Thriving in San Marcos

We are pleased to implement the “Thriving in San Marcos” initiative in collaboration with the Cities Alliance/UNOPS “Global Programme on Migration and Cities” through generous financial support from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.   

We work in the MANCUERNA region of Guatemala’s Western Highlands with the goal of mainstreaming migration into strategies that enable families to build assets, small businesses to grow, and youth to prepare for their future. In doing so, we ease some of the challenges that internal and international migration present at the municipal level and incorporate these mobilities into opportunities for local development.

Read our migration mainstreaming toolkit that integrates ideas from local governments and financial institutions

Our approach leverages remittances as a tool for formalizing household savings, investing in small businesses, while strengthening youth’s preparedness for the professional job market. We also equip local authorities and financial institutions with skills for recognizing pathways through which migration can advance local development goals.

This strategy is based on five components carried out through public and private partnerships. Click on each activity for more details.  

Our Impacts

  • Over 25,000 financial education sessions, of which 50 percent were with women.
  • US$2,400,000 in savings formalized and 3,000 new financial products acquired.
  • Over 30 entrepreneurs were coached and held US$450,000 in small business loans to be reinvested in the local economy.
  • Nearly 1,000 youth received extracurricular education, and 50 percent of students were girls and young women. 

Through this partnership, we were also able to engage our networks to support the distribution of Covid-19 testing supplies and personal protection equipment for hospitals and clinics in MANCUERNA.

Migration in MANCUERNA

Financial educators in training
Financial educators in training

Our approach responds to the complex internal and international migratory dynamics in MANCUERNA and recognizes that these movements can contribute to dynamic, growing communities. 

International migrants are seeking jobs, better incomes, educational opportunities, and protection from violence and climate events. They may also hope to reunite with family that has already moved abroad. Internal migrants leave smaller, often rural towns and move to larger cities within Guatemala for similar reasons.

This move to cities is fraught with challenges, such as finding decent employment, housing, schools, and services that are already limited. It can also affect municipal-level realities such as social tensions, the creation of slums, and insecurity. It can also increase risky, irregular migration abroad.

When successfully managed, however, migration can stimulate economic growth and improve livelihoods. When people move to cities where there are jobs and higher incomes, they bring their skills and talents with them. Their hometowns and families can gain skills and know-how from the knowledge international migrants learn while abroad. Remittances can also help families save and invest.

About MANCUERNA

Launch of B'etil Diploma program
Launch of extracurricular education program with MANCUERNA

MANCUERNA, or the Mancomunidad de Municipios de la Cuenca del Río Naranjo, is a group of 12 municipalities located in Guatemala’s Western Highland departments of San Marcos and Quetzaltenango.

Together, these municipalities collectively manage shared issues such as clean water systems, natural resources, climate change, disaster response, comprehensive development, and Covid-19.

MANCUERNA was founded in 2003.

 

With support from: 

Cities Alliance and UNOPS logo         SDC logo English

 

Read more about Thriving in San Marcos:

Thriving through Financial Education

Entrepreneurs Thrive through Business Coaching

Youth Thrive through Extracurricular Education

Migration Mainstreaming Toolkit for Local Planning and Governance

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Rethinking Remittances for Housing and Urban Development in Guatemala

Linking Migration to Housing and Urban Planning in Guatemala

La transparencia en los datos sobre remesas: implicaciones para el sector público

Opportunities for My Community – Guatemala