Child Aid believes children who can read and write change the world.

OUR mission

Child Aid provides a research based, culturally-driven literacy program to rural communities in Guatemala. Our mission is to bring about sustainable, locally-led educational programming that fosters system-wide change, lifting communities out of poverty.

We know that when children know how to read, write and think critically, they are better able to lift themselves and their families out of poverty. And those children will demand the same for their children, creating lasting, generational change.

Our Approach

Since its founding, Child Aid has been committed to developing en effective and efficient literacy program tailored to the needs of rural communities, and we have had great success in doing just that. However, it is not just what happens in a Child Aid classroom that sets us apart from other organizations – it is our approach to program development that we hope leads to lasting, sustainable change for Guatemala, and beyond.

Chid Aid has built a scalable, locally-led management model that centers around growth and knowledge transfer. Upon our arrival in Guatemala, we worked to hire indigenous staff, from the communities we were working with. Our leadership team is mostly women. We are very proud of this fact.

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Our Leadership Model

In 2023 our board of directors and CEO met to reflect on the trajectory of the organization, and to align how to best grow and further our work and impact. The result of this work was the promotion of our Country Director to co-CEO. This was an important change to our leadership model that has better aligned the organization with our goals and objectives.

Child Aid was founded in Portland, Oregon, staff from the states with expertise in educational methodology, research and development, and management were hired from the states and assigned to the regional offices in Guatemala. The goal was to find, train ad promote local talent to replace staff as the work progressed. This worked beyond or expectations, hiring indigenous trainers, investing in professional development and promoting them as positions opened within the organization.

In 2021 we promoted Graciela Landa Pichiyá to Country Director, when the position became available. She grew into this role and became a powerful advocate for the organization both internally for her staff, and nationally, working closely with the Ministry of Education in Guatemala. In 2023, Graciela was promoted to co-CEO.

This promotion was an important benchmark for our organization, establishing a leaderhip model that spans North and Latin America. Today, we work collaboratively as peers, with our North America team spearheading Fundraising and Development, and our Latin America team leading Operations and Program Development. The two teams share responsibility for Research, Analysis and Special Programming.

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Our Story

Our Story

Founded on One Simple Idea

Children need books. In the early 90s our founders learned about how rural Guatemalan communities had no access to storybooks. To address this they formed an organization to do one thing, and do it well… deliver Spanish-language books to these communities. But that put the spotlight on an even bigger issue, one that led who we are and what we do today.

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Our People

Our People

From the classroom to the boardroom, we have an amazing team.

Our staff are the heart and soul of our programs, they bring leadership, passion and dedication to all that they do.

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Our Supporters

Our Supporters

Supporters make all this work possible

Without the support of each partner and donor, we could not bring about meaningful, lasting change to rural classrooms and communities. It is thanks to their support that we are building hope and prosperity from one generation to the next.

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Our Approach

Our Approach

Changing how teachers teach.

Child Aid’s innovative model focuses on transforming how reading and literacy are taught in rural classrooms. Our approach has been called “high-touch/low tech” in that we built small, locally based teams that provide literacy instruction to teachers so that they can provide students quality educational experiences.

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Childhood education is a human right, and yet:

literacy rates in Guatemala

lack of access to books or trained teachers

situation post COVID

See our impact in these areas

Why Literacy

Education is key to transforming the lives of children living in poverty.

Throughout Guatemala, the educational system is broken. Rural regions have some of the highest illiteracy rates in the world, simply put, children were going to school, but not learning. The problem centers around a lack of teacher training and skill building. Teachers lacked the tools they needed to succeed.

To address this, Child Aid developed a three-year, immersive teacher training program designed to ensure children get the well-trained teachers, quality spanish-language books and innovative programming they need to succeed.

Where We Work

Child Aid partners with over 150 local public primary schools each year to provide literacy training and resources to rural, indigenous communities, primarily in the western highlands of central Guatemala.

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Our Financials

We run an efficient, cost-effective organization recognized as a Charity Navigator four-star charity. We focus our work where our impact can make a significant and lasting difference in children’s lives.

Child Aid At A Glance

A printable PDF one sheet with all the facts about our philosophy and the work we do.

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Financials

We run an efficient, cost-effective model recognized as a Charity Navigator four-star charity six years in a row.

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