Celebrating 20 years of EntreMundos

By: Mae Ardón, Latin America Programs Coordinator, Gophilanthropic Foundation

EntreMundos Association and Gophilanthropic Foundation have maintained a fruitful relationship since 2017. In these years of partnership, we have had the privilege of supporting their small grants program, their training program, their community-volunteering program and more recently, emergency response programs for natural disasters and the covid-19 pandemic- all of which have been handled with excellence and professionalism. Additionally, EntreMundos has been an example of efficiency and an invaluable piece in our Guatemala Learning Network. On the occasion of their twentieth anniversary, we have had the opportunity to reflect on this journey that has been the collaboration with EntreMundos in a recent portion of its history, and celebrate their achievements. 

Twenty years of work must be celebrated! In fact, we think that the mere existence of an organization like EntreMundos in Guatemala should be celebrated: its programs are innovative and have impacted the most remote and least favored communities; they have a clear focus on community-led philanthropy, always focusing on the people and the advancement of their communities, with solutions proposed by the same persons that are directly affected by the problems. We would also like to celebrate the invaluable contributions that EntreMundos has made to the community-led philanthropy and sustainable development ecosystem in the country through its programs, which we have witnessed in almost five years of collaboration. 

The impact that EntreMundos has had on the ecosystem is diverse, starting with that achieved by the support in the strengthening of key capacities for the operation and sustainability of projects to small organizations with lack of access to training. Some of our partners have participated in these training sessions and we have seen their skills being strengthened- resulting in more funding opportunities and more effective processes. Similarly, with the Small Grants Program, these grants are sometimes the first funding opportunity for the grassroots, which serves them not only to invest in their projects but also as a practice to access new opportunities in the future. On many occasions we have heard stories of how EntreMundos’ grants have empowered them in their fundraising processes and beyond that, how the process has been adapted to the context of small organizations in rural Guatemala instead of the opposite, which happens many times when wanting to access funds. 

We always share with great pride that our partner EntreMundos has a database of more than 900 community-led organizations in Guatemala, this alone is impressive, but the close relationship they have developed and cultivated with most of them is even more so. This is actually how we met one of our partner organizations and how we have connected with several more. It is also thanks to this reason that the emergency response programs that EntreMundos has administered have been so successful: the support reaches the community directly through the people from the community, no matter their location. The trust that exists in those relationships is inspiring. And that inspiration, empowerment and support we also see in their participation in the network- they are always contributing to other people and with openness to learning. 

Thank you for allowing us to witness your work and effort. As a Guatemalan, a professional in the philanthropy sector and a collaborator of Gophil for Latin America, I hope that many more organizations in the region will catch on the EntreMundos way of working and continue to build inclusive, participatory and community-focused processes with so much professionalism and excellence, like you do!