Project implemented during the 2024–2025 academic year
The Francisco Coll Educational Center is located in the Guatemala City Landfill, one of the country’s most vulnerable areas. More than 6,000 families live there in informal settlements built with recycled materials, facing overcrowded conditions and lacking adequate basic services.
Families survive on meager incomes earned from collecting recyclable waste, a form of informal work that is extremely poorly paid. In many cases, children begin participating in this activity at an early age as a means of helping their families survive. Most families live on approximately GTQ 30 per day (about USD 4).
In this context, education is often overshadowed by the urgent need to meet basic needs, perpetuating cycles of poverty, violence, and social exclusion.
Malnutrition and Extreme Poverty: Guatemala has high rates of poverty (around 56%) and child malnutrition (43%), particularly in marginalized communities, where many families struggle every day to secure adequate food and access to basic services.
Child Labor: Child labor in waste recycling not only disrupts children’s education but also harms their physical and emotional well-being. The landfill often becomes their “classroom,” playground, source of food, and means of earning a living.
Environmental and Human Risks: The landfill poses constant dangers, including landslides, spontaneous fires caused by accumulated methane gas, and heavily polluted air. Several incidents have resulted in fatalities and have had a direct impact on both children and adults who make their living by collecting recyclable waste.
The project
The multi-sports court at Francisco Coll Educational Center is much more than a place for sports—it is a space for gathering, community life, and protection for the children of the community. It hosts sports and cultural activities as well as family meetings, and it also serves as the school dining hall, where many children receive the only nutritious meal they have each day.
Actualmente, este espacio está totalmente expuesto a las inclemencias del tiempo. El calor extremo durante la estación seca y las lluvias intensas en invierno obligan a suspender actividades y dificultan su uso como comedor. Esto no solo limita el derecho a la recreación, sino que pone en riesgo la continuidad de un servicio que es esencial para la salud y el bienestar de los estudiantes.
The beneficiaries of this meal program are children who, instead of facing the ordinary concerns of childhood, live with the uncertainty of not knowing whether there will be dinner at home. At times, they are even forced to eat food salvaged from the landfill. Many begin working at an early age, collecting recyclable materials or scrap metal to sell in an informal and precarious economy that perpetuates the cycle of poverty.
Installing a roof over the entire sports court will provide a safe, sheltered, and year-round usable space. This will ensure the uninterrupted delivery of educational, sports, cultural, and meal services, offering students a more dignified environment in which to grow, learn, and dream of a better future.
The project aims to install a roof over the sports court, allowing the space to be used year-round while protecting students, teachers, and families from the elements. It will provide a safer and more dignified environment for educational, sports, cultural, and community activities.
Beneficiaries:
- 250 students (125 boys and 125 girls)
- 200 families connected to the educational center. Most face nutritional challenges, health issues, and vulnerable family circumstances.
Total Project Budget: €67,402.35
- Estimated Project Duration: 40 days.
- The project includes a one-year workmanship warranty.