U muuk´il xch’ ́uupalo’ob/ Iniciativa La Fuerza de las Niñas / Strength of Girls Initiative

Mexico | Yucatán

APIS Sureste Fundación para la Equidad A.C. provides psychological and legal assistance to women, adolescents, and children in situations of violence. The organization seeks to contribute to the eradication of violence against women and children by focusing on the impact of violence on people’s lives and carrying out preventive actions that encourage good treatment of people and promote a peace culture.

Mexico | Halachó

A Mayan-led organization, Centro Alternativo para el Desarrollo Integral Indígena works with women and girls in Mayan communities to improve holistic health, promote equity and equality between men and women, and strengthen Mayan identity and children’s rights. The organization runs a center where women and children can access traditional Mayan medical treatments, as well as wellbeing support through active listening and other approaches.

Mexico | Yucatán

Colectivo Sayab works in the areas of health, education, sports, and culture. The collective provides health services, mentors young students to improve their reading and writing, organizes soccer teams and soccer training for girls and boys, and teaches the jarana—a traditional Yucatán dance—to children and adolescents.

Mexico | Mérida

Girl Up Resistencia Feminista is a collective of young women who are pioneers in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) in Yucatán and advocate for education among their peers. The founders participated in Girl Up Mexico, leading to a focus on education and gender equity. The organization promotes training spaces for young women to encourage teenage girls to study and to choose a career, which is not traditional for girls in the area.

Mexico | Yucatán

Iin Ki Kalante serves as the headquarters for multiple artistic and cultural programs oriented toward children and youth in Yucatán. Programs include art and nature-based activities for children, cultural events for children and mothers, art exhibitions, art scholarship programs for youth, and promotion of cultural rights.

Mexico | Mérida

Investigación y Educación Popular Autogestiva defends children’s and adolescents’ rights and promotes popular education and play pedagogy as methodologies that advance meaningful learning and develop young people’s creative potential.

Mexico | Mérida

Kanan Derechos Humanos is a youth-led collective that seeks to transform the structures of inequality and consolidate respect for human dignity. The organization promotes and defends human rights in the Yucatán Peninsula through strategic litigation, communication for social change and the strengthening of organizational processes and social actors, and human rights education.

Mexico | Quintara Roo

Run by young people for young people, Kana’an ta Wíinkil focuses on sexual and reproductive health and rights. The organization holds workshops on pregnancy prevention for adolescents aged 15 to 18; provides sexual and reproductive health information and counseling; distributes contraceptive supplies and pregnancy tests; and engages adolescents through outdoor activities and events like painting workshops.

Mexico | Mérida

Las Hijas del Rap is dedicated to achieving social transformation through art, especially hip-hop. This multidisciplinary feminist collective is guided by hip-hop’s commitment to share what is learned and a belief in a rap pedagogy that values language and being irreverent as processes for social transformation. Las Hijas del Rap runs a school of rap for girls and, through visits to area communities, uses hip-hop to address social issues that girls are facing.

Mexico | Cholul

Mejen t’aano’ob Pequeñas Voces A.C. advocates for education that listens to children, involves them, and encourages them to express their emotions, reflections, and opinions through art and interaction with the land. Through mutual-learning workshops with children at its community center and family-inclusive programing, the organization works to recover traditional Mayan knowledge in caring for the land; care for native Melipona stingless bees, which produce medicinal honey; revitalize the Mayan language; and reconnect with other traditional Mayan practices.

Mexico | Kinchil

A grassroots collective of Mayan women, Mujeres Promoviendo la Igualdad de Derechos is part of the Network of Mayan Promoters of Justice. The collective’s members work mainly with women in their community to promote gender equity, prevent violence against women, and advance women’s and children’s rights. The organization holds workshops on sexual and reproductive rights for adolescents in secondary school and carries out activities such as fairs that prioritize children’s participation.

Mexico | Cholul

Believing that digital activism by young Mayans is a way to preserve their language and elevate their voices, Radio Tuklik utilizes community radio to promote the leadership of young people and the revitalization of the Mayan language. Radio broadcasting booths are located in three communities in Yucatán and are coordinated mainly by young people. The doors of the broadcasting booths are open, inviting more young people to be part of this project in their communities.

Mexico | Campeche

Red Ko’olel-Mujeres Unificando Fuerzas focuses on human rights, sexual and reproductive rights, and Indigenous identity, with workshops in Mayan, Ch’ol, and Spanish. Guided by the expressed needs of children in the community, the organization is currently developing a project called “Knowing My Roots” for girls and has developed radio programs in Mayan and Spanish on sexual and reproductive rights.

Mexico | Quintana Roo

Semillero Creativo Arte Maya supports children and young people in the creation of documentary photography, documentaries, and community cinema as tools to preserve the Mayan culture and strengthen participants’ creative and social skills. Mayan traditions and cultural and social narratives are emphasized, along with issues such as human rights, gender equality, and youth leadership.

Mexico | Quintana Roo

Led by children and adolescents, U Najil Maaya Xook promotes and revitalizes the Yucatec Maya (Maaya T’aan) language in Kopchen. The organization holds language classes; supports the creation of books in Maaya T’aan by children and adolescents; organizes digital activism summits, book presentations, and cultural activities; and posts content on social media to raise the visibility of this Mayan language.

Mexico | Yucatán

U Popolnajilo’ob / Sedes Comunitarias operates two community centers, in Tecoh and Techalquillo, to preserve Mayan culture and language. Working with children and women, the organization connects culture to environmental care, food sovereignty, and water care and prioritizes the recovery of traditional identity through activities like gardening, music, theater, poetry, and literature in the Yucatec Maya language.

Mexico | Sanahcat

Founded in response to the loss of identity and uprooting from the land experienced by the Mayan community of Sanahcat, U Yich Lu’um focuses on recovering Mayan practices, knowledge, language, traditions, customs, and ways of life. Through activities such as community learning and defending human rights via gender, intercultural, intergenerational, and transdisciplinary approaches, the organization promotes holistic wellbeing for families in Sanahcat.