Maya women benefit from a school system embedded in their culture

Fewer than two in ten Maya women finish secondary school, and more than half are married or mothers by the age of 20. MAIA refuses to treat that as fate

Central America's first secondary school designed specifically for rural Indigenous Maya young women, is staffed almost entirely by Indigenous women offering academics, mentoring, health, family engagement and leadership. Its students are called Girl Pioneers because most are the first in their families to stay in school.

THE PLACE
Solola, western highlands, Guatemala

THE INVESTMENT
Designing a system around the language, culture and families of target children

THE WIN
94% retention rate, well above the national average

THE PROBLEM

Guatemala has one of the widest gender gaps, and rural Indigenous Maya girls face barriers of poverty, gender, ethnicity and geography all at once.

In Solola, where MAIA works and which has one of the highest poverty rates in the country, fewer than 20% of Maya women complete secondary school and only around 1 - 2% reach university.

Underfunded rural schools rarely prepare students for further study, and many girls are quietly expected to leave school for early marriage, motherhood or work.

The talent is there; the system around it is not.

TAKING ACTION

MAIA began in 2008 as a mentorship and scholarship programme, originally called Starfish, built around one question: what would happen if a young woman could go as far as her talent could take her?

By 2015 its founders concluded that mentorship alone was not enough against an underfunded school system, and in 2017 they opened the MAIA Impact School.

The model is holistic by design. Rigorous academics help Girl Pioneers catch up and surpass benchmarks. Mentors, almost all Indigenous women from the same communities, run weekly sessions and one-to-one counselling on leadership, reproductive health, voice and life planning. Every family gets a monthly home visit. A nurse and nutrition team provide preventive health. MAIA builds a support system around the girl and her family.

INVESTMENT SUCCESS!

MAIA holds a 94% retention rate, above the Guatemalan average, and its Girl Pioneers move quickly past academic benchmarks in a country where few rural students reach proficiency.

Each year it serves nearly 450 young women and roughly 2,800 family members across more than 47 rural highland villages. Its first cohorts have moved through the school into the Launch Year programme and on toward university and formal work, many the first in their families to do so.

KEY WINS

94% retention rate, well above the national average

~450 Girl Pioneers and ~2,800 people reached each year

47+ rural highland villages served in Solola

WHY INVESTMENT WORKED

Designed for the specific child, not adapted to her

The first secondary school built from scratch for rural indigenous Maya girls, in their own context.

If she can see it, she can be it

Around 86 percent of staff are indigenous, and 82 percent are women, so students are taught and led by people who share their language and story.

The family is part of the model

Monthly home visits bring parents into a new shared vision instead of leaving school and home at odds.

The whole child, not just the test

Academics sit alongside socioemotional health, reproductive health knowledge, nutrition and leadership.

A pipeline, not a single school

Programmes run from the primary-to-secondary transition, through the seven-year school, into a Launch Year of university prep, work readiness and internships.

Built to spread

MAIA open-sources its practices, trains public-school teachers with the Ministry of Education, and grows indigenous women into education leaders.

SCALE AND SPREAD

MAIA's ambition is systemic, not just its own campus. It trains public-school teachers in Solola in partnership with the Ministry of Education, is expanding its physical school, and has helped seed related efforts, including Eduk'at, Ellas al Frente and VOCES, to spread evidence-based practices for Indigenous girls across Guatemala.

By open sourcing its model and building a pipeline of Indigenous women educators and leaders, MAIA is trying to shift the wider system, using its own school as proof of what is possible.

PARTNERS AND PHILANTHROPY

Named partners back different parts of the model: the Mona Foundation has supported teacher training, digital access, curriculum and assessment tools since 2022, and Team4Tech has helped bring classroom technology and reliable internet to the school since 2021, with additional support from Tomberg Family Philanthropies.

The model has also drawn wider institutional backing, including a public endorsement from the British Embassy in Guatemala. It has been recognised by education networks including HundrED for its innovation.

And MAIA turns partnership outward, co-founding the Eduk'at, Ellas al Frente and VOCES coalitions to spread evidence-based practices for Indigenous girls across Guatemala.