Flipping the Model: Innovating to Center Indigenous Wisdom in Guatemala
In briefAI summary — tap to read
Elena Wason discusses Natun Guatemala, an organization centered on indigenous Mayan leadership and wisdom to address systemic poverty and inequality in Guatemala's western highlands. The organization has innovatively shifted from donor-driven projects to aligning external support with community-identified needs and priorities.
Key takeaways
- Indigenous Mayan populations in Guatemala's western highlands face systematic underresourcing, exploitation, poverty, malnutrition, and inequality from government and non-indigenous sectors of society.
- Natun Guatemala empowers indigenous communities by supporting their own leadership development to help them rise up and thrive while maintaining their unique culture.
- The organization has transformed its model from accommodating donor-directed interests to centering community leadership and aligning external resources with locally-driven priorities.
- Rotary is deeply involved in international service in Guatemala, particularly supporting projects that benefit indigenous Mayan people.
About Elena WasonElena Wason is affiliated with Natun Guatemala, an organization working to empower indigenous Mayan communities in Guatemala's western highlands.
AI-generated from the meeting recording — AI can make mistakes, so check the recording for anything important.
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Program: Flipping the Model: Innovating to Center Indigenous Wisdom in Guatemala
Speaker: Elena Wason
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Program: Flipping the Model: Innovating to Center Indigenous Wisdom in Guatemala
Speaker: Elena Wason
We bring you a new program every week on innovation, entrepreneurship, and education and how they contribute to service to others.
Natün Guatemala is a majority Maya-led organization passionate about elevating Indigenous leadership, rights and capacity. They equip local change agents and use existing local resources to effectively and sustainably build healthy, vibrant Maya communities.
Natün has been through a period of intense transition in the last few years, moving from a problematic model of external intervention, hand-outs, and short-term thinking, to embody a locally-led, long-term systemic change model which centers Indigenous culture and expertise. Along the way, they have failed, learned, evolved, and ultimately stepped into doing impactful development work.
Our speaker, Elena Wason, has been Natün Guatemala’s Executive Director since 2023, after having worked in leadership in the organization for four years.
Prior to leading Natün, Elena served as Programs Director and Strategy and Operations Director in nonprofits in Guatemala, spent two years working on the ground in Honduras as a Field Facilitator, as well as multiple years in the UK’s non-profit sector and think tanks in roles ranging from fundraising to policy.
Elena holds a Masters’ degree in Governance, Development and Public Policy from the Institute of Development Studies as part of the University of Sussex. She has published a book and numerous articles about the development struggles faced by communities in Central America.
Members and guests, please welcome Elena Wason!
To learn more, go to:
Natün Guatemala post regular updates on their Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn pages, where you can find out how to get involved:
https://www.facebook.com/gtnatun
https://www.instagram.com/natunguatemala/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/natunguatemala
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