Guatemala reinforces its strategy for more inclusive employment

Guatemala has hosted a workshop between European and Guatemalan specialists with the aim of designing and implementing a strategy to strengthen institutional capacities to expand job opportunities for women and people with disabilities. The National Institute of Public Administration (INAP) of Guatemala has collaborated with SOCIEUX+ in the design and implementation of this strategy.

INAP, together with the SOCIEUX+ team, has identified the design of a system of indicators for monitoring and evaluation of employment policies as an essential element to achieve the objectives of the action. With this product at the centre, a work plan has been designed for which SOCIEUX+ has mobilised six professionals from different EU countries and public institutions, who have worked in close collaboration with the competent national institutions such as the Ministry of Labour, the Ministry of Economy, the National Council for the Care of People with Disabilities, and the Presidential Secretariat for Women (SEPREM), among others.

Among the results of this activity, we can mention: a mapping and diagnosis of the strategic political, institutional and social actors with responsibility for inclusive employment policies; a system of indicators has been developed for programmes of inclusion and access to employment for women and people with disabilities. A guide has also been produced to facilitate and promote the use of these indicators. In addition, a training of trainers has been carried out with the participation of more than 30 professionals.

This work has also actively incorporated the gender perspective from the formulation and throughout the project. In each activity, the work teams have had specialised gender profiles who have worked on the system of indicators. This has also made it possible to address the issue of disability from an intersectional perspective, enabling the results to provide concrete responses to the specific needs of the citizens for whom we are working, contributing to the development of more effective and lasting public policies.

The activity was carried out in the form of triangular cooperation, incorporating the participation of Costa Rica through the specialist Rosa María Quirós Rodríguez, from the ‘Empléate’ employment policy programme of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security of the Caribbean country.

The team mobilised by SOCIEUX+ was made up of Juan Manuel Sevillano, from the Department of Employment of the Community of Madrid; Nuria Varela, member of the Gender Gap Advisory Council of the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration; Clara Linde, head of the Cooperation Area for Equality in the Community of Madrid; Maria Joao Falcato de Almeida, from the Portugal Inovação Social 2030 Initiative; and Merita Mesiäislehto, from the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare.