WINGS needs your help to raise £2,400 – enough money to pay for the contraceptives distributed by five of their local Volunteer Health Promoters over the course of a year.
Choose this project to help women and men in remote Guatemalan communities access the modern contraceptives they need to plan for sustainable families. By gaining control over the number and spacing of their children, they’ll be better placed to meet the needs of their dependents and break the cycle of poverty.
Your support will help WINGS uphold the reproductive right to birth control, and so tackle one of the major barriers to smaller families in Guatemala.
[THIS CROWDFUNDER IS NOW CLOSED. THANKS TO ALL WHO HELPED US RAISE £2,400 FOR WINGS GUATEMALA! See our current E2P projects here]
About WINGS
Mission: To provide quality reproductive health education and services to underserved, primarily rural Guatemalan youth, women and men.
Type of organisation: US-registered non-profit and Guatemalan-registered non-governmental association
Founded: 2001
Summary of work: Using a patient-centred, rights-based approach, WINGS takes a full range of modern contraception and family planning advice directly to communities with unmet need. These services are delivered through a network of local youth leaders and contraception promoters, as well as mobile medical units and stationary clinics.
Crowdfunding for contraception
The problem
Until recently, WINGS worked with the Guatemalan Ministry of Health to secure customs permissions to buy low-cost short-acting contraceptives from Denmark. However, following political turmoil in 2017 (including a failed impeachment attempt on the Guatemalan President), the Minister of Health who had granted WINGS these permissions resigned.
This change in the Government means that WINGS can no longer continue to import contraceptives, and must now purchase them locally – at a much higher cost.
The solution
WINGS needs your help to raise £2,400. This funding will:
- Pay for the short-acting contraceptives needed by five of WINGS’ Volunteer Health Promoters to supply rural communities for a year.
Donate now to help meet the unmet need for contraception in Guatemala
Why Guatemala
Guatemala is facing a population crisis. The country’s high percentage of youth (40% of the population is aged below 15) combined with a widespread lack of access to Government-funded family planning services has created the conditions for rapid population growth.
It’s projected that by 2030, Guatemala’s population will have grown from 17 million to 21.3 million people.
Not only is overpopulation putting unprecedented pressure on natural resources, it’s pushing increasing numbers of people into poverty – with rural and indigenous communities affected the most.
Why WINGS
WINGS is a high-impact organisation that has prevented an estimated 265,556 unintended pregnancies to date. (Impact estimated using Marie Stopes Impact 2 programme.)
WINGS’ effective, holistic approach not only tackles lack of access to family planning, but the underlying cultural barriers too. By partnering with local women and men who volunteer as Health Promoters, WINGS empowers village members to tackle gender inequality and overcome misconceptions about contraception.
Summary:
Support WINGS today to:
- Help supply modern contraceptives to underserved, low-income communities in remote areas of Guatemala
- Enable women and couples to plan their families and break out of poverty
- Support the empowering work of WINGS’ Volunteer Health Promoters
- Help tackle the underlying causes of overpopulation in Guatemala – the country with the highest fertility rate in Central America.
“Your gift enables us to provide life-changing services to Guatemalan youth, women, and men in a way that allows them to fully exercise their sexual and reproductive rights. WINGS is grateful to you and your desire to be an engaged global citizen. Mil gracias from all of us in Guatemala!”
– Kirsten Taylor, Director of Development & Communications at WINGS Guatemala
