Annual Report

2011

Table of Contents

Letter from the Director

Volunteer Programme

EntreMundos Magazine

Capacity Building Workshops

IT Skills Training Courses

Rural Workshops

Community Tourism Workshops

The EntreMundos Team

Financial Report

Letter from the Director

It has been a very busy year

for us here at EntreMundos. We

have worked hard to make

improvements to all three pro-

grames - the community ca-

pacity building, volunteer pro-

gramme and magazine. We

have been fortunate to receive

support from several amazing

foundations who have helped

us take the capacity building

to a new level, and assist more

organizations and groups than

ever. We hope to continue to

work with them in the years to

come and endeavour to go

above and beyond expecta-

tions of a small organization

such as ours. Thank you for

your support.

Jocelyn Bates

Director of EntreMundos

Volunteer

programme Introduction

Continued global economic instability, a

national election, several high-profile

crime-related incidents, and Tropical

Depression 12E, contributed to the 3%

decrease in tourism in Guatemala from

2010. Regardless, it was a positive year

for EntreMundos Volunteer Program: 162

volunteers used EntreMundos four

services, a major increase from the 109

volunteers in 2010.

In 2011, the Volunteer Program

experienced several major transitions

These included the expansion and

renaming of the “Volunteer and Cultural

Program,” the launch of an Internship

Program, the establishment of three new

policies concerning volunteer behavior

and child protection, and a change in

the management of the Volunteer

Opportunities Database.

The Consultation Service

Between January and November, 129

individuals prospective volunteers

used the Consultation Service, a major

increase from 2010. This service was

held at the EntreMundos office be-

tween 2pm and 5pm, Monday to Thurs-

day, and provided personalized ad-

vice on appropriate opportunities, as

well as the arrangements for the place-

ment.

Pre-Departure Placement Service

The donation-cost of the Pre-Departure

service was raised in February, from $25

to $40, but this increase in price did not

affect numbers of participants: 18 vol-

unteers took advantage of this service

in 2011. This donation included advice,

assistance, and arrangements for an

appropriate placement, pre-departure

information and support.

Community Service Learning Program

In 2011, EntreMundos hosted a 9-

person group from Clark University in

January under the “Volunteer and Cul-

tural Program”. After the group left, a

publicity pack for the program was

made, and publicized with over 200

university contacts throughout North

America. In September, this pro-

gramme was renamed “Community

Service-Learning,” and was reframed

to focus more on the community ser-

vice rather than on cultural activities.

Internship Program

The “Internship Program” was a new EntreMundos initiative in 2011. This

program attracts more qualified volunteers with longer term commit-

ments to organizations looking to fill specific positions. Launched in

March, the program offered 8 different placements with 5 organiza-

tions, a number that will be increased in 2012. EntreMundos asks a do-

nation of $100 per month for the duration of the program, split evenly

between the host organization and EM. There were 3 interns in its first

year of operation, some of whom received university credit and others

whom received job offers following their program completion.

Three New Policies

Three new policies were launched in February, 2011. Since their launch,

all volunteers coming through any of the services have been required

to sign the two volunteer-related policies, and signatures for all three

policies have become a requirement for host organizations. As of No-

vember, all participating organizations had signed, and those unable or

unwilling to sign were removed from the Volunteer Program.

The Volunteer Opportunities Database

As the cornerstone of the program, the Volunteer Database is a very im-

portant service. Between January and December, 2011, the listings of

all 89 organizations were updated. While there are less organizations

than in previous years , the database now is of higher quality featuring

only organizations committed to working with EntreMundos.

Other Developments

In 2011, publicity strategies were diversified with outreach targeted at

specific individuals and networks rather than at general websites.

Objectives for 2012

The Volunteer Program will focus on expanding the above services for

2012, and further improving the publicity network. Further, the gathering

of volunteer feedback – from all programs – will be a priority. Finally, the

program will be increasingly involved in advisory activities such as a se-

ries of Volunteer Management workshop and the creation of a Volun-

teer Management Handbook

EntreMundos' bimonthly magazine is a unique project

that it works not only to complement the organisation's

workshop, conference, and volunteer programmes by

increasing the visibility of the organisation and generat-

ing interest in our projects, but also functions as a stand-

alone publication.

A publication that addresses problems that people is not

aware of, due to the lack information of that media has

generated in the country. We follow the school of

“Peace Journalism” which focuses on a problem not

through the horrific side of it, but through the voice of

the people involved.

Since 2001, the EntreMundos magazine has been one of

the main pillars of our work, as a means of raising aware-

ness amongst both foreigners and locals on social, politi-

cal and cultural topics relevant to Guatemala and Cen-

tral America as a whole. It is a free-of-charge publication

with printing and administration costs offset by revenues

generated through advertising from local businesses. As

well as informative articles from local and international

journalists, we also offer space to local NGOs seeking

volunteers.

Magazine

Magazine

2011 was the year when we man-

aged to increase the magazine’s

distribution list to up to 230 different

places throughout the country

(mainly in the highlands and the

Guatemala city).

Due to a consistent work devoted

to our vision of information and de-

mocracy supporters, the EntreMun-

dos Magazine was mentioned in

the book “Guatemala la Infinita His-

toria de las Resistencia” Flacso –

USAC, page 361. As the only news-

paper or magazine that covered

the -Tecpán Treaty- which was an

indigenous denounce to the har-

assment they were facing due their

position against mining. And also

because it was one of the few that

discuss the “black lists” during the

war years.

And the fact that we are con-

stantly having feedback on our

publications and volunteers asking

to work for us as an important issue

on their lives; sets a record to us

that it has become a reference in

the community.

We seek that through a sustained publi-

cation of the magazine, we can in-

crease awareness of social, political,

and cultural realities in Guatemala be-

yond the current distribution area. This

includes:

a. Greater civic participation, in-

cluding the potential to encourage

a greater number of citizens to take

actions such as voting, educating

themselves and their communities

on their rights and their country's

history, and envisioning a different

future for Guatemala.

b. Greater public and organiza-

tional pressure calling for govern-

ment and corporate accountability

on issues such as multinational min-

ing, hydroelectric, and other re-

source extraction projects, harass-

ment and killings of union leaders,

and resolution of land disputes.

c. Greater understanding and po-

tential for collaboration between

Guatemalans and foreigners,

whose presence in the country as

tourists, volunteers, and develop-

ment professionals has been both a

boon and a challenge for the

country. The publication's 100 per-

cent bilingual format serves to cre-

ate a shared body of knowledge

among groups of people whose ex-

periences otherwise often differ

dramatically.

Capacity

Building

Capacity

Building

Introduction

Our Capacity Building Workshop Programme has been one of

our key programmes since the inaugural series in 2006. It is spe-

cifically designed to increase the institutional capacities of lo-

cal grassroots NGOs, cooperatives and community groups

here in the Western Highlands of Guatemala.

By offering local NGO managers and staff high-quality techni-

cal training in key aspects of organisational management,

project planning, implementation and evaluation we can help

improve the effectiveness and efficiency of their projects and

programmes and generate enhanced results and impacts for

the indigenous communities they serve across the region. .

After a thorough Needs Assessment conducted be-

tween January and March of 2011, we were able to

identify the current training needs of our develop-

ment partners in the region. From this participatory

research we produced our 2011 Capacity Building

Workshop Programme schedule. Details of the

themes and dates of these workshops are illustrated

below;

Strategic Planning Day One – 17th June

Strategic Planning Day Two – 8th July

Diplomado in Investigation and Design of Projects:

Day One – 28th July

Diplomado in Investigation and Design of Projects:

Day Two – 4th August

Diplomado in Investigation and Design of Projects:

Day Three – 25th August

Diplomado in Investigation and Design of Projects:

Day Four – 8th September

Diplomado in Investigation and Design of Projects:

Day Five – 22nd September

Leadership and the Role of the Board of Directors –

10th November

Fundraising Day One – 23rd November

Fundraising Day Two – 24th November

Our Capacity Building Workshop Programme for

2011 began with a two-day workshop on Strategic

Planning and took place on the 17th June and the

8th July. Day one focused on the theory of how to

conduct an organisational diagnostic, including

guidelines to conduct an effective diagnostic, how

to build good indicators and the structure and ob-

jectives of baseline data. Day-two focused on how

to conduct a SWOT analysis and prepare a strategic

plan. Feedback from our first two-day workshop was

very positive and as a direct result, four organisa-

tions conducted new diagnostics.

Following on the success of our first Diplomado series

on Formulation and Evaluation of Projects in 2010, in

2011 we offered our second Diplomado course on

Investigation and Design of Projects. This five day

workshop course ran between July and September

and covered the themes of Needs and Capacity

Assessments, Problem and Objective Trees, the Logi-

cal Framework, Cost / Benefit Analysis and the Pres-

entation of Budgets and concluded with Monitoring

and Evaluation of Projects.

As a result of our Diplomado, ten organisations produced new technical proposals

for local development initiatives with budgets ranging in size from USD$200 to a pro-

gramme with a budget of USD$135,000 for a project designed to improve the hous-

ing of 200 families in a community just outside of Quetzaltenango.

“By producing a Problem and Objective Tree with all our staff, we have identified

several new areas on which we will now work on in the New Year. Without conduct-

ing this activity we would never have identified these problems.”

(Edith Ruth Marroquín de Ronquillo, ARICO, November 2011)

On the 10th November we conducted a one-day workshop on Leadership and the

Role of the Board of Directors. Themes covered during the day included Different

Types of Leadership Style, the Importance of Effective Leadership and Teamwork

and the Role of Members of the Board of Directors.

With one of our objectives within our Capacity Building Workshop Programme be-

ing to encourage increased participation of women in decision making within local

NGOs we were delighted that for our Leadership and the Role of the board of Di-

rectors workshop, 15 out of the 16 participants were women.

Our 2011 Capacity Building Workshop programme concluded with a two-day work-

shop on Fundraising. It was held on the 23rd and 24th November and covered

themes including Strategies for Organisational Sustainability, Different Types of Do-

nors, How to Develop a Marketing Strategy, Requirements and Key Points to Attract

Interest From Donors, How to Create a Project Using the Logical Framework along

with a practical exercise of producing a funding request.

As a result of this workshop six organisations sent out a letter of enquiry to an inter-

national funding organisation and we look forward to tracking the progress of these

applications in 2012.

A cumulative total of 194 NGO managers and staff attended our 2011 Capacity

Building Workshop Programme from the following 36 organisations;

ADAFIS, ADISS, Agua del Pueblo, AIDG, Alterna (CCAM), Amigas del Sol, AMRIS,

APICS, Asociación Amigos Fiel, Asociación Auge de Guatemala, Asociación

CDRO, Asociación de Mujeres Ixchel, Asociación MUJBÁB’L YOL, Asociación Nue-

vos Horizontes, Centro Educativo para Niños Sordos y Ciegos, CODECOT, CODIS-

MA, COIMO, FECCEG, Finca La Florida, FPM, Fundación Riecken, GUATEMAYA,

Guías de Turismo Comunitario “Kamal Bey,” Hábitat para la Humanidad Guatema-

la, Hermano Pedro, Hogar Temporal, Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos, OM del Cantel,

Primeros Pasos, Proyecto Miriam, SCIDECO Pérez López S.C, SERJUS, Servicios Comu-

nitarios ABAJ, Servicios para el Desarrollo y Sociedad Civil el Adelanto.

IT Skills Training

Introduction

2011 saw the continuation of EntreMundos’ highly popular IT

Programme, which aims to equip local NGOs, community

groups and cooperatives with the skills they need so that they

can use information technology in order to achieve their own

development objectives. In particular our courses focus on

providing organisations with enhanced connectivity and

online visibility; improved communication and administrative

skills; and greater abilities to seek out and secure funding.

In 2011 we offered four ten week courses, which enabled us

to expand the scope of our training to cover new topics such

as advanced Excel and Powerpoint, designing and adminis-

tering Weblogs and creating and editing movies with Movie-

Maker. These courses stood alongside training that we of-

fered for users at both beginner’s and intermediate levels.

This expanded scope has enabled us to offer training to de-

velopment workers with a very wide spectrum of IT abilities:

from those who have never used a computer before up to

those who are now very competent in using Microsoft Office

programmes and are independently administering and up-

dating their own pages online.

IT Skills Training

Successes

Each of our courses in 2011 achieved

notable successes. All of the partici-

pants in our beginner’s course

opened new email accounts and ex-

pressed far greater confidence in us-

ing the internet. In our intermediate

course, the participants all stated that

they had improved their skills for using

the internet, social networks and Mi-

crosoft Office.

In our more advanced courses, par-

ticipants learnt how to manage statis-

tics and create graphs in Excel and

also developed professional Power-

Point presentations about their pro-

jects which they can use as a fund-

raising tool to present to potential do-

nors or as an introduction to their work

for visitors or volunteers. The organisa-

tions that participated in our final

course now all have their own we-

blogs online, which for five of these or-

ganisations represents the first time

they have had information about their

work online.

Outputs

A total of 30 NGO workers, community

group and cooperative members par-

ticipated in our IT Skills Training courses

in 2011, representing the following 15

organisations:

AEMG, AFOPADI, Asociación Pro De-

sarrollo Social, Asociación Victoria,

Bomberos Voluntarios, CODECOT,

CODISMA, COMAGUATI , Cono-

cimiento Para Todos, El Nahual, Frat-

ernidad Presbiterales Mayas, Hábitat

para la Humanidad Guatemala, Luz y

Vida, Niños en Xela, Oficina Municipal

del Cantel.

“When I began on the course I had

very little knowledge of computing. I

had an email account but did not

know how to use it. Now I am sending

emails to the Board of Directors with

monthly reports of my programme that

I make in Excel. I am no longer afraid of

computers.”

(Carmelina Sam Sop, Fraternidad de

Presbiteriales Mayas, July 2011)

“Thanks to the opportunity that Entre-

Mundos has provided, organisations

low on resources now have the oppor-

tunity to reach a far wider audience

than would otherwise be possible.”

(Gonzalo Marroquín, Bomberos Vol-

untarios, November 2011)

Community

Tourism

Workshops

Introduction

Guatemala’s wealth of natural beauty, huge ecological di-

versity and breath-taking landscape represents a tremen-

dous opportunity for rural communities to diversify their in-

comes away from over-dependence on agriculture and to

take advantage of the booming tourist industry in the coun-

try. For this reason, many rural indigenous communities are

uniting and forming basic structures of cooperatives and

non-profit organisations. They want to identify how they can

manage their natural resources most effectively to attract

visitors and generate vital and sustainable income streams

that will benefit their communities.

.

Community

Tourism

Workshops

Why Community Tourism?

As many of these community groups

have little to no experience in planning

and managing such projects, we are in-

creasingly being approached by com-

munities to meet this specific need of

training in community tourism project. For

this reason, in 2009, we launched our first

Community Tourism Workshop Series,

which has gone from strength to strength

since then.

The emphasis of this training programme

is on best management practice for a

very controlled number of visitors. It fo-

cuses on attracting tourism whilst at the

same time maintaining the integrity of lo-

cal community life and above all pro-

tecting the surrounding environment.

Successes

2012 began with a series of four work-

shops at EntreMundos for a total of six

communities: Cantel, Loma Linda, Xeca-

racoj, Magnolia Miramar, Aldea Villa

Real and La Unión Reforma. These work-

shops provided an introduction to Com-

munity Tourism for the participants and

covered such issues as the positive and

negative aspects of community tourism;

how to minimise risks; ascertaining the

natural and cultural heritages within a

community; identifying the different

types of tourists that come to Guate-

mala; and how to develop, market and

publicise a business plan. The workshops

equipped the participants with new skills

to either develop new tourism projects or

to strengthen existing projects, and as a

direct result of the workshops all six com-

EntreMundos then facilitated a series of

workshops within these communities

themselves, helping them to further de-

velop their plans and to provide them

with the skills and assistance so that

they could put them into action. A total

of ten workshops were delivered, with

two organisations receiving three each

(Cantel and Xecaracoj) and the re-

maining four receiving one each.

These workshops provided training to a

total of 95 community members

(including 49 women) on specific

themes that were identified through

each community’s respective needs

assessment. These themes included:

defining a community’s values, mission

and vision; developing a short and me-

dium-term plan of action; marketing

strategies; preparing food hygienically;

understanding the potential impact of

inviting tourists into a community; and

identifying potential risks and problems

for tourists visiting a community and

how to minimise them. As a result of the

workshops the various communities and

cooperatives developed action plans

based on their SWOT analyses; de-

signed marketing materials and drew

up guidelines on how to serve and

manage visitors.

Rural Workshops

Introduction

Chajul Workshops

The Asociación Chajulense de

Mujeres is comprised of 360

women mainly from the commu-

nity of Chajul, El Quiché, Guate-

mala. They endeavor to further

economic development in the

area and currently have two pro-

grammes; a Microcredit and Sav-

ings Programme for women and a

Production and Marketing of

Handcrafted Textiles Programme.

They also provide training to im-

prove the local economy, educa-

tion and the health of local fami-

lies.

Rural Workshops

In 2010, EntreMundos was ap-

proached by a previous funder of

the Asociation de Mujeres Cha-

julense to conduct an organisa-

tional diagnostic and identify areas

in which they could benefit from

capacity building training. This diag-

nostic was conducted in December

2010 and from the results we cre-

ated, in partnership with the asso-

ciation, a series of six one-day work-

shops in the form of a Diplomado ti-

tled “General Administration and

Credit Control.”

The series ran between April and

September 2011 and themes in-

cluded; Organisation and Direction,

Strategic Administration, Manage-

ment by Objectives, Use and Inter-

pretations of Micro Credit Indica-

tors, Use and Interpretation of Finan-

cial Indicators.

We were extremely impressed by

the dedication and enthusiasm

demonstrated by all participants

from the organisation and are

pleased to report significant ad-

vances have been achieved. These

included the redesign of their or-

ganisational chart, the creation of a

new vision and mission statement,

the establishing of organisational

and departmental objectives, the

creation of a new strategic plan

and the establishment of financial

and micro-credit indicators.

“…we have grown as professionals

and as individuals… the history of the

association can be divided into be-

fore and after the Diplomado… the

knowledge obtained would have

been difficult to acquire elsewhere in

such an organised and concise

form.”

(Gonzalo Rodrguez, Consultant and

Fundraising Officer, September 2011)

Participants of the Diplomado in

General Administration and Credit

Control were;

Juana Hu Mateo (Coordinator and

President of the Association), Mag-

dalena Brito (Accountant),

Esperanza Canay (Micro-Credit Pro-

moter), Angélica Laynez (Micro-

Credit Promoter), Gonzalo Rodríguez

(Consultant and Fundraising Officer)

Plans for 2012

In May of 2012 EntreMundos will be

returning to the Asociación Cha-

julense de Mujeres for a follow-up

workshop where we will be evaluat-

ing their progress with the strategies

laid out in their strategic plan and

conducting a further diagnostic. We

look forward to working together with

the association again in 2012 as we

track their progress towards organisa-

tional sustainability.

.

The Inter-American Health Alliance (IAHA) is a U.S.-based 501(c) 3 non-profit that was

started by volunteers to support development operations in Guatemala. IAHA acts as

EntreMundos’ US fiscal sponsor and takes no percentage of grants processed through

them for this service.

IAHA also manages individual donations made through our website. It is entirely volun-

teer-run, which means that the maximum amount of funds raised go directly to Entre-

Mundos in Guatemala. IAHA's status as a tax-exempt organisation also allows U.S. do-

nors to receive a tax discount on their donation to EntreMundos.

IAHA also works closely with other charitable U.S.-based groups and universities to de-

velop sustainable relationships that can help support the work of EntreMundos. For

more information about the organization, please visit www.interamericanhealth.org

Global Development Group is a Non Governmental Organisation [NGO] carrying out

humanitarian projects with approved partners and providing aid to relieve poverty in a

tangible way. They provide long term solutions through the provision of quality aid de-

velopment projects in approved countries.

Global Development Group has been partnering EntreMundos since 2009 on our Com-

munity Capacity Building Programme. For more information about the organisation

please visit www.globaldevelopment.org.au

The Planet Wheeler Foundation was established in 2008 by Maureen and Tony

Wheeler, founders of Lonely Planet Publications. Planet Wheeler is based in Melbourne,

Australia and currently funds over 60 projects in the developing world. While they focus

on South East Asia, East Africa and South America they currently provide support to

NGOs in 30 different countries. Their purpose is to support practical and effective pro-

jects which make a difference in the alleviation of poverty.

Planet Wheeler has been partnering EntreMundos since 2006 most notably on our

Community Capacity Building Workshop Programme which was launched in 2007. For

more information about the organisation please visit www.planetwheeler.org

The EntreMundos Team

Staff for 2011:

Director: Jocelyn Bates

Development & Workshop Programme Coordinator: Ian Taylor

Volunteer Programme & Community Tourism Advisor: Laurel

Carlton

Magazine Editor: Valeria Ayerdi

Workshop Assistant: Julia Rao

IT Trainers: David Matul Hernandez and Julio Amezquita

Publicity Coordinators: Lennert Rohde and Karina Minera Reyna

Accountant: Aldy Cajas Cajas

Magazine Intern: Colton Totland

Board of Directors:

President & Legal Representative : Manuel Rodolfo Sanchez

Diaz

Vice President: Sergio Fernando Villatoro Curnes

Treasurer: Thomas Anthony Lingenfelter

Secretary: Yovani Alberto Cux Chan

Vocal: Glenda Gabriela Lopez Ximin

Vocal: Lucas Edward Vidgen

Staff for 2012:

Director: Jocelyn Bates

Development & Workshop Programme Coordinator: Chris Al-

ford

Volunteer Programme & Community Tourism Advisor: Laurel

Carlton

Magazine Editor: Valeria Ayerdi

Accountant: Aldy Cajas Cajas

Condensed Financial Information for

year ending 31st December 2011

All amounts are displayed in Guatemalan Quetzals (GTQs), with

the Exchange rates as of 31st December 2011 as follows:

1Euro = GTQ 10.19

1 USD$ = GTQ 7.72

1 AUD$ = GTQ 8.06

92%

8%

How We Used Our Funds 2011

Total Programme Expenses

Administrative, Fundraisingand General Expenses

78%

10%

12%

Programme Expenses Compared

Capacity BuildingProgramme

Volunteer Programme

Magazine

56%37%

7%

Sources of our Support and Revenue 2011

Foundations

National/InternationalDonations & In Kind

Support

Magazine Revenues