoamerica

In Guatemala, Indigenous girls, including the Maya, Xinka, and Garifuna, comprise approximately 23% of the population, and face deeply entrenched and intersecting forms of social exclusion. Life in rural Indigenous communities is shaped by enduring systemic barriers—legacies of colonialism and civil war— including linguistic marginalization, discrimination against Indigenous worldviews, limited opportunities for civic participation, and governmental neglect.   

Beginning in the early 2000s, the Population Council documented a situation of quadruple disadvantage for Indigenous girls—age, gender, ethnicity, and geography—leading to scant opportunities as they enter adolescence, a critical period too often marked by school dropout, early pregnancy, and child marriage.  

In response to these stark realities, the Council launched Abriendo Oportunidades (Opening Opportunities, or “AO”) in 2004, an innovative educational and empowerment program designed for rural Indigenous Mayan girls. AO is a gender-transformative social initiative that engages young Indigenous women, known as mentors, to lead community-based girls’ clubs: safe spaces where girls learn practical life skills, build confidence, and take on leadership roles to improve their social, educational, and sexual health outcomes.  

In 2011, a household-level evaluation conducted in 36 AO communities documented that 100% of AO girl leaders had completed sixth grade; 97% of girl leaders remained unmarried during the program cycle; 94% of girl leaders wished to delay childbearing until after age 20; and 88% of girl leaders reported having a bank account. In 2017, among the key findings from a cluster randomized control trial were that girls participating in AO had significantly lower chances of experiencing physical violence in their homes and were less likely to be married.    

The program’s success in Guatemala has spurred adaptation and replication across the region, including in Mexico (Abriendo Futuros) and Belize (Toledo Adolescent Girls Program). AO has also informed the design of mentor-based, gender-transformative initiatives for youth in Honduras and the Dominican Republic. What began as a small research project in a handful of rural Guatemalan communities has, over the past two decades, expanded to reach more than 25,000 girls and 500 mentors in dozens of communities across Guatemala.  

Mentorship has always been central to AO’s success. Leaders like Elizabeth Vasquez, an Indigenous woman from Totonicapán, exemplify the transformative power of the program. After serving as an AO mentor, Elizabeth became a Field Coordinator with the Population Council. In 2012, she co-founded Red de Mujeres Indígenas (REDMI Aq’ab’al), a network of Indigenous women dedicated to replicating AO programming and educating girls about their rights. Reflecting on her journey, Elizabeth shares:  

“Through Abriendo Oportunidades, I learned to be autonomous, to be free, to make my own decisions. I had the opportunity to participate, and later, to lead. Before the program, I had no clear future, no life plan—I didn’t even know my rights. I saw violence as something normal. AO totally changed my life. I came to understand that the different forms of violence that girls and adolescent girls experience are not normal—they are not natural.”  

Following in Elizabeth’s footsteps, former AO mentors in Chisec established Na’leb’ak in 2017. This Maya-Q’eqchi’-led Indigenous organization empowers girls and adolescents by preventing early pregnancy, child marriage, and violence through AO-inspired mentorship and methodologies.  

As the role of AO mentors has evolved, so has the program. Guided by Indigenous communities, AO has become a trusted learning partner to key government institutions in Guatemala. In collaboration with the Defensoría de la Mujer Indígena (Office for the Defense of Indigenous Women, DEMI), AO piloted an internship program that contributed to strengthening Guatemala’s 1529 emergency hotline for survivors of domestic violence. They also developed strategic partnerships with the Ministry of Education, particularly through its unit for alternative secondary education (Dirección General de Educación Extraescolar, DIGEEX). These initiatives inspired a collaboration with the Office of the Vice President in 2021 to create Escuela de Oportunidades (EO), an affirmative action internship initiative to build a pathway to more linguistically and ethnically inclusive public service that opens spaces for Indigenous women professionals.  

In close collaboration with AO mentors and Indigenous communities, the Population Council’s Abriendo Oportunidades continues to champion the expansion and institutionalization of mentorship programs, advocate for paid roles for mentors and tutors, and promote community-based development models that honor Indigenous knowledge systems and strengthen intergenerational bonds among Indigenous women.  

Partners: 

The Population Council  – Abriendo Oportunidades (Opening Opportunities, or “AO”) 

Red de Mujeres Indígenas (REDMI Aq’ab’al) 

Na’leb’ak