Women in Agroecology Leadership for Conservation (WALC)

Women in Agroecology Leadership for Conservation (WALC)

WALC is a holistic leadership training program for Maya young women from remote mountain villages at the edge of the cloud forest corridor. Issues these young women face include: extreme poverty, chronic malnutrition, high rates of maternal and infant mortality, deforestation and ecosystem degradation. Although the program has a strong focus on agroecology, WALC students also learn about nutrition, cooking, health and hygiene, family planning, career and educational options, self-esteem and confidence building, and a large array of other life-skills. The goal is to equip each participant for a productive, healthy and happy life as well as to enable her to be an agent of positive change in her family, community and village.
Support WALC

These young women will transform the agricultural practices of their villages by being empowered and equipped to lead. WALC also helps them stay in school and fulfill their dreams of an education.

^{WALC students training in cloud forest bio-acoustic}

The Issues

The drop out rate for girls moving from 6th to 7th grade in the villages of CCFC’s work area is higher than 75%. WALC participants from this same demographic have a less than 5% drop out rate. This is the amazing impact that the WALC leadership training workshop and a WALC scholarship can make. Reducing a 75% drop out rate to a drop out rate of less than 5%! That’s a huge difference.

The Program

WALC has three requirements for each participant. 1) Each WALC student must complete a 25-day WALC workshop for each year that she is in the program. 2) Each WALC student must continue on in school, providing proof of school attendance with a letter from her school’s director and a copy of her report card. This ensures that each young woman fulfills her commitment to continue her education. 3) Each WALC student must establish a small agroforest parcel, planting 16 trees and establishing heirloom and traditional crops. WALC students who fulfill these three requirements are eligible for a scholarship.

The Impact

We are proud that so many (over 95% each year) of those who go through our workshop choose to continue in school with the support of a CCFC agroecology work-study scholarship. These opportunities transform the lives of young women and have a positive impact on her entire village and the ecological health of the region.

CCFC’s WALC program is funded by private contributions from people like you. Your continued support means that young women from isolated mountain villages that border the cloud forests can participate in the program. These communities are among the least served and are places where poverty and lack of access to education are extreme problems demanding urgent action.

In 2015 and 2016, CCFC’s WALC program enjoyed the support of Together Women Rise. Thanks to this collaboration, CCFC was able to make the WALC experience available to eighty more young women each year. To celebrate CCFC’s partnership with Together Women Rise, friends of CCFC produced this six minute video.

Beginning in the fall of 2019, Together Women Rise is supporting CCFC through its Sustained Grants program. CCFC will enjoy the support of Together Women Rise for 2019, 2020 and 2021. This grant permits CCFC to expand the WALC program to benefit mothers and sisters of WALC participants and to increase our outreach through WALC in the Village.

None of this would be possible without your annual support. Each year, many of you contribute. You make the dream of education a reality for another young woman. Thank you! Our goal every fall is to host two sessions of 153 young women. In the fall of 2015, 2016 and 2018 we hosted two sessions.

For CCFC to continue providing this exceptional educational opportunity to more young women in the central highlands of Guatemala, we need your help. Each donation of $275 provides a young woman with a 25 day WALC experience and qualifies her to receive a $140 scholarship to pay for her next year of school. To make a donation via DonorBox, click on the CCFC donate icon and you will be transferred to the DonorBox donation page. Or you can send a check to the address below. Either way, your donation is 100% tax deductible in the United States; for Canadians with US earned taxable income, it is also a deductible contribution.

Send contribution checks to:
Community Cloud Forest Conservation
2320 Devin Lane
Long Lake, MN
55356
Make checks payable to: CCFC

Education, Conservation and Gender

For most young women in the rural villages of the central highlands, education beyond the sixth grade is out of reach. Facing limited resources, many parents send only their sons away to school. CCFC’s scholarship program provides young women the dignity and pride of earning their own tuition, and the WALC leadership training workshop also builds their self-esteem and confidence.

CCFC wants to see all rural schools serving as many female students as they do male students. The 50/50 initiative identifies villages with extreme gender inequality and corrects the problem by helping female students attend secondary school. Be a part of the 50/50 initiative. When you earmark your $275 contribution to the WALC program, put 50/50 in the memo line of the check and CCFC will use your contribution to support one of the young women from a village of extreme gender inequality.

Of all that CCFC does to alleviate poverty and protect cloud forests, education is paramount. The agroecology service-learning workshop gives students hands-on experiences that translate into usable life skills in their home communities. Students learn and practice human nutrition, soil conservation, organic fertilizer production, integrated pest management, basic garden ecology, vegetable production, propagation of traditional crops, fruit tree management, and production planning.

CCFC employs teachers who share the same cultural and language background as the students, including some scholarship program participants. Elvira Ac Macz is one of many remarkable WALC alumnae. Click here to hear her story.

Recent Updates