About Casa Pa’nibal

Education determines opportunity

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) concluded in a recent study of global poverty that “…if all adults completed secondary school, the global poverty rate would be more than halved.” ^[1]

More than half of Guatemalans live on less than $5.50 a day,^[2] and more than half of Guatemalans don’t complete secondary school.^[3] Those numbers are linked.

Casa Pa’nibal is a community center. We provide education through secondary school and beyond for those that need it most.

We work to understand and overcome the specific factors that keep Guatemalan kids and adults from finishing school. Through education, we’re changing lives. And you can help.

Education in Guatemala

Most Guatemalans don’t continue education beyond grade school. Poverty restricts access to the school supplies and transportation necessary for an education, and economic pressure prematurely pushes kids and young adults into the labor market — destined to receive unfair wages. Cultural bias against women’s autonomy frustrates education even further for young girls.

Less than half of girls in rural areas enroll for middle school, and only a quarter complete the fifth grade on time. Many girls begin working by the time they’re six or seven, collecting firewood, farming or selling trinkets in cities — most of these never see employment beyond domestic labor.

Only 24.1% of Guatemalan girls complete the fifth grade. Less than half of those reach national literacy standards.

Casa Pa’nibal: Our approach

Children and adults enrolled in education programs at Pa’nibal participate in government accredited school programs aimed at a high school equivalency education. We provide childcare solutions, classrooms, school supplies, a full-time education staff, private tutoring, hot meals, and economic incentives for high grades to deliver the best possible chances of graduation.

In addition to a fundamental education, Pa’nibal offers vocational courses to eligible students, workshops on a wide variety of subjects, and one-on-one tutoring all aimed at providing the personal and professional development necessary to secure an education, financial independence, and a path out of oppressive poverty.

Every adult and child enrolled in our programs is working towards a high school equivalency education that will make them extremely competitive in Guatemala’s underdeveloped workforce.

Wages or education? An impossible choice.

Guatemalan adolescents living in poverty often work to support their family. Their family’s reliance on that income — however small and unfair it may be — is a major factor in school dropout rates. Entering a full-time labor force during adolescence contributes to the high population of men and women in their twenties who never completed school, and are unlikely to the have the chance.

Another factor that contributes to school dropout and low education achievement — especially after grade school — is parents’ inability to help their children study due to their own lack of education. Education rates among older impoverished head-of-household Guatemalans is even lower than in younger populations, with literacy rates falling as low as 43% in older women.

In Guatemala — a country about the size of Tennessee — just 4 out of 10 kids enroll for secondary school. Just 2 out 10 continue with formal education of any kind beyond the age of 17.

Pa’nibal is strategy focused and impact driven

Casa Pa’nibal covers all educational costs for our scholarship recipients. We offer economic incentives for high achieving students that reduce the financial burden their education represents for their families in terms of lost labor. Private one-on-one tutoring ensures that students receive the support they need even when the material they’re studying surpasses the mean education level of their family home.

Hot meals, group activities, and a structured, supportive environment that’s often markedly different than our students’ home lives strengthens participation and improves motivation to succeed.

Pa’nibal works exclusively with kids and adults who had already abandoned their studies or who were at exceptionally high risk of dropout. Your support changes the trajectory of lives.

Pa’nibal is 100% funded by private donors just like you.

We rely on the courage and generosity of our partners to transform lives and create hope. You make the difference.

Learn about becoming a partner