Southern Voice’s network member Andrés Navas Beteta of ASIES Guatemala, provides insights into how far SDG implementation has progressed in Guatemala. The blog is part of the “SDG Solutions” series hosted by the UN Foundation, Global Daily, and +SocialGood to raise awareness of ways the international community can advance, and is advancing, progress on the Sustainable Development Goals. 

Guatemalans like to say that our country is the land of eternal spring. We know it is a land with a lot of potential, but we also know that the current situation is not as it should be. Poverty has increased from 51% in 2006 to 59% in 2014. Even more, extreme poverty jumped from 15% to 23%. The Gini coefficient for 2014 was estimated in 0.53, a variable that decreased from its last measurement, but contrasts with the increase of general poverty. From the total population of 17 million people, 11.2 million are the total work force. However, the economically active population of Guatemala is of only 6 million people. This situation leaves almost half of the people capable to work without opportunities.

The contradiction is that macroeconomic indicators are stable, if not booming. Nevertheless, in Guatemala, economic growth does not mean economic development. We still lack a mechanism that will assure economic prosperity translates to…Read more

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