How Libraries are Working to Change the Digital and Cultural Divide in Guatemala

Before becoming a teacher, my background was in International Development.  I have a degree in Comparative (International) Development Studies, a masters degree in Community Development and worked in the Fair Trade and NGO community for a number of years before moving out to Victoria and eventually, through accidents and strange turns of events, becoming a teacher.  One of the highlights of my teaching career to this point, has been the chance to combine my two passions: education and Latin America.  As a Spanish teacher, the impetus was there, but the gateway was provided to me when a discussion with my school principal (on a student trip to France), led to me founding an annual service learning trip for grade 12s to the rural highlands of Guatemala.  What started as a school trip for a handful of students, turned into a district-wide annual voyage for graduating students.  The purpose of our trip, primarily, was for students to interact with and learn from people from a culture very different to their own.  In doing so, we volunteered in schools and helped build stoves in homes in rural indigenous communities in the mountains.  This experience was, for some, eye-opening, but for many, life-changing.  

At the time, use of mobile phones was prolific within communities, but cheap flip phones were the norm.  Rural communities were very much disconnected from the rest of the world, as ICT of any sort was rare and sub-par.  I no longer run this program and have since changed school districts.  My last opportunity to go personally to Guatemala was cancelled due to Covid-19, so this blog post has been an excellent opportunity for me to reacquaint myself with Guatemala and how ICT has made it's way into rural villages via community libraries.  

In indigenous populations in Guatemala, a group of people who have been largely discriminated against for centuries, women and girls are the least educated, least autonomous and least connected to the outside world via technology.  Where poverty persists, it is common to stop sending girls to school by grade 7 or 8 so that they can contribute to the family through childcare, housework and physical labour.  This contributes to high illiteracy rates amongst women and girls and low access to technology.  Riecken Foundation, a New Jersey-based organization, has been attempting to diminish this gap by building community libraries with free access to computers and mobile devices such as Kindles and even GPS devices for community mapping projects.  

Beginning in Honduras and then moving into Guatemala, Riecken community libraries have found that "technology and reading have been powerful tools, not only to strengthen their capacity for analysis and critical thinking, but also for young people and women to know more about their civil rights and to organize actions to raise awareness and promote their rights." In 10 years, Riecken have opened over 60 community libraries in Honduras and Guatemala. 

One of the top priorities for Riecken Foundation's community libraries is to help bridge the digital divide that exists in Guatemala.  Riecken's technology program "includes practical computer and internet courses and the use of software especially aimed at young people.  Teachers in some Riecken libraries are trained in effective use of social networking and implementation of educational platforms including Khan Academy and WebQuest."

Reports by the Riecken Foundation speak to the direct impact these libraries are having on women and girls in Guatemala.  Of the over 74 000 people connected to the internet via the Riecken libraries, 56% are women.  Paco Alcaide, Guatemala Regional Director of Riecken states in his report, "Technology is our "excuse" to promote the human, oranizational, and social capabilities of rural women." 

What we, in Canada, take for granted as a public service, in Guatemala and Honduras, public libraries, and particularly libraries in rural and indigenous regions, are few and far between.  Riecken Foundation libraries account for a large percentage of all of the public libraries in both countries.  This seems like a small thing, possibly, but it speaks to the information gap that exists in Guatemala and Honduras, and says even more about how vast the gap is, when we note that most of the public libraries that are not built and run by Riecken Foundation, are in large cities and urban centers.  Where indigenous populations have been forced into the mountains to survive, this means that the access to books and technology has been almost nil for a very long time.  Riecken Community Libraries have created not only physical libraries in rural communities, but have developed a mobile library system on horeseback.  The video below outlines many of the innovative programs that Riecken Libraries have developed over the years and the history of the civil war that ravaged Guatemala and created the enormous gaps between indigenous and mestizo communities that still exist today.  Library programs are working to strengthen and reconnect indigenous communities to the rest of the country and the world.   

An article by the World Economic Forum discusses the possibility that mobile phones can add to or support what public libraries are offering to their communities.  Given how prolific and relatively inexpensive mobile connectivity is in Guatemala, "mobile devices can facilitate experimentation in real-world settings, help students collect and record information, and allow learners to share their expereinces and information with peers." (Munos-Reyes, 2015) 

According to Munos-Reyes,

    Mobile phones offer a number of critical features:

        a) Portability: mobile device the size of the palm

        b) Joy in learning: content in the form of short stories, cartoons and songs

        c) Ease of use: anyone can learn to operate the basic functions of a mobile learning device in a matter of minutes.

        d) Durability: highly resistant to shock and dust [essential to Guatemala's highlands].

        e) Maintenance: it only needs recharging.

Interestingly, this article by Leora Klapper (2019) at Brookings, states that while mobile phones are certainly offering connectivity and opprotunities for economic development within developing countries, the fact that women in impoverished communities need government issued identification and their own source of income, not only to own a cell phone, but also to have a bank account, mobile phones may still be an opportunity for men to gain power over their female counterparts.

There is no doubt that the Riecken Community Libraries are providing opportunities where they see them for community members to be connected to larger libraries and programs through mobile apps and services, but for women, who are less likely to have access to a phone, it may be that the infrastructure, technology and community programming offered by the Riecken Libraries are the ticket to their own empowerment.  

Sources:

Alcaide, Paco. “Empower Women & Girls in Guatemala with Technology.” GlobalGiving, https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/girls-women-and-tech-in-guatemala

“Community Libraries in Central America...” Riecken Foundation, https://riecken.org/.

Klapper, Leora. “Mobile Phones Are Key to Economic Development. Are Women Missing out?” Brookings, Brookings, 9 Mar. 2022, https://www.brookings.edu/blog/future-development/2019/04/10/mobile-phones-are-key-to-economic-development-are-women-missing-out/#:~:text=Fresh%20Gallup%20World%20Poll%20data,Yet%20digital%20divides%20persist.

Munoz Reyes Claudia. “Can Mobile Learning Bridge the Rural Knowledge Gap?” World Economic Forum, 7 May 2015, https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2015/05/can-mobile-learning-bridge-the-rural-knowledge-gap/.

“What We Do: Libraries at Work.” Riecken Foundation, 2022, https://riecken.org/libraries-at-work/.